No Meadowlands Miracle: Devils Defeat Flyers in Stadium Series

When the Flyers entered MetLife Stadium on Saturday afternoon, they were all wearing gray sweatsuits, emulating Rocky Balboa. Just as Rocky was considered an underdog, the Flyers had the odds stacked against them early in the game.

Playing in the Meadowlands has been known to produce some miracles, but there was not one for Philadelphia on Saturday night. The New Jersey Devils scored twice in all three periods in a 6-3 loss for the Flyers in the 2024 NHL Stadium Series.

The Devils got off to a quick start, opening the scoring just 32 seconds into the game. Ondrej Palat got the puck ahead to Nico Hischier on a breakaway. Hischier made a move and put the puck between the five-hole of Sam Ersson for his 17th goal of the season.

At 13:30 of the period, the Devils added to the lead. Off a face-off, Brendan Smith took a shot that left a big rebound for Tyler Toffoli to clean up, scoring his 24th goal of the season.

Through 20 minutes, shots were 13-9 New Jersey.

The Flyers generated more possession time to start the second period. At 7:43, they finally turned that possession time into a goal.

Travis Konecny managed to maintain possession of a bouncing puck in the offensive zone, and set up Owen Tippett for his 20th goal of the season to cut the lead to one.

The Flyers continued to pressure from there, at one point opening up a 21-5 advantage in shots in the period. But the Devils responded back with two more quick tallies.

Smith put home a rebound for his second goal of the season at 16:36. Just 1:12 later, Nathan Bastian rifled his fourth goal of the season over the shoulder of Ersson to make it a 4-1 game.

The Flyers did have a quick response before the period ended. With two minutes remaining in the period, they got a power play and needed just 23 seconds to convert. It was Tippett again with another wrist shot from the high slot to cut the lead back to two with 1:37 to go in the period.

Through two periods, shots were 36-27 Flyers.

Any momentum from Tippett's second goal of the game was quickly erased at 2:48 of the third. Hischier buried his second goal of the game from the slot to make it 5-2 and restore the three-goal margin.

The Flyers got the margin back to two at 9:07, as Nick Seeler scored his first goal of the season to make it 5-3.

That was as close as the Flyers would get to a comeback. Bastian finished things off with an empty-net goal with 1:45 to play for his second goal of the game.

Nico Daws finished the game with 45 saves on 48 shots in the win. Ersson made 34 saves on 39 shots in the loss.

In addition to Tippett's two goals, Konecny had two assists. Hischier had two goals and an assist. Smith had a goal and an assist. Palat, John Marino, and Curtis Lazar each had two assists.

The Flyers get back on the ice on Wednesday night against the Chicago Blackhawks at 7:30 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• NJ Nico Hischier (17) (Ondrej Palat, John Marino) 0:32
• NJ Tyler Toffoli (24) (Brendan Smith, Jack Hughes) 13:30

2nd Period

• PHI Owen Tippett (20) (Travis Konecny, Egor Zamula) 7:43
• NJ Smith (2) (Palat, Hischier) 16:36
• NJ Nathan Bastian (4) (Timo Meier, Curtis Lazar) 17:48
• PHI Tippett (21) PP (Konecny, Morgan Frost) 18:23

3rd Period

• NJ Hischier (18) (Jesper Bratt, Marino) 2:48
• PHI Nick Seeler (1) (Scott Laughton, Ryan Poehling) 9:07
• NJ Bastian (5) EN (Erik Haula, Lazar) 18:15

Game Statistics

Kevin Durso is Flyers insider for 97.3 ESPN. Follow him on social media @Kevin_Durso.