One Devil of a time
Philadelphia hands NJ second straight loss
PHILADELPHIA — Jake Voracek thought he wasn't very good for most of the first two periods. The Flyers were plenty happy with his performance.
“You guys have to watch the game a little bit more, you know what I mean,” Voracek said. “It's not only about points.”
Voracek scored the go-ahead goal and added two assists, and Philadelphia finally played some solid defense in a 5-2 win over the Devils on Saturday.
Voracek, who was demoted from the Flyers' top line, took a loose puck at center ice and kept it himself on a 2-on-1 breakaway, beating Keith Kinkaid for his third goal of the season to put the Flyers ahead 3-2 with 3:10 remaining.
“I was thinking pass all the way,” Voracek said. “But their defenseman played tight to that side, and when I decided to shoot I was too close to the goalie, so I had to do something — and it worked.”
Earlier, Voracek stripped Will Butcher and made a crossice pass to Nolan Patrick for a tap-in goal that put the Flyers ahead 2-1 with about a minute left in the second period. Voracek added his second assist on Scott Laughton's empty-netter.
“I'm glad his expectations are high,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. “He's playing some really good hockey right now. With his dynamics he can change the look of a hockey game . ... If he wants to do more, that's good . ... Hey, we're.500, so everybody has got to be a little bit better.”
Travis Konecny also scored a goal and Wayne Simmonds added an empty-netter of his own for the Flyers, who limited the Devils to just 21 shots.
“To lose a game against a good team on the road, it was casual,” Boyle said. “Yeah, it's disappointing, but we gotta get better. All of us could be better. Everybody who goes on that bench, for every game we got to be ready to go, need to be dialed in. It's really disappointing.”
Simmonds' goal was his team-leading sixth of the season.
Severson put the Devils ahead just over four minutes into the game.
Boyle tied it for New Jersey with a power-play goal early in the third period. Hakstol challenged the goal, citing goaltender interference, and although Kyle Palmieri's skate was in the crease and made contact with Elliott's stick, replay officials ruled the contact was incidental and let the goal stand.
“We don't win many challenges here,” Elliott said. "So I wasn't surprised.”
NOTES: The Devils have scored at least one power-play goal in each of their six games. ... This was the Devils' first true road game of the season, although they played their season opener in Sweden against the Edmonton Oilers.