Devils Postgame
Allen Nearly Flawless, New Devils Impress, Elevate Jersey Over Flyers
The New Jersey Devils are propelled to victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on the backs of Jake Allen and the new guys.
Talk about making a good first impression. In their first game with the New Jersey Devils, each of the Tom Fitzgerald acquisitions made an impact in the X-X victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.
When the dust settled on the Devils’ trade deadline, it felt as though New Jersey’s GM came away with an underwhelming return.
READ MORE: Devils Fail at NHL Trade Deadline, ‘We Came in Second’
It’s just one game against a Flyers team who is worse after they traded key players in Scott Laughton and Andrei Kuzmenko at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline. The newbies will need to prove they can do it consistently before conceding Fitzgerald knew something we didn’t.
Yet, if the new acquisitions can continue to impact the game the way they did moving forward, the Devils should have no trouble clinching playoffs in a wide-open Eastern Conference.
The Devils and Flyers got off to an even start, trading chances through the first 10 minutes in the opening frame. Both Jake Allen and Ivan Fedotov were asked to make some big saves early, after Brett Pesce joined the rush and registered a high-danger chance in the Flyers end, then Fabian Lycksell replicated one of his own for Philly moments later.
The Devils eventually struck first after Luke Hughes transitioned the puck from the neutral zone, dumping the puck below the Philly goal line. Stefan Noesen picked up the loose puck, threw it toward the slot where Cody Glass found it in a high-danger area, and scored his first goal in his Devils debut, his fifth tuck of the season, to give New Jersey a 1-0 lead.
The Devils picked up in the second period where they left off in the first. New Jersey tilted the ice in their direction, with the new additions in Glass and Daniel Sprong leading the charge.
In fact, that line doubled the Devils’ lead five and a half minutes into the second period. Sprong ensured the puck moved deep into Philly’s end of the ice, and it eventually made its way to the blueline where Johnathan Kovacevic recorded a shot attempt through traffic. It didn’t make it through, however, Glass set up a streaking Erik Haula who snapped a 29-game goal drought, giving the Devils a 2-0 lead.
New Jersey’s game was nearly flawless, until the Flyers got on the board in the last five minutes of the third period. Travis Konecny sprung a streaking Jamie Drysdale through the neutral zone for a breakaway, and the Flyers’ defenseman beat Allen alone behind the Devils defenders, cutting New Jersey’s lead in half.
A gassed Devils team played on their heels in the final moments of the third period.
That was until Travis Sanheim cross-checked Pesce and took a late penalty to send the Devils to the power play with under two minutes left to play.
Dawson Mercer deposited an empty-net goal, and the Devils hung on to win 3-1.
Allen was nearly flawless, making 22 saves on 23 shots, helping snap a three-game skid.
The newly formed Haula-Glass-Sprong lines impressed, finishing the game with a 62.50 CF%, 93.03 xGF%, 3-1 scoring chance differential, and provided two of the Devils’ three goals at 5-on-5
Analytics via Natural Stat Trick
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