Jack Hughes, Dawson Mercer, and Fabian Zetterlund scored as the New Jersey Devils set a club record with their 11th consecutive road victory, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Saturday night.
Miles Wood contributed two assists for the Devils, who are one win away from tying the NHL record for consecutive road victories. New Jersey hasn’t lost away from home since losing its first road game of the season to the Flyers on Oct. 13. The Devils’ next road game is Dec. 12 against the Rangers.
“I think that’s a big accomplishment,” Mercer said. “Road games are hard, and to come away with that many it’s a special thing.”
The Devils, who recently had a 13-game winning streak, have won four of their last five games and 17 of their last 19 overall. New Jersey continued its surge despite being outplayed for the first two periods.
“It really was a challenge,” New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. I thought we were flat as a team. We had nobody carrying the play and skating well. We dug a little deep at the start of the third and created a little energy. We found a way to win.”
Travis Konecny and Lukas Sedlak scored for the Flyers, who have lost 12 of their last 13 games.
“I don’t think we had many lapses tonight,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said.
When asked again about his team’s effort, Tortorella got testy and responded, “Yes. You’re asking me dumb questions.” Then he left the interview room.
The Devils caught a break on Mercer’s goal, breaking a 1-all tie 1:49 into the third period. Flyers goalie Carter Hart went to play the puck behind the net after New Jersey dumped it into the zone. Hart waited too long and passed it to Wood. The puck deflected off Wood to Mercer, who put it on his forehand and scored into the open net.
“Me and (Wood) did a good job on that, and that ended up giving us a good start to the third period and gave us some life,” Mercer said.
Hart said there was a miscommunication with defenseman Nick Seeler.
“I’ve got to be better,” Hart said.
Hughes scored a more conventional goal with 13:04 remaining to give the Devils a 3-1 lead. He maneuvered his way in close, shot off Hart’s mask with a backhand try, and finished the rebound on the forehand for his team-leading 13th goal and 29th point. The tally gave him six goals and two assists during a five-game points streak.
Sedlak notched his third goal of the season on a slap shot with 4:48 left.
Philadelphia thought it had tied it just 38 seconds later when Joel Farabee’s backhander crossed the goal line, but the goal was waived off because Morgan Frost interfered with Devils goalie Akira Schmid.
Despite not performing their best, the Devils held on for the win.
“We’ve got a ways to go yet as a team,” Ruff said. “We weren’t very comfortable. You look at some of the plays that lacked composure, even late. You have to make a play under duress, and we didn’t, so it tells me we still have work to do as a team.”
Despite Philadelphia’s dominating play, New Jersey got on the board first when Zetterlund scored from close range 6:01 into the second period. It was just the Devils’ fifth shot of the contest and first of the second period, with the Flyers taking 17 shots to that point. After Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov turned the puck over behind the net, Wood passed in front to Zetterlund, who beat Hart for his fifth of the season.
The Flyers evened the score 1:40 later when Konecny finished a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play with Noah Cates and Kevin Hayes on the power play, scoring on a wrist shot past Schmid’s blocker side. The goal snapped an 0-for-20 skid on the man advantage for Philadelphia, which entered converting at a league-worst 13.3%.
Philadelphia continued to play a strong all-around game throughout the second period and entered the third outshooting the Devils 24-12. However, scoring remained a problem for the Flyers, who have a goal differential of minus-23.
Schmid, playing in his fifth game of the season and the 11th of his career, made 31 saves to improve to 5-0. He was 0-4 in six contests last year.
Game notes
The 2000-01 Devils held the previous club record for consecutive road wins. Detroit and Minnesota hold the NHL record, with Detroit winning 12 straight on the road during the 2005-06 season and Minnesota matching the feat in 2014-15. Wood returned to the lineup after missing Thursday’s 4-3 overtime loss to Nashville due to illness.
UP NEXT
- Devils: Host Chicago on Tuesday night.
- Flyers: Host Colorado on Monday night.
