The Philadelphia Flyers (14-7-3) capped off a four-game road trip in grand fashion pulling away with two points over the New Jersey Devils (16-8-1) to win 5-3 Saturday night at the Prudential Center. That divisional triumph for Philadelphia resulted in two victories over the Devils in the past seven days, sliding the Flyers into third place in the Metropolitan Division.
“We deserve to be talked about with the teams that we’re playing right now. It shows that we have some depth and we’re all contributing in different ways,” Travis Konecny said. “If it’s your turn to be on the scoresheet, that’s what you do. If it’s your turn to have a big block or big save, everyone is stepping up, and we love this group. It’s a lot of guys who want to play for each other and do the right things.”
Owen Tippett played a vital part for the Flyers, essentially putting the team on his back offensively as he finished with three points, his third multi-point game of the season. It was one of Tippett’s best performances as a Flyer as he checked off two impressive milestones in his career. Matvei Michkov pocketed a pair of goals too as he continues to find the back of the net as of late, scoring seven times in his last 11 games.
Then there was Dan Vladař between the pipes, who night in and night out proves his worth as a caliber NHL starter and did it again by stopping 29 shots. Vladař limited the damage and kept the Flyers in front when they needed him the most. Vladař improved to 10-4-1 with a .912 SV% and 2.43 GAA.
“I feel comfortable, but the biggest thing is those 18-20 guys in front of me every single night. You see guys willing to block shots and make not comfortable plays but those plays that really matter for our team to come away with those two points,” Vladař said. “I’m really proud of the group, but we know we got a lot of hockey left and got to keep going.”
The Flyers have been snake-bitten all year when it came to scoring first. Philadelphia has chased their opposition in 16 of their 23 contests, but for consecutive nights and just the second time this season, the Flyers came out ready to get on the scoresheet before their counterpart.
Tippett started the scoring with a sweet forehand-backhand deke to fool Jacob Markström down low. It was Tippett’s 100th career goal and his 200th career point. Tippett sat at 99 tallies for quite some time while eyeing that plateau and only found the back of the net once over his previous 17 games.
“It’s awesome. I’m not the one to really look at milestones but anytime you can get one it’s kind of cool. Credit to the guys in here. We have a lot of fun,” Tippett said.
Some bad stick luck on the Flyers’ end allowed the Devils to answer right back. Sean Couturier went towards the bench to retrieve a new stick, and Šimon Nemec took full advantage of the opened ice to join the rush and rip one over Vladař’s blocker.
Additional pressure from New Jersey developed following Nemec’s goal came from Arseny Gritsyuk and Luke Hughes generating chances which were stopped by Vladař. An iffy cross-checking penalty on Michkov late in the first period gave the Devils a golden opportunity, but Vladař stood tall to stone Nico Hischier in front, keeping the game tied heading into the intermission.
Philadelphia killed off the remaining time of the Devils’ power play once the middle stanza began. When Michkov left the box, he found himself on an immediate 2-on-1 rush alongside Konecny. Michkov secured the pass from Konecny and scored after a collision with Markström, which the Devils never challenged for goalie interference.
Michkov’s next shift extended the game to a two-goal lead in favor of Philadelphia. What was previously thought as Konecny’s goal to snap a nine-game goalless drought ended up being Michkov’s second of the night. Konecny’s shot deflected off Michkov, but the player who started it all was Cam York keeping the puck in the zone and walking around a hopeless Stefan Noesen defending him at the point. If you listen closely, you can hear the screams in awe from the Flyers’ bench – most likely it was Zegras – when York faked out Noesen.
The Flyers caught a break as Jesper Bratt rang iron on his breakaway attempt later in the period. Failing to capitalize for New Jersey, Bratt’s Grade-A opportunity sent the Flyers the other way. Tippett flew past Nemec which developed another odd-man rush. Tippett sent a one-timer over to Zegras which squeaked through Markström. Zegras’ nine goals is tied with Tyson Foerster for the most on the Flyers.
Trailing by three goals, New Jersey began to bombard Vladař with quality chances. The Czech netminder turned aside shots from Timo Meier, Hughes, Bratt, and made an incredible stop on Dawson Mercer.
“He’s ridiculous, he’s unbelievable,” Zegras said on Vladař. “I feel like he’s unbelievable every single time he’s in there. He gives us a chance… he’s an unbelievable teammate too.”
Meier eventually solved Vladař on the power play, cutting Philadelphia’s lead in half.
With the third period underway, the Flyers could have buried the Devils but instead let them back into the game. For whatever reason Zegras decided to bring the puck towards the Flyers’ defensive zone only to be strip from behind by Mercer. New Jersey’s forward zigged and zagged his way through Philadelphia’s defense to score on the backhand. What once was a Flyers three-goal lead was down to one.
Thankfully for Philadelphia’s sake, their fourth-ranked penalty kill prevented the Devils from tying the game up. Vladař made the necessary stops while the minutes trickled off the clock.
New Jersey decided to pull Markström for the extra attacker. Tippett got as far center ice before being tripped up by Gritsyuk and was awarded the goal to put the game to rest.
For Rick Tocchet, it was his 300th career win as a head coach.
The Flyers went 3-1-0 on the road trip and now return home to start a six-game stay at Xfinity Mobile Arena beginning with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night (7:00pm/ET; NBCSP).
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