by Bob Herpen
Phanatic Hockey Editor
Scott Hartnell tallied twice and Danny Briere added the go-ahead and insurance goals in the third period as the Philadelphia Flyers downed the New Jersey Devils, 4-2, in the opener of a home-and-home series from Prudential Center.
Ville Leino recorded a career-high three assists and Matt Carle chipped in two helpers for the Flyers, who have taken three of four and remained one point behind Pittsburgh (56-55) in the Atlantic Division and in the Eastern Conference standings.
Brian Boucher improved to 9-4-2 on the year with an 18-save performance.
Dainius Zubrus and David Clarkson provided the offense for the Devils, who dropped their third straight and ninth in 10 outings. Johan Hedberg allowed all four goals on 20 shots in defeat.
New Jersey lost without the services of its captain, Jamie Langenbrunner, who was a healthy scratch. Multiple reports during the contest indicated that the veteran forward waived his no-trade clause and is awaiting a deal.
Flyers general manager reportedly pursued Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello during the game in an attempt to come to terms on a trade. Holmgren, according to sources, offered two draft picks to New Jersey for the two-time Stanley Cup winner several days ago but that appears to have been rejected.
Despite misfiring on an early power play, the visitors took a 3-2 advantage at 2:48 of the third period when Briere corralled a bouncing Leino pass and beat Hedberg with a wrister from the slot.
The visitors picked up an insurance tally with 8:26 remaining, when Briere's attempted centering pass for Hartnell on the right wing deflected off the skate of Devils defenseman Colin White and rolled by Hedberg.
New Jersey went with an extra skater for the final 1:14 but failed to make a dent in its deficit.
The Flyers came out strongly from the opening faceoff, but squandered a pair of 2-on-1 chances in the first 90 seconds, with Mike Richards missing high and wide on the first and Briere hitting the crossbar on the second.
After a Philadelphia power play went by the wayside, the Devils notched the game's first goal with 8:23 left in the first when Zubrus tipped in a right-point shot from Anton Volchenkov. Hedberg was quick to use the pokecheck later in the period to stop a James van Riemsdyk rush and it was a one-goal Devils edge at intermission.
Philly finally hit the scoreboard late in the second period thanks to a lucky bounce.
Hedberg left his net in an attempt to track down a dump-in from Leino, but the puck caromed back into the slot for Hartnell, who made no mistake on the backhand with 4:14 left.
The Devils were the beneficiary of a late review which gave them a 2-1 lead.
Clarkson broke in and lifted a shot that appeared to ring off the crossbar in the center of the net, but the puck returned to play too quickly to draw a whistle. Over a minute later once action was stopped, a review determined the disc struck the back brace of the net and the clock was rewound to 2:20 remaining.
Unbowed, Hartnell charged the crease and redirected a centering feed by Leino for a 2-2 tie with 66 seconds left in the second.
Notes: Hartnell notched his second multi-goal game of the season and first since November 1 against Carolina...Briere leads Philly with 20 goals and picked up his first multi-goal effort since December 9 at Toronto...Prior to the game, the Flyers recalled defenseman Danny Syvret from Adirondack of the AHL...The Devils fell to 10-28-2 on the season, their worst record at the 40-game mark since going
8-30-2 in 1983-84...There has been just one Flyers hat trick against the Devils in franchise history, when Rick Tocchet tallied three times in a 7-1 win on November 20, 1988.
No comments:
Post a Comment