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Wrapup: Flyers Win Streak Hits Four in 4-3 OT Win over NJ |
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FLYERS' WIN FOURTH IN A ROW, GRAB 4-3 OT WIN IN NEW JERSEY
Avoiding what could have been a deflating loss in a game they dominating for most of regulation, the Philadelphia Flyers earned a 4-3 overtime victory over the New Jersey Devils in Newark on Friday night. The Flyers extended their winning streak to four straight games. Over the past 10 games, Philadelphia has posted a record of 6-2-2.
Matt Read's overtime goal on a 2-on-1 rush won the game for Philadelphia. In regulation, power play goals by Wayne Simmonds and Claude Giroux were later supplemented by a third-period go-ahead goal by Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. Jakub Voracek collected two assists. Michal Neuvirth shook off an early mistake to stop 15 of 18 shots and earn the win.
For New Jersey, Stefan Matteau and Kyle Palmieri scored in the first and early third periods before Mike Cammalleri tied the game on the power play with exactly one minute left in regulation and the Devils pressing the attack on a 6-on-4 with the goaltender pulled. Cory Schneider finished with 21 saves on 25 shots.
Philadelphia went 2-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.
The Flyers had to play through various setbacks in the game: an early soft goal on New Jersey's first shot after Philly had all the early pressure, giving back a pair of one-goal leads and being unable to hang on for a regulation victory. Each time, Philly responded the right way.
In the first period, the Flyers generated all the early pressure, dominating in puck possession and keeping the Devils hemmed in deep. For most of the period, the Flyers did a strong job at gaining the New Jersey zone with solid puck possession. However, it was New Jersey that struck for the game's first goal.
On a harmless side-angle backhander by Matteau, the puck hit Neuvirth’s right pad, and then trickled in between his legs and the post at 6:36. The unassisted goal was Matteau's first tally of the season.
After the Flyers killed off a questionable delay of game penalty on Evgeny Medvedev and applying heavy pressure on a delayed tripping penalty on Andy Greene, the Flyers went on the power play at 9:43. Thirteen sections later, they cashed in for a goal.
Giroux won a left circle faceoff, and the Flyers had instant puck control. A tic-tac-toe passing sequence followed monents later from Giroux to Voracek to Simmonds, who got the puck off his foot and it went into the net before he could tap into the net with his stick. There was no kicking motion on the play, and the review was very brief. Voracek and Giroux each got their 13th assists of the season on Simmonds' seventh goal of the season and fourth goal in the last three games.
After the goal, Philadelphia continued to get the better of most of the play, making it tough for the Devils to get much beyond the red line. When the Devils did navigate the neutral zone, they either had one-and-done rushes or dump-ins that the Flyers quickly retrieved and steered right back out of the defensive zone.
Shots in the period were 9-5 in the Flyers' favor. Shot attempts were 15-9 for the Flyers. The Flyers did not have any attempts blocked but missed the net on six attempts. The Devils had two shot attempts blocked and missed on two others. Brayden Schenn was credited with three of the 10 hits awarded to the Flyers in the first period. New Jersey was credited with four hits.
The start of the second period was rather tight-checking, with much of the time spent in the neutral zone or the Devils' end. Nick Schultz broke up a would-be scoring chance, while Evgeny Medvedev made several good plays in all three zones.
At 3:07, Colin McDonald was called for interference on a play near the Flyers' blueline that would otherwise have created a counterattack for Philadelphia had it not been called. The Devils applied heavy pressure late in the kill but Philly survived it for ther 23rd straight successful kill.
Right after the penalty kill, Giroux was tripped by Kyle Palmieri at the 5:20 mark. Philadelphia then got a 1:24-length 5-on-3 when Greene flipped the puck over the glass from the defensive zone.
With nine seconds left on the two-man advantage, Giroux setttled a pass from Voracek, partially double-clutched as Schneider dived across the crease and then calmly flipped the puck upstairs. Voracek and Shayne Gostisbehere got the assists on Giroux's ninth goal of the season. Time of the power play goal was 7:12.
At the 10:22 mark, Scott Laughton and New Jersey's Bobby Farnham. It was a short fight but before both players went to the ice, Laughton landed one good shot.
The Flyers continued to assert territorial control. Through the first 11:31 of the period, New Jersey still only had one shot for the period. Shortly after that, however, New Jersey generated three shots in the span of one shift. Neuvirth was equal to all three.
New Jersey strung together more pressure over the next few minutes. Finally, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare helped to calm things down with good plays at both ends of the ice.
With just 8.5 seconds left in the period, Brayden Schenn received an elbowing penalty from a glancing collision with Schneider in the New Jersey zone. With time about to expire in the period, Neuvirth made his best stop of the game up to that point with a sprawling save on a buzzer-beater attempt by Mike Cammalleri.
Shots in the second period ended up 8-7 in the Flyers' favor (17-12 overall in Philly's favor) after Philadelphia's lopsided edge over the first half of the frame. Flyers didn’t allow a single Devils even strength attempt -- let alone a shot -- for the first 10:38 of the period. Attempts ended up
17-11 in the Flyers' favor (32-20 overall to the Flyers' advantage). The Flyers had six attempts blocked (six overall) and missed the net three times (nine overall). New Jersey had two shot attempts blocked (four overall) and missed the net twice (four overall).
Just after the Schenn penalty expired, the Devils knotted the score at 2-2. A puck bounced off Luke Schenn to a wide open Palmieri just inside the hash marks. From a point-blank shooting angle, Palmieri buried the puck before Neuvirth had any chance to get over. Elias and Cammalleri got the assists on Palmieri's 10th goal of the season. Time of the goal was 1:55.
Right after New Jersey tied the score, the Devils got a 2-on-1 rush. They were unable to score to take the lead. At 2:53, there was a scrum near the Flyers' bench with Chris VandeVelde and Farnham in the middle of it. At the 4:55 mark, Neuvirth robbed Palmieri with a glove save moments after Medvedev made a bad turnover to Cammalleri.
Scott Laughton had a good forechecking shift with with passing the 6:30 mark. Philadelphia generated its first significant offensive zone time of the period but New Jersey answered back on the next shift.
At the 9:30 mark, the Flyers regained the lead at 3-2. The sequence started with a VandeVelde deflecting a shot off the cross bar and then continued with a good keep by Schultz at the blueline. Medvedev then fired a nice low shot, which VandeVelde deflected on net. Bellemare finished it off by outworking the defense and potting the rebound. VandeVelde and Medvedev earned their respective third assists of the season on Bellemare's second goal of the season.
Simmonds and Jordin Tootoo both went off for minors after a scrum along the bench-side boards at 13:12. After five-on-five play resumed Bellemare and VandeVelde had a strong shift to pin New Jersey in their own zone,
With 2:21 left in regulation, Bellemare made a diving sweep at the puck in the New Jersey end but ended up tripping Jacob Josefson. The Devils went to their third power play of the game and made it a 6-on-4 midway through as the pulled Schneider for an extra attacker.
Finally, a bouncing puck on a deflected pass went to an open Cammalleri in the lower right circle and he threaded a shot through Neuvirth for a game-tying power play goal at 19:00. Lee Stempniak and Tyler Kennedy got the assists on Cammalleri's 10th goal of the season.
The Flyers' penalty killing streak ended at 24 straight kills as the Devils forced overtime.
Shots in the third period were 6-6 (23-18 Flyers through regulation). Attempts were 9-9 (41-29 Flyers overall). The Flyers had two attempts blocked (eight overall) and missed the net once (11 overall). New Jersey had two shot attempted blocked (six overall) and missed the net once (five times overall).
Voracek hit the goal post on an open left slot shot set up by Giroux on the first shift of overtime. With 1:36 left in overtime, the game end on a 2-on-1 rush for the Flyers. Read stripped a puck away from Palmieiri and broke up the ice with Couturier joining him. Read moved in slowly, saw that Greene was conceding a shot to take away the pass and stickhandled in closer and closer. Finally, Read wristed a shot from the left hash mark that hit Schneider in the left shoulder and bounced in to end the game.
The unassisted goal by Read at 3:24 was his fourth of the season and the first overtime goal of his NHL career. Shots in overtime were 2-0 Flyers. The Flyers missed the net once and blocked both New Jersey shot attempts.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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