Game Summary
The New Jersey Devils are going streaking! After such a dreadful stretch of hockey, the Devils have strung together three straight victories against their rivals from Philadelphia. New Jersey improves to 17-27-7 while the Philadelphia Flyers drop to 22-22-7.
First Period
The first period was largely controlled by Philadelphia. As the Flyers held an expected goal share of 77.36%. However, the New Jersey Devils would be the team that registered the lone goal of the period. Pave Zacha broke into the Flyers’ zone and whipped over a cross-ice pass to Jesper Bratt who was the beneficiary of some horrific goaltending by Brian Elliot.
Second Period
Like the first period, the Flyers held a majority of the expected goal share – 68.59%. But the Devils once again scored the only goal of the period. Budding star Jack Hughes made a nice move from the left circle and found Janne Kuokkanen on the right circle for the one-timer past Brain Elliot. This was another goal against Flyers’ goaltender Brian Elliot most likely wants back.
Third Period
The third period featured three goals. The first two were once again courtesy of Jersey’s team. Nico Hischier scored a short-handed goal on an absolute snipe of a wrist shot. With just about five minutes left, Yegor Sharangovich continued his stellar rookie season by ripping a wrist shot home. Jack Hughes capitalized on a Flyers’ giveaway and found Sharangovich point-blank in front of Elliot. The Flyers did add a garbage-time goal to ruin Mackenzie Blackwood’s shutout, but the Devils still won by three goals, 4-1.
Warp-Up
The final shot total was 32-21 Philadelphia. The Flyers also held the shot attempt advantage 67-46 and the expected goal share at 68.13%. Mackenzie Blackwood played one of his best games of the season, which was great to see stopping 31 of 32. Hughes and Sharangovich both had two points, while rookie defenseman Kevin Bahl tallied his first career point in his second career game.
Game Notes
- The New Jersey Devils are doing something they have not done all season. Winning games where they are not necessarily the better team from a possession standpoint. The Flyers, as mentioned above, held a Corsi-For % (CF%) of 59.29% and held the expected goal share of 68.13%. The Flyers also had 13 high danger shot attempts to the Devils’ four. Scoring chances were 33-20 Philadelphia as well. How did the Devils win then? Simple good goaltending and capitalizing on their chances, something they have failed to do this season.
- The defensive pairing of Ryan Murray and Damon Severson was the Devils’ best tonight. Murray has continued to show his early-season struggles were a bit overblown while Severson continues to show why he is the Devils’ strongest all-around defenseman. The duo had a CF% and expected goals-for % (xGF%) that ranked first and second on the team respectively. Re-signing Ryan Murray should be a priority for New Jersey this offseason.
- On our most recent episode of Devils Army Cast, I spoke about how Mackenzie Blackwood’s play to end the season will be huge. The netminder, who was regarded as a while to be the sure-fire, long-term answer in between the pipes, has struggled mightily this year. His save percentage entering the night was .899 and only had two games where he registered a save percentage above .900 in his past 10 games. Although he did not get a shutout, he was terrific for the Devils. Hopefully, he can build off this to end the season and bring it into next season.
Note, Statistics courtesy of Evolving-Hockey.com.
Next Game: Monday, May 3rd vs. Boston