On Saturday, January 18th, the Devils’ afternoon plans were derailed by the Philadelphia Flyers, who handed them their third consecutive loss with a 3-1 win at Prudential Center, extending their losing streak and giving the Flyers their second straight victory. Dougie Hamilton provided the lone goal in the defeat, and Jake Allen made a total of 15 saves on 17 shots for New Jersey. Matvei Michkov, Bobby Brink, and Travis Konecny each scored for the Flyers to help secure their second win in a row. The Devils host the Ottawa Senators on Sunday, and the Flyers head back to Philadelphia after having a three-game road trip to host the Detroit Red Wings.
New Jersey Devils Lineup:
Palat – Hughes – Bratt
Meier – Hischier – Noesen
Cotter – Mercer – Halonen
Tatar – Lazar – Bastian
Dillon – Hamilton
Siegenthaler – Kovacevic
Hughes – Pesce
Allen
Markstrom
Philadelphia Flyers Lineup:
Tippett – Frost – Konecny
Foerster – Cates – Brink
Farabee – Couturier – Michkov
Lycksell – Laughton – Hathaway
York – Sanheim
Zamula – Ristolainen
Seeler – Drysdale
Ersson
Fedotov
Dougie Hamilton opened the scoring to grab the Devils an early 1-0 lead at 17:43 in the first period, recording his sixth goal of the season. Coming from New Jersey’s zone, Tomas Tatar zipped it over the center line, the puck got down lower, and Nathan Bastian got to it and carried it along the left boards before finding Hamilton, who was below the right circle. Hamilton then fired through traffic, getting the puck past Samuel Ersson on a snap shot from the right point. This had been Dougie’s first goal since the 2nd of December, ending his 20-game goal drought to put New Jersey in the lead first.
On a breakaway at 18:05 into the middle frame, Matvei Michkov knotted it up 1-1 with a snap shot over Jake Allen’s glove after he skated into Sean Couturier’s lead pass. Luke Hughes received the puck, attempting to make a pass to Brett Pesce, however, the pass was well-read by Couturier. Samuel Ersson denied a wrist shot later into the second with just 2:41 remaining by Dawson Mercer in the slot during a Devils power play, keeping the game tied.
It appeared that Jesper Bratt broke the tie to get the lead back for New Jersey, however, it was successfully challenged for off-side. Bratt scored from the right face-off circle on a one-timer, however, he preceded the puck into the offensive zone, being offside prior to the goal. Bobby Brink then went on to score the go-ahead goal, giving the Flyers their first lead of the game 2-1 with 7:16 on the clock in the third. Noah Cates got ahold of the puck in the left corner as he and Tyson Foerster were fighting Brendan Dillon for it, and he turned, finding Brink who was just skating up, and scored on a wrist shot just inside the right post from the slot. With just seconds remaining in regulation, Travis Konecny struck the Devils’ empty net for the 3-1 final.
Nico Hischier on the game/Devils’ performance, opportunities on the power play, being disconnected, and if it was the pressure from the Flyers or more of what they were doing to themselves: “We made it really hard on ourselves, I feel like. I mean, obviously, they played a good game. Lately, they’ve had a structured team as well. We didn’t really put pucks somewhere we could get them, and we were disconnected, I think. …We had some chances, but like I said, I think we beat ourselves today,” – “We needed a momentum shift, and we just waited for it to happen instead of just trying to simplify it and play smart. We didn’t play smart enough, we put pucks in their hands, we turned over way too many pucks – especially in the first period – and that’s definitely not a recipe… Like I said, you got to give a little credit to them too, but definitely a lot on ourselves for sure too.”
Game Notes:
– Nico Hischier skated in his 500th NHL career game. …Hischier did not record any shots on goal in this game after he had collected three goals in his previous two games. …He’s also the sixth Switzerland-born skater in League history to reach this milestone.
– Paul Cotter had six hits in 14:08 of ice time.
– This had been Jake Allen’s first start in seven games for the Devils.
– The Devils have lost three straight games; 0-1-2.
– The Devils played without Stefan Noesen for two games due to illness, however, he returned to the lineup on Saturday. Noesen had one shot on goal in 17:43.
– NJ: 26-16-6, Philly: 21-20-6.
– Samuel Ersson made a total of 12 saves for Philadelphia. …With this victory, Ersson extends his win streak to four games, matching his NHL career-high; he won four last season and in 2022-23.
– In their past five games, including three comeback wins, the Philadelphia Flyers are 4-0-1.
– The Philadelphia Flyers lead the league this season with a total of 865 blocked shots; both Nick Seeler and Rasmus Ristolainen tied for the team lead on Saturday with five each.
– With his empty-net goal, Travis Konecny has 21 goals this season.
– In his past 16 games, Tyson Foerster has collected a total of 12 points (six goals, six assists).
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