Third Time’s The Charm, Devils Dominate Flyers 5-0

Published: Thursday, January 30, 2025

by Ryan Nelke

NEWARK, N.J. – The New Jersey Devils (29-18-6) took on the Philadelphia Flyers (23-23-6), for the third time in their last six games. This time, it was all New Jersey, despite them being without star goaltender Jacob Markstrom and captain Nico Hischier.

The first period of play in Newark was relatively calm, with not many high-leverage scoring chances for either team.  Philadelphia had a couple chances in front of the net and could not capitalize, as well as failing to come through on the lone power play they had which came on a Tomas Tatar hooking minor.

In comparison to the Flyers, the Devils did not produce any real scoring opportunities until the very end of the period, when Morgan Frost was guilty of hooking.  In the waning seconds of the first, Luke Hughes got in close and put the puck on net between the faceoff circles, resulting in a scramble in front of the net. Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson stood strong, and this brought the period to an end with a 0-0 score.

New Jersey got to work quickly in the second, as while they could not score in the limited time they had on the power play in the first, the remaining time carried over. Ondej Palat cashed in early, 54 seconds in, with his 11th goal of the year. Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt tallied assists on the goal.

Following Palat’s goal, things got physical between the two rivals, and the Devils let their play do the talking; Luke Hughes extended New Jersey’s lead to two, which came on a two-on-one with his brother Jack.  It was Luke Hughes’ fourth goal of the year and it went unassisted.

Outside of the scoring, things were really chippy for the majority of the period, with 26 penalty minutes between the two squads.  However, despite the extracurricular activities, there were no one-on-one bouts that broke out.

Things started to get ugly for Philadelphia when Nate Bastian found the back on the net on a New Jersey power play.  It was Bastian’s third of the year, with Timo Meier and Luke Hughes picking up the helpers. 

The onslaught was on just over a minute later when Dawson Mercer put the Devils up by four.  Timo Meier grabbed his second assist of the game while Brett Pesce also tallied one as well. Immediately after this score, Philadelphia head coach John Tortorella relieved his netminder Samuel Ersson of his duties for the night, with Ivan Fedotov coming off the bench.  The period ended with New Jersey still leading 4-0.

New Jersey picked right up where they left off to begin the third period, with Jack Hughes joining the party after finding himself and Jesper Bratt on a two-on-one. It was Hughes’ 20th of the year, with Bratt and Pesce notching the assists, extending the Devils lead to five.

When the clock read triple zeros, the jumbotron read 5-0 New Jersey, with Jake Allen finishing off a fantastic 24-save outing and picking up his third shutout of the year.

New Jersey head coach Sheldon Keefe was impressed with the Devils' performance tonight… 

“Couldn’t have asked for more…special teams, goaltending, physicality, emotion, so all the things you look for in a game, all the things that help you…so yeah it was a really good night.”

The Devils will enjoy a three day break before getting back to action on Sunday, Feb. 2 on the road in Buffalo against the Sabres at 1 p.m.  The Flyers will return home to Philadelphia to battle the Islanders Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

Ryan Nelke can be reached at ryan.nelke@student.shu.edu. 

 

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