New Jersey Devils overcome Philadelphia Flyers 3-1
Patrik Elias lit the lamp twice and Johan Hedberg turned aside 26 shots, to lift the New Jersey Devils to a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.
Henrik Tallinder also recorded a goal for New Jersey, who have won five of their last six games. The Devils were 10-29-2 before the current run, which includes victories against some of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
James van Riemsdyk was the lone scorer for the Flyers, who have won eight of their last nine games, but could not succeed in becoming the first team to hit 1,000 home victories.
Brian Boucher was solid in the net, making 19 saves but it was not enough for the Flyers, whose four-game winning streak has been halted by the Devils.
The Devils dominated the play from the start of the game, as they notched two goals in the opening period.
New Jersey opened the scoring for a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute of the first stanza. The goal came when Jason Arnott led a counter-rush with Tallinder and Ilya Kovalchuk. Just as they crossed centre ice, Arnott passed the puck to Kovalchuk on the left side.
Kovalchuk waited a few moments in front then slipped the disc to Adam Mair.
Mair then fired a wrist shot toward the net that was saved by Boucher. Mike Richards attempted to clear the rebound, but the puck fell to Tallinder, who ripped a point shot past Boucher.
The Devils then managed to double their advantage nearly seven minutes later. The play was set up by Patrik Elias, who grabbed the puck in the right corner, skated toward the net and shoveled a point-blank shot past the Flyers goalie.
Philadelphia showed some life and opened their account in the last minute of the middle session to cut the deficit to 2-1. Richards got the puck near the blue line and threw a cross-ice pass to Claude Giroux on the left circle in New Jersey’s zone. Giroux
waited for a moment then chipped the puck to van Riemsdyk, who buried it between Hedberg's stick and the left post.
The Flyers continued to put pressure on the Devils in the final period, and they had several nice scoring opportunities, but failed to take advantage.
Hedberg sealed the win with a magnificent, sprawling and sliding save to his left that denied Jeff Carter a potential equaliser with three minutes remaining in the final session.
The Devils accounted for the final goal of the game, by making the score line 3-1 with 40 seconds to play in the third period. The play was set up by Giroux, whose cross-checking penalty with two minutes left gave New Jersey an advantage, and Elias turned
the puck into an empty-net to seal the game.
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