The Philadelphia Flyers, fueled by a fast start, came away with a big 6-3 win against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. Philadelphia had a balanced scoring night, getting goals from three of its lines.
It was the Cates line that powered the Flyers, with a two-goal game from Tyson Foerster and a three-point night for Noah Cates. Their scoring was backed up by an excellent night from Dan Vladar in goal.
With the win, the Flyers’ record improved to 11-6-3 through 20 games. Here is how we got to the final score.
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Flyers Start Fast
Starting on time has been an issue for the Flyers so far this season, but it was not an issue on Saturday.
The New Jersey Devils may have scored first with a Timo Meier power-play goal, but after that, the first period was all orange and black.
Not long after the Meier goal, the Flyers had possession in their offensive zone. Egor Zamula fired off a shot that was pushed away by the Devils’ netminder, Jake Allen. Unfortunately for New Jersey, Noah Cates (5) was there to bury the equalizing goal.
Xfinity Mobile Arena was buzzing, and it would only get louder. Sean Couturier (10) sprung Matvei Michkov (5) free on the breakaway, who potted the easy score to give the Flyers the lead.
At that moment, the Flyers would not look back. Michkov’s goal was the first of three that the team would score in a span of 26 seconds. Tyson Foerster (6 & 7) would score the next two, with Noah Cates (7 & 8) getting the primary assist on both—two goals in just 17 seconds for 71.
The first-period scoring would stop there, but after the whistle, the fireworks did not. First, it was Travis Konecny and Brenden Dillon picking up matching roughing penalties. Then, it was Matvei Michkov and Arseny Gritsyuk getting tangled up.
Flyers Add On
In the second period, Bobby Brink (6) added some insurance for the Flyers. He scored the team’s fifth goal of the game, assisted by Couturier (11), just over halfway into the second period, giving them a 5-1 lead.
Nico Hischier responded a few minutes later with a one-time goal, keeping the Devils alive, making it a three-goal game.
Not much happened in the first 13 minutes or so in the third. That was until New Jersey emptied the net with over six minutes to play. It paid off for the Devils, as Hischier scored his second of the game, cutting the Flyers’ lead to two.
New Jersey made a late-game push, getting a flurry of shots on Dan Vladar. For a moment, it looked like the Devils had Vladar out of position with a wide-open net. However, Jamie Drysdale was there with one of the biggest blocked shots of his career.
Trevor Zegras (7) answered the Hischier goal and potted the dagger.
The Flyers would hang on to win comfortably, with a final score of 6-3.
Dan Vladar had another phenomenal game in goal, stopping 32 of the 35 New Jersey shots.
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