Many were hoping that the Philadelphia Flyers would come out of the gates firing on Thursday night, but after a dismal start, they walked out of Prudential Center with a 3-2 overtime loss, keeping them winless to start the 2026-27 season.
Joseph Woll was the story of the game as he stopped 41 shots, unfortunately in a losing effort. The Devils out-shot the Flyers 44-25 and controlled play for the majority of the game, including a wide 30-14 edge in shots through 40 minutes.
The Flyers opened the scoring from Rasmus Ristolainen before retaking the lead in the third period from Travis Sanheim. However, the Devils answered back both times with goals from Dougie Hamilton and Luke Hughes before Jack Hughes ended things in overtime.
It wasn’t the game the Flyers were hoping for after their crippling and embarrassing loss last night during their home opener to Pittsburgh. They made changes to their lineup with Tyson Foerster returning next to Noah Cates, Alex Bump playing with Trevor Zegras, and Porter Martone next to Christian Dvorak.
They had moments few and far in between and will now look to notch their first win in their third game of the season when they host the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Carolina Hurricanes, on Saturday night.
FIRST PERIOD
With a delayed penalty on the way against New Jersey, the Flyers set up in the offensive zone, cycled around to tire out the defense, before Ristolainen deflected a Sanheim point shot at the 11:12 mark of the period.
Zegras stepped on the ice as the extra attacker and planted himself at the point, which allowed Ristolainen to station himself in front of Allen. Travis Konecny fed Sanheim for the one-timer and Ristolainen got a piece of the puck to score the Flyers’ first goal of the 2026-27 season.
The period came to a close with the Flyers holding onto a 1-0 lead, despite being down on the shot-clock 14-6 and the power play opportunities at 3-0. Joseph Woll had a great start to his debut and looked technically sound, not giving up too many rebounds and staying square to the shooters.
SECOND PERIOD
The middle frame was much like the first with the Devils firmly in control of puck possession, shots, and overall play. By the midway point of the game, the Devils had a 26-11 edge in shots, while also leading 52-19 in shot attempts with the Flyers having 16 blocked shots.
Philadelphia’s best – and albeit only real notable – chance came on their first power play at the start of the period, but otherwise Jake Allen wasn’t tested much.
After trying, trying, and trying again, the Devils finally solved the ‘brick Woll’ with 2:02 remaining in the period. Dougie Hamilton’s initial shot was blocked by Matvei Michkov, Cam York then failed to clear the puck, to which Hamilton retrieved the failed clearance and wired a wrist shot past a screened Woll.
The period came to an end with the Devils ahead 30-14 in shots, their shot attempts surpassed 60, and were it not for Woll the Flyers would be down at the very least going into the final period of regulation.
THID PERIOD
Coming out of the intermission, the Devils’ play never relented, and it continued on an early power play opportunity with Jesper Bratt staring at a wide open net but was absolutely denied by Woll’s desperate attempt at a pad save.
After yet another big save from Woll, the Flyers countered the other way and re-took the lead after Sanheim absolutely wired a slap-shot from the faceoff dot past the glove of Allen at the 5:33 mark. The fourth line stepped onto the ice and Sean Couturier jumped on a loose puck before sending a pass to Sanheim on the other side of the ice leading to the go-ahead goal.
It didn’t take long for the Devils to respond in the form of Luke Hughes, who notched the 4th goal of the game from a defenseman. The young defenseman walked into the slot and fired a nice shot blocker-high past Woll with 10:16 remaining.
Luke Evangelista brought over a lot of pressure towards him as most of the Flyers players were focused on him. He then made a nice pass to Hughes, who was essentially left unmarked, and he made no mistake for his first of the season.
Regulation came to a close with both teams tied at 2 apiece but the Devils carrying the play, which was illustrated in their 41-22 edge in shots.
OVERTIME
The Flyers started with Couturier, Sanheim, and Owen Tippett but they almost blew it immediately as Timo Meier walked in for a great chance that was thwarted by Woll.
Jack Hughes ended the game in style after he finished off a nice passing play with Bratt, but the play started deep in the Devils zone when Sanheim coughed the puck near the goal-line, which allowed Hughes to race the other way.
https://twitter.com/FlyersNation/status/2105836879329333269/video/1?s=46
UP NEXT
The Flyers take on the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
