PHILADELPHIA – Coach John Tortorella has made it clear the Flyers can’t afford any less-than-full efforts if they hope to make some real noise down the stretch.
Monday night’s performance against the New Jersey Devils is what he’s looking for.
The Flyers streaked to a 3-0 lead just a few minutes into the second period and went on to a 4-2 win at the Wells Fargo Center, making it two wins in two weeks vs. their interstate rivals.
For the season, the Flyers moved their record to 23-22-6.
The Flyers led with four minutes to go when the Devils pulled their goalie and scored with 1:22 to play on a goal by Timo Meier. But the Flyers got an empty-net goal from Scott Laughton with 14.7 seconds left in the match to wrap it up.
Almost needless to say, the Flyers needed this one. They had dropped two straight at New York and Long Island and wanted to get things back on track.
“I mean, big game tonight,” said Rasmus Ristolainen, who registered two assists to give him 300 points for his NHL career. “Obviously against a division rival. We know every game is super important this time of the year.”
Garnet Hathaway not only scored what turned out to be the winning goal but kept the Devils off their game with some rough stuff. And getting an early lead was important, too.
“For us to not be chasing the game, forcing plays and the lead like we did, it kind of helped us find our game,” Hathaway said. “Just be a little simpler with the puck. We weren’t stretching ourselves out to make plays. We were controlling the play I thought.”
After getting off to slow starts in recent losses to the Rangers and Islanders, the Flyers quickly reversed that trend with two rapid-fire goals in the first period.
A rare power-play goal kicked things off. The Flyers won a faceoff and Bobby Brink wound up with the puck just above the left circle. His slap shot eluded goaltender Jake Allen at 10:58.
It took only 34 seconds for the Flyers to strike again.
This time Joel Farabee and Laughton worked a give-and-go. Allen stopped Laughton’s initial shot but Farabee pounced on the rebound and shoved the puck into the net for his second goal in the last four games.
“It’s never easy when you play the same team twice in a week,” Farabee said. “They’re a little banged up (leading goal scorer Nico Hischier is out of the lineup) and their goalie (Jacob Markstrom). We kind of knew we had to take advantage.
“I thought we played pretty well first period. Gave a little bit back in the second. At the end of the day we found a way to win. That’s all that really matters.”
In the second period, the Flyers moved to a 3-0 lead on a goal by Hathaway at 2:49. Hathaway, who was jawing with several Devils players throughout the game, tipped a Ristolainen shot into the net.
The Devils finally got on the board with 1:13 to play in the period. Ersson got a piece of Dougie Hamilton’s shot but the puck hopped in the air and fell back into the net as Travis Sanheim tried to swipe the puck away with his stick.
>Ersson bounces back
After a tough outing in a 6-1 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden last Thursday, goalie Samuel Ersson recovered with a strong effort.
His numbers for the season, 15-8-2 with a sub-2.80 goals-against average, are starting to look pretty good.
“You have to be aware when they have those top two lines out there on the ice (one centered by Jack Hughes, the other by Dawson Mercer),” Ersson said. “We did a good job with that. Blocked a lot of shots (25).”
Added Tortorella: “He (Ersson) made some key saves at key times.”
>Key sequence
Ristolainen took a double-minor just 3:50 into the game but the Flyers didn’t buckle. The feeling was the Flyers got some momentum off that key kill, especially off the No. 2 power play in the NHL.
“Early in the game, to have something like that happen against a pretty good power play and the way we killed it, I thought was really good,” Tortorella said. “It certainly helped us to start the game.”
>Short shots
The Flyers and Devils meet again on Wednesday at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. . .It was First Responders Night at the Wells Fargo Center and a number of rescue personnel were honored before and during the game. Garnet Hathaway leads the effort for this cause. . .The Devils will be without starting goaltender Markstrom for at least a month. He suffered a sprained MCL in his knee during a game at Boston on Jan. 22. . .The Flyers entered the game with just 22 power-play goals, ranked 29th in the league. . .Tortorella liked the way Laughton performed after missing three games. “He played well,” the coach said. “Utility, I used him all over the place.”
