Flyers Strong Start Keys Win Over Devils

(Kate Frese/SB Nation)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Thursday's win for the Flyers required a big third period comeback and overtime to secure two points. Against a tough Metropolitan Division opponent in the New Jersey Devils, the Flyers turned the tables and used a strong first period to gain some ground in the standings.

Three goals in the first period paced the Flyers to a 3-1 win on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers came out strong and wasted no time getting on the board. Just over three minutes into the game, Shayne Gostisbehere set up Travis Konecny for his seventh goal of the season as he beat Keith Kinkaid with a quick release from the slot.

Five minutes later, the Flyers used hard work to pad the lead. Radko Gudas chipped the puck into the corner and the bouncing disk was deftly tipped back into the slot by Michael Raffl to Valtteri Filppula. Filppula used a quick shot to beat Kinkaid and make it 2-0 Flyers with his 10th goal of the season.

The Flyers kept the pressure on from there, generating great puck possession and chances. On a strong shift for the first line, Claude Giroux got the puck on net and that led to a scramble in front. Konecny was in front and so was Ivan Provorov, who got the last two chances and buried the second on a rebound to make it 3-0 Flyers at 12:15.

Kinkaid was down in the crease for several moments after the goal and left the game, bringing in backup Ken Appleby for his NHL debut. Kinkaid made four saves on seven shots before exiting with injury. He was greeted with more quality scoring chances from the Flyers, making a number of big saves to keep the margin at three.

The physicality also picked up in the final 10 minutes of the second. Raffl and John Moore dropped the gloves and there were a handful of other scrums, one after Sean Couturier was hit into the boards. That play resulted in a boarding call and negated a New Jersey power play.

After 20 minutes, shots were 13-5 Flyers.

The Flyers failed to score on their power play and had to go to the penalty kill twice in short order. On the second Devils power play, they finally solved Michal Neuvirth.

Jesper Bratt fired a shot that hit off of Neuvirth's pad and went in to cut the Flyers lead to two.

The Flyers had two more power play chances in the period and another late that extended into the third, but did not score when the second period came to a close. Shots after 40 minutes were 24-19 Flyers.

The Flyers failed to score on their fourth power play of the game to start the third and went to the penalty kill not long after, leaving room for the Devils to climb back into the game. The Flyers did successfully kill off the penalty, and the first 10 minutes of the third went by without much fanfare.

The Devils pushed the play in the final minutes, looking for a goal to get the lead down to one. Neuvirth made 10 saves in the third to finish off the game.

Neuvirth finished the game with 28 saves. Appleby stopped all 24 shots he faced in a strong debut.

The Flyers opened the weekend of back-to-back games with their fifth straight win on home ice and sixth in their last seven games.

The Flyers return to the ice on Sunday afternoon to face the Washington Capitals. Game time is 12:30 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Travis Konecny (7) (Shayne Gostisbehere, Scott Laughton) 3:29
• PHI Valtteri Filppula (10) (Michael Raffl, Radko Gudas) 8:30
• PHI Ivan Provorov (9) (Konecny, Claude Giroux) 12:15

2nd Period

• NJ Jesper Bratt (12) (Will Butcher, Taylor Hall) 8:12

3rd Period

• No Scoring

Game Statistics