Atkinson Nets Hat Trick as Flyers Rout Devils

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

All of a sudden, it seems the Flyers have found their scoring touch. After struggling to surpass the three-goal mark for the better part of six weeks, the Flyers entered Tuesday night's game against the New Jersey Devils with 14 goals in their last four games, tallying four goals or more in three of the four.

You can make it four of the last five games, as the Flyers pounded the Devils with two goals in the first and three more in the second, including a hat trick from Cam Atkinson, on their way to a 6-1 win at Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers came out firing from the start. As the period approached the halfway point, the Flyers got on the board with the first goal.

Travis Sanheim made a move around a defender and got a shot on goal that managed to beat Mackenzie Blackwood for his first goal of the season at 9:14.

As the period neared its conclusion, the teams skated at 4-on-4 for the final 1:49 of the period. With some extra room on the ice, the Flyers got another goal.

Rasmus Ristolainen made an outstanding pass to the doorstep for Atkinson, who quickly potted it for his 10th goal of the season with 1:25 left in the period.

Through 20 minutes, shots were 13-6 Flyers. Morgan Frost also left the game during the first period and did not return.

The Flyers kept things going in the second. At 6:07, Justin Braun chopped at a loose puck and the shot floated through a deflection attempt and sailed past Blackwood to make it a 3-0 game. 

The Devils did get the goal back just 36 seconds later. A turnover behind the net allowed the Devils to regain control, and P.K. Subban put a shot on goal that beat Carter Hart to make it a 3-1 game.

The Devils got a power play with under six minutes to play in the period. But it was the Flyers taking advantage of an opportunity. After being stopped on two breakaway chances earlier in the period, Atkinson took a lead pass from Ivan Provorov and moved in on a two-on-one. Atkinson fired a blast for his second goal of the game to make it 4-1 at 16:16.

Atkinson set up a goal just over two minutes later. Atkinson got the puck off a New Jersey turnover and quickly fed Oskar Lindblom for a chance that was buried to make it 5-1 with 1:40 to play in the period.

Through two periods, shots were 22-15 Flyers. Blackwood was pulled after the second period and finished the night with 17 saves on 22 shots. Akira Schmid entered in relief.

The scoring continued for the Flyers in the third. Atkinson completed his hat trick with a nice finish going to the net and taking a feed from Claude Giroux.

Hart made 26 saves in the win. Schmid made seven saves on eight shots.

Five Flyers finished with multi-point games. Atkinson had a four-point night, while Sanheim, Provorov, Lindblom, and Ristolainen each had two points.

The Flyers head on the road for their next game, facing off against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Travis Sanheim (1) (Rasmus Ristolainen, James van Riemsdyk) 9:14
• PHI Cam Atkinson (10) (Ristolainen, Sanheim) 18:35

2nd Period

• PHI Justin Braun (2) (Oskar Lindblom, Ivan Provorov) 6:07
• NJ P.K. Subban (2) (Michael McLeod) 6:43
• PHI Atkinson (11) SH (Provorov) 16:16
• PHI Lindblom (2) (Atkinson) 18:20

3rd Period

• PHI Atkinson (12) (Claude Giroux, Max Willman) 7:09

Game Statistics