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The Philadelphia Flyers (40-26-12, 92 points) maintained their grip on third place in the Metropolitan Division. Philadelphia earned a 5-1 road victory over the New Jersey Devils (40-35-3) on Tuesday night. Trevor Zegras (2g, 1a) and Tyson Foerster (2g) collected two goals apiece. Matvei Michkov posted two assists.
Meanwhile, goaltender Dan Vladar turned aside 23 of 24 shots to earn the win in goal. Cody Glass (18th) scored the lone New Jersey goal.
The Flyers took the lead less than two minutes into the game on Zegras’ first goal of the night. He soon added a power play goal to notch his 25th goal of the season. Philadelphia led the rest of the night. Subsequently, in the middle stanza, it was Foerster’s turn to score back-to-back goals (12th and 13th) as the Flyers extended their lead from 2-1 to 4-1. In the third period, Nick Seeler (3rd) added an unassisted empty net goal to close out the game.
The Flyers swept their three-game season series with the Devils. All three victories came in regulation.
Here’s the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from Tuesday’s game.
The Good
- The Flyers grabbed a quick 2-0 lead. The large contingent of Flyers fans had plenty to cheer about right from the outset.
- Philadelphia won the special teams battle (1-for-2 power play, 3-for-3 penalty kill). Even during the late season surge, that’s been hard to come by.
- Neutral zone and defensive zone play. After the first period, the Flyers pretty much shut down the Devils. They were methodical and diligent in their checking over the final 40 minutes.
- The pivotal point of the game. After the Devils controlled most of the latter 15 minutes of the first period, Philly had a strong penalty kill early in the middle stanza. Shortly thereafter, Foerster scored his first of two goals. That was a huge juncture of the game; every bit as big as the two early Zegras goals.
- Vladar was rock solid when called upon. It should also noted that the Flyers’ netminder has a good knack for when to keep play going and when to freeze the puck for a stoppage.
- In his fifth NHL game, Porter Martone had a nifty setup power play goal. In general, Philly had a variety of offensive contributions from needed sources. Owen Tippett and Travis Sanheim both had nice plays on the first Zegras goals. Jamie Drysdale started the suquence that ended in the second Zegras tally. Meanwhile, the Seeler empty net goal was a bonus.
- Philly staged a very strong closeout in the third period. The Devils hardly got a sniff. That included the game’s final penalty kill.
- Philly managed to hold the scorching hot Jack Hughes off the scoresheet. DItto Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier.
The Bad
- The Flyers actually got outplayed pretty significantly in the first period. The two Zegras goals masked a generally mediocre opening frame.
- Philly’s penalty kill gets full marks on this night: Hopefully it’s something from which they build for a strong finish. Also, Philly generally showed strong discipline. However, a too-many-men penalty and a pair of delay of game minors were gift chances to New Jersey. The Flyers almost had to take the too-many-men penalty 31 seconds into the second period. Otherwise they’d have given up a prime scoring chance. It wasn’t costly this night. Other times, that can turn a game.
The Ugly (Special Teams Before OT)
- Nine first period giveaways by Philly. They cleaned it up in the second period onward. However, New Jersey had several short-ice opportunities in the first period including several for Jack Hughes. The Flyers were rather fortunate to take a 2-1 lead to the locker room.
- Neither Noah Cates nor Emil Andrae had one of their best game. They were both fighting the puck a bit, at least early.
Flyers Playoff Outlook
The Flyers needed this victory. The Columbus Blue Jackets earned a 4-3 (3-2) shootout win over the Detroit Red Wings. The New York Islanders were idle. The upshot:
- The Flyers (92 points, 25 regulation wins) maintained a two point lead over Columbus (90 points, 27 RW). Because Columbus still holds the tiebreaker edge if needed, Philly needed to stay ahead on points. Both the Flyers and Blue Jackets have played 78 games. Four games apiece remain.
- Tocchet’s club visits the Red Wings on Thursday. Columbus visits Buffalo on Thursday. Rick Bowness’s team starts a weekend back-to- back in Montreal on Saturday and then host the Boston Bruins the next night. The Flyers are idle on Sunday. They play their final regular season road game — and inter-conference match — on Saturday in Winnipeg.
- Philadelphia has a three-point lead on the Islanders. In the event of a points tie, the Islanders still hold a 28-25 RW edge. Columbus dropped the Islanders (89 points) into fifth place in the Metro. However, the Islanders (four straight regulation losses) and new head coach Pete DeBoer have a rare late-season respite from games until late this week. On Thursday, New York hosts Toronto.
- As long as the Flyers stay in third place in the Metro, they needn’t worry about the Atlantic teams or the wildcard race. However, for sake of reference, Ottawa (92 points, 35 RW) is tied with the Flyers in points and has clinched the tiebreaker with Philly. Detroit has 89 points and 29 RW. For the Red Wings, Thursday’s game is more or less a now-or-never proposition for their season.
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