The Philadelphia Flyers 29-20-7 took on the Jersey Devils 28-22-4 at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford NJ in front of a crowd that topped 70,000. There was no apparent issues maintaining the ice surface during the outdoor game as the temperature hovered around 26 degrees.
1st Period
The Devils outshot the Flyers in the 1st period 13-9 but that doesn’t tell the whole story. The Flyers suffered numerous defensive breakdowns in the period. Just 32 seconds into the game an odd play in the Flyers end led to an outlet pass to the Devils captain Nico Hischier who had a clean breakaway from the Flyers blue line. Hischier cut left to right as he approached the Flyers net opening up Samuel Ersson and beating him through the five hole.
Ersson faced so many situations during this match where there was not a Flyer between him and a Devil with the puck. Weather it was a clean breakaway or just quick puck movement in front of the net, Ersson faced a disproportionate amount of point blank chances. Conversely the Flyers chances in the 1st period were mostly without any aspect of danger.
Tyler Toffoli banged a rebound past Ersson with 6:30 left in the period. Ersson made the initial save but Toffoli was all alone in front of the Flyers net to put the rebound away. The Flyers were throwing some great checks towards the end of the period. But they were down 2-0 and their only dangerous chance was when Ryan Poehling dinged one off the post towards the end of the period. Ersson deserves credit he was left on his own several times and made some big saves.
2nd Period
The Flyers were much stronger in the second period. If they had come out in the 1st period the way they did in the 2nd it could have been a totally different hockey game. At 12:17 Travis Konecny attempted an entry that was broken up but ended with him regaining possession inside the Devils zone. He hit Owen Tippett with a pass in the slot. Tippett fired a snap shot passed Devils netminder Nico Daws for his 20th goal of the year.
Things started to get chippy at that point. There was a lot of extra stick work throughout the game. The on ice officials for the most part looked the other way and allowed play to continue. Samuel Ersson kept things close stopping Jesper Bratt on his 2nd breakaway of the night. Things were not too friendly as checks were being finished, sticks were flying, and at one point Sean Walker clearly pushed Nico Daws into his own net. Brendan Smith and Travis Konecny have never gotten along and both of them did what they could to keep that tradition alive.
With 2:12 left in the period Nathan Bastian beat Ersson short glove side to put the Devils up 4-1. Forty-five seconds later it was Owen Tippett again from the slot on a feed from Konecny to end the period with the Devils leading the Flyers 4-2. The Flyers were still down by two after mounting 25 shots against the Devils in the second period alone.
3rd Period
Nico Hischier scored early again putting the Devils up 5-2 just 2:48 into the final period. The Flyers continued to battle. Nick Seeler rang a wrister in off the pipe to give the Flyers hope 9:07 into the 3rd. John Tortorella was pacing back and forth behind the bench reminding his guys that there was still plenty of time but the Flyers could not pull this one out. The Flyers kept plugging away managing a total of 45 shots on goal for the night. Samuel Ersson who stopped 34 of 39 shots was pulled in favor of the extra attacker with a little over three minutes left in the game.
Hischier missed the open net while going for the hattrick. Nathan Bastian was sure to hit the net when he got his opportunity and the Devils won this outdoor Stadium Series game by the final score of 6-3.
Next Up: The Flyers are off until Wednesday when they face the Blackhawks in Chicago 7:30 PM
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Seeler keeps plugging away!