Flyers Lose to Devils, 4-3, In Stadium Series Preview

The Philadelphia Flyers, who have not come from behind to win after allowing the first goal all season, allowed the first goal in this one. Ultimately, they still couldn’t come back from that, and lost 4-3 in overtime.

Alexander Holtz opened the scoring for the New Jersey Devils, after Michael McLeod skated him into a wide-open look from the slot. Holtz’s seventh goal of the season gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead, and six of his seven, including this one, have been the Devils’ first goal of that game.

Momentum Swings

The Flyers got a power play almost immediately after, but once again failed to generate anything of substance. Philadelphia didn’t record a shot before Morgan Frost abbreviated the power play with a tripping penalty.

Philadelphia started to dominate New Jersey, holding puck possession in the offensive zone for a substantial period of time. However, the puck squirted out to Tyler Toffoli at the blue line, creating a 2-on-1 with Jack Hughes. Hughes did the rest, doubling the Devils’ lead to 2-0.

With 3:45 remaining in the period, Garnet Hathaway boarded Luke Hughes in what should have been whistled icing, but the refs failed to do so. As a result, Hathaway was assessed a five-minute major penalty as well as a game misconduct. The whole idea of hybrid icing was to protect the players, and the refs failed to do so. The Philadelphia Flyers got caught between a rock and a hard place, truthfully.

To start the second period, the Flyers did successfully kill the five-minute major, but Hathaway was still done for the game. Carter Hart made a few nice saves to keep Philadelphia in it, and the power play looked much better on their second opportunity.

HART OH MY GOD. WHAT A SAVE!!#NJDvsPHI #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/RJCFgcn1Ie

— Flyers Clips (@Flyers_Clips) December 1, 2023

Signs of Life?

Bobby Brink continues to impress in flashes, although Akira Schmid stymied his brilliant move to the front of the net early in the second period. Hart answered with a stop of his own, robbing Toffoli with his glove after a pretty move in front from Jack Hughes.

The Philadelphia Flyers did get their much-needed power play goal, with Morgan Frost finishing off a rebound at the side of the net and bringing the Flyers within one.

Joel Farabee appeared to have been benched after New Jersey’s first goal, as he played just 56 seconds in two periods. In general, it is unlike head coach John Tortorella to bench a player for two full periods. By my own observation, I did not spot Farabee on the Flyers’ bench with roughly eight minutes remaining in the first period.

Farabee did come out to the bench to start the third period, and slammed his stick against the bench door. The 23-year-old was isolated at the end of the bench, despite the Flyers’ one-goal deficit.

Frost took his second penalty of the game, and it proved to be costly.

Despite the Philadelphia Flyers dominating swathes of the second period, New Jersey struck first in the third with a power play goal. Toffoli was on clean-up duty in front of Hart, and deposited the loose puck for a 3-1 Devils lead.

Sean Walker’s sifted shot through traffic caught Schmid by surprise, and bought the Flyers a goal to again cut the deficit to one. Immediately after, Jack Hughes was sent to the box for tripping, giving Philadelphia one last chance at life with four minutes to go.

Following a shot off the post, Brendan Smith was called for slashing, giving the Flyers a brief 5-on-3. Philadelphia couldn’t score with the two-man advantage, but Tyson Foerster scored on a deflection with Hart pulled to tie the game at 3.

Overtime

Less than 30 seconds into overtime, Luke Hughes scored to end the game on a one-timer from brother Jack, ending the game at 4-3.

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