The New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Flyers are on hot streaks going into their second meeting in a week on Saturday night in Newark, N.J.
The Devils shut out the host Buffalo Sabres 5-0 on Friday for their third straight win, while the Flyers’ 4-3 shootout decision over the New York Islanders on Friday in Elmont, N.Y., was their fourth victory in five games.
The Devils and Flyers met last Saturday in Philadelphia, with the Flyers winning 6-3.
On Friday, Jake Allen made 42 saves in recording the shutout for New Jersey against Buffalo after being in goal for the loss to Philadelphia.
“It was good, great game for me. I really wanted to bounce back after that game in Philly,” Allen said. “(Jacob Markstrom, the team’s other goalie) had a couple of great games; guys found ways to win. I want to find a way to contribute here on the road. I think we all know internally that (our) road game needs to be a little bit better (the team is 7-7-0 away from home), and we found a way to win here and get some momentum going.”
Arseny Gritsyuk had two goals while defenseman Brenden Dillon and Paul Cotter had a goal and an assist each. Captain Nico Hischier also scored to run his point streak to four games (nine points on five goals and four assists.)
Ondrej Palat added two assists.
“We wanted to make them have to come 200 feet as much as we could,” Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. “And you can see when you don’t just how dangerous Buffalo is. We were able to get on top of them and earn enough offense to take control of the game. … And I thought for the most part our guys managed it well, and when we didn’t, Jake Allen was outstanding.”
The Flyers won on Friday despite blowing a 3-0 second-period lead.
“After a good start, getting to a lead, and then, just unfortunate,” defenseman Travis Sanheim said. “They had a couple of plays that happened that allowed them to get some momentum and get back in it, and they took advantage of it. And then just a resilient effort to stay with it and not fall apart. And (goaltender Samuel) Ersson kept us in it.”
Tyson Foerster, Sean Couturier and Trevor Zegras scored for the Flyers, and Ersson stopped 28 shots.
Foerster and Couturier scored 22 seconds apart in the opening period to make it 2-0 after the first 20 minutes. Foerster has five goals in his last five games.
“We were up 3-0. The second was a little bit … there were some penalties and a couple of unfortunate plays,” Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said. “But we hung in there. It was a little bit ugly. But give the guys credit for scratching and clawing. That’s a big two points for us.”
Travis Konecny scored the winning goal in the shootout, and Zegras also scored in the skills competition. Ersson stopped Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat.
The Flyers had to kill off a four-minute Islanders power play in the last seven minutes of the third period after a high-sticking double minor to Matvei Michkov.
