4-Goal 2nd Hurts Flyers in Loss to Devils

Throughout the first period, the Flyers were doing more of what made them successful against the Devils in the first two meetings of the season. In the second, the wheels fell off.

A four-goal second period, filled with plenty of penalty minutes, resulted in a goalie change and led the way in the Flyers 5-0 loss to the Devils on Wednesday night at Prudential Center.

The Flyers and Devils played to a scoreless first period, but both teams had quality chances. The Devils had one shot on goal during a penalty kill and two more chances in tight at the end of the period on a power play. The Flyers had multiple close chances stopped by Jake Allen.

Through 20 minutes, shots were 10-7 Flyers.

The Devils had carryover time on the power play to start the second and turned it into a goal. Ondrej Palat was able to pick up a bouncing puck in the slot and put it home for his 11th of the season just 54 seconds into the period.

At 6:52, the Devils made it 2-0 on an odd-man rush. Travis Sanheim turned the puck over at the offensive blue line and allowed Luke Hughes to set sail the other way. Luke Hughes kept it himself and fired a shot past Sam Ersson for his fourth goal of the season.

The physical play picked up after that, with 26 penalty minutes being dished out in the middle period. The turning point came in the first two minutes of the period, as Owen Tippett was hit at center ice by Brendan Dillon, drawing a crowd and the ire of John Tortorella. Tippett immediately left the game and did not return. The penalty calls came flowing after, including 12 penalty minutes handed out at the 7:06 mark of the period.

On another power play at 12:41, the Devils added to the lead again. Nathan Bastian found a loose puck in the crease and was able to put it home for his third goal of the season. Just 62 seconds later, a turnover allowed another odd-man rush and Dawson Mercer scored to make it 4-0 on his 13th goal of the season.

Ersson was pulled allowing four goals on 16 shots. Through two periods, shots were 20-16 Devils.

The Devils added another goal at 1:58 of the third. A two-on-one was finished off by Jack Hughes for his 20th goal of the season to make it 5-0.

Allen made 24 saves in the shutout win. Fedotov finished the game with nine saves on 10 shots.

Luke Hughes, Jack Hughes, Timo Meier, Jesper Bratt, and Brett Pesce each had two points for the Devils.

The Flyers are right back on the ice on Thursday night to take on the New York Islanders at 7:30 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• No Scoring

2nd Period

• NJ Ondrej Palat (11) PP (Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt) 0:54
• NJ Luke Hughes (4) (Unassisted) 6:27
• NJ Nathan Bastian (3) PP (Timo Meier, L. Hughes) 12:41
• NJ Dawson Mercer (13) (Meier, Brett Pesce) 13:43

3rd Period

• NJ J. Hughes (20) (Bratt, Pesce) 1:58

Game Statistics

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