Flyers Finish Rough Weekend With 5-2 Loss To The Devils
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Adam Henrique scored two goals and Keith Kinkaid had 25 saves in his return to the lineup to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 5-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night.
Jacob Josefson broke a second-period tie with a short-handed goal and defenseman Eric Gelinas added a power-play tally to help the Devils bounce back from a disappointing loss to Columbus and send the Flyers to their second loss in two days.
Stephen Gionta also scored and Steve Bernier added three assists in the game between teams whose playoff hopes are fading.
Ryan White and Michael Raffl scored for the Flyers, who did not seem at their best after blowing a late lead to Boston on Saturday before losing in overtime. Steve Mason had 16 saves.
The result left Philadelphia seven points behind Boston in the race for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Devils are 10 behind the Bruins, who have played two less games than the Flyers and one less than New Jersey.
The big goal for the Devils was Josefson's fourth of the season. With Devils' defenseman Adam Larsson off for hooking, defenseman Andy Greene sent a pass that Josefson carried into the Flyers zone and dropped to Gionta. Mason made the save on Gionta's shot but Josefson got the rebound and scored for a 2-1 lead.
Gelinas made it 3-1 late in the second period with a blast from the point that may have deflected off Pierre-Edouard Bellemare with 1:51 left in the period.
Henrique made it a three-goal lead with a 2-on-0 break with Bernier. Henrique carried the puck into the Flyers end, sent a pass to Bernier and slammed dunked the return pass into an open net.
Raffl got the Flyers to 4-2 with a short-handed goal with just over 8 minutes to play and Philadelphia nearly cut the margin to a goal a little more than a minute later but Sean Couturier could not finish a chance in front.
Seconds later, Patrik Elias sprung Gionta for a breakaway and he beat Mason for his fourth goal of the season.
NOTES: Scott Gomez had two assists and he now has 476 points as a Devil, tying him with Scott Niedermayer for fourth in team history. He also has 355 assists, moving past John MacLean for third in team history. ... The Devils took the season series 3-1. ... Flyers D Niklas Grossman missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury while fellow D Michael Del Zotto is expected to be sidelined 7-to-10 days with an upper-body injury. ... The Devils celebrated the 20th anniversary of their first Stanley Cup championship before the opening faceoff with most of the players and coaches from the squad being introduced.
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