NHL Preview: Philadelphia Flyers (9-14-7) at New Jersey Devils (21-6-2)

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS NOTES:

UPCOMING GAMES
DATE OPPONENT LOCATION TIME BROADCAST INFO.
Sat., Dec. 17 New York Rangers Wells Fargo Center 7 p.m. NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic
Tue., Dec. 20 Columbus Blue Jackets Wells Fargo Center 7 p.m. NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic
Thur., Dec. 22 Toronto Maple Leafs Scotiabank Arena 2 p.m. NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic

CURRENT INJURIES
PLAYER INJURY DATES GAMES MISSED
Wade Allison IR-oblique muscle strain, hip pointer 11/13-present 16
Cam Atkinson upper body 9/25-present 30
Sean Couturier IR-back 9/19-present 30
Ryan Ellis LTIR-groin/hip/back 10/11-present 30
Tanner Laczynski IR-lower body 12/7-present 4
2022-23 TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 171

PREVIOUS INJURIES
PLAYER INJURY DATES GAMES MISSED
James van Riemsdyk IR-upper body 10/27-12/5 20
Tony DeAngelo lower body 11/29 1
Travis Konecny IR-upper body 11/19-11/29 6
Scott Laughton upper body 11/21-11/26 4
Patrick Brown back 9/21-11/15 16
Carter Hart illness 11/8 1
Owen Tippett upper body 10/15-10/27 5
Rasmus Ristolainen lower body 10/13-10/27 6
Felix Sandstrom lower body 10/1-10/17 2

RECENT TRANSACTIONS
12/8 – Recalled D Cam York from Lehigh Valley and reassigned D Egor Zamula to the Phantoms (AHL)
12/6 – Placed F Tanner Laczynski on Injured Reserve
12/2 – Assigned F Kieffer Bellows to Lehigh Valley

FLYERS VS. DEVILS: HEAD-TO-HEAD
FLYERS DEVILS
123-108-31 ALL-TIME RECORD 121-115-26
75-40-17 HOME 74-44-12
48-68-14 ROAD 47-71-14
2-3-0 LAST 5 MEETINGS 3-2-0
4-6-0 LAST 10 MEETINGS 6-3-1
847 GOALS SCORED 770
20.8% POWER PLAY 21.7%
78.3% PENALTY KILL 79.2%
van Riemsdyk: 35 pts (17-18=35) in 46 GP
Provorov: 20 pts (4-16=20) in 29 GP
Hayes: 18 pts (6-12=18) in 31 GP
TEAM SCORING LEADERS Bratt: 18 pts (7-11=18) in 22 GP
Severson: 17 pts (7-10=17) in 36 GP
Tatar: 15 pts (8-7=15) in 26 GP
Hamilton: 15 pts (4-11=15) in 27 GP
Hart: 5-4-0, 2.13 GAA, .924 SV%, 1 SO in 9 GP
Sandstrom: Has not faced NJ
TEAM GOALTENDERS Vanecek: 0-2-0, 3.52 GAA, .878 SV% in 3 GP
Schmid: 1-0-0, 2.25 GAA, .927 SV% in 2 GP

2022-23 SEASON SERIES (ALL TIMES EASTERN)
October 13 Wells Fargo Center PHI (3), NJD (2)
December 3 Wells Fargo Center NJD (3), PHI (2)
December 15 Prudential Center 7 p.m.
February 25 Prudential Center 7 p.m.

TEAM NOTES
QUICK HITS

• Philadelphia plays 21 games in 40 days from Nov. 8-Dec. 17 – tied for the most games played among other NHL teams in that span (STL).
• The Flyers set a season-high 41 shots Dec. 11 at ARI and have outshot their opponents in six of the last eight games, posting a 2-3-1 record in those six contests.
• Philadelphia has allowed the opposing team to score first in 22 of its 30 games this season. The Flyers rank T-1st in the NHL with seven wins when trailing first in a game. The Flyers are 2-4-2 when scoring first.
• Philadelphia recorded a franchise-best 59 hits Nov. 12 vs. OTT. The 59 hits are tied for the ninth-most in a regular season game in NHL history.
• The Flyers lead the NHL with 923 hits and rank second with 554 blocked shots.
• Philadelphia ranks T-8th in the NHL in team rookie scoring percentage (9.6) and 10th in team rookie points (19).
• The rookies have netted a combined eight goals to rank seventh among NHL team rookie goal percentage (11.1) and T-8th in rookie goals.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

• Philadelphia concludes its four-game road trip Thursday – tied for its longest road trip of the season (also, Feb. 16-21 & April 2-8).
• Nine of the Flyers’ 11 games from Dec. 9-Jan. 2 are on the road.
• Philadelphia is 3-6-6 on the road this season and has earned a point in six of its last 10 road games (1-4-5).
• The Flyers face a Metropolitan Division opponent in four of the next five contests, Dec. 15-23, and is 0-2-3 on the road against a Metro Division team.

‘TIS THE SEASON

• The Flyers play 14 contests during the month of December, tied for their second-most in a month this season.
• Philadelphia will play six games at home and eight on the road, including the start to five road games in a row, Dec. 22-Jan. 2, that will be split up by the NHL Holiday Break, Dec. 24-26.
• Philadelphia owns a 353-225-82-32 all-time record for games played in the month of December – its second-most wins in a single month.
• The Flyers rank second in NHL history with a .592 winning percentage during the month of December (VGK – .730 in 63 all-time games) and rank seventh with 353 December wins.
• The December schedule also features Philadelphia’s 21st all-time game held on New Year’s Eve, it’s 20th on the road, when the Flyers visit the Kings on Dec. 31. Philadelphia is 9-7-2-2 all-time in New Year’s Eve contests, 8-7-2-2 on the road..

KONNECT FOUR

• Travis Konecny tallied an assist Tuesday night for his second point in as many games (1-1=2).
• He has six points (4-2=6) in the last seven games, including two power-play points (1-1=2).
• He owns 19 points (7-12=19) in his last 18 games, including four multi-point contests and a seven-game point streak (3-7=10), Nov. 2-15.
• He leads the team in goals (11), ranks T-1st in game-winning goals (2) and second in assists (14), points (25), shots (77) and multi-point games (7) this season.
• He tallied three goals in a season-high three-game goal streak, Dec. 1-5.
• The forward recorded his first career shorthanded assist/point vs. VAN (10/15).
• The 25-year-old netted two goals Oct. 13 vs. NJ for his 11th career multi-goal game. Per NHL Stats, he became the second player in Flyers history to have two-or-more multi-goal games in a season opener (Bill Barber, 3x, 10/9/80, 10/9/81 & 10/7/82).
• He ranks second in Flyers history in GWG (18), third in goals (121), fourth in scoring (296) and assists (175) and fifth in PPG (23) since entering the NHL in 2016-17.

LUCKY NUMBER 13

• Kevin Hayes owns five points (1-4=5) in the last six games.
• He owns 10 points (4-6=10) in the last 10 games.
• He owns 19 points (8-11=19) in the last 20 games, including a season-high six-game point streak (Nov. 12-21).
• The 30-year-old leads the team in assists (20), PPA (8), PPP (10) and points (29) and ranks second in goals (9) this season.
• The forward collected three PPP (1-2=3) in a three-game PPP streak, Dec. 3-7 – matching his career high PPP streak, set Oct. 13-18 (3a) this season.
• He collected back-to-back multi-point games (2-2=4), Nov. 26-29, for the sixth time in his career and leads the team with eight multi-point games this season.
• He collected eight points (1-7=8) in a career-high five-game season-opening point streak, Oct. 13-22.
• He tallied his 200th career assist Oct. 19 at FLA.

JvR

• James van Riemsdyk netted his fourth goal of the season Tuesday night.
• He owns five points (2-3=5) in the last two games.
• The winger tied his career-high four points (1-3=4) for the third time on Dec. 11 at ARI.
• He missed 20 games this season due to an upper-body injury, Oct. 27-Dec. 5.
• The 33-year-old opened the season on a four-game point streak (2-3=5), Oct. 13-19.

SANNY ON A ROLL

• Travis Sanheim set a season-high 27:42 TOI Sunday at ARI and owns five points (2-3=5) in the last eight games, including a season-high four-game point streak, Nov. 29-Dec. 5.
• He owns seven points (2-5=7) in the last 11 games and nine points (3-6=9) in the last 13 contests.
• He netted his first career shorthanded goal Nov. 29 vs. NYI to become the 41st defenseman in Flyers history to record a SHG.
• The blueliner ranks second on the team in assists (6) and scoring (9) and fourth in goals (3) since Nov. 19 and ranks T-3rd among NHL defensemen in even-strength points (8) and ranks T-5th in goals in that span.
• The 26-year-old signed an eight-year, $50 million contract extension ($6.25 AAV) on Oct. 13.

WHOLE LOT OF HART

• Carter Hart stopped 24-of-29 shots through overtime Sunday at ARI to move to a 2-3-2 record in his last seven starts.
• He is 3-2-5 on the road this season, including a 0-1-4 record in his last five road starts.
• Dec. 5th’s contest was Hart’s 70th career victory to become the 11th goaltender in Flyers history to reach 70-plus wins
  (NHL Stats).
• The backstop has seen 30-plus shots in 13 of his 22 games this season – he is 7-1-5 in those contests.
• He ranks third among NHL goaltenders in shots against (684) and saves (622) this season.
• He opened the season on an eight-game point streak (6-0-2) to become the fourth goaltender in team history to have started a season on an eight-game plus point streak: Pete Peeters (22-0-5 in 1979-80), Bob Froese (9-0-1 in 1982-83) and Dominic Roussel (8-0-0 in 1993-94). (NHL Stats)
• He made a career-high 48 shots and tied his career high with 51 shots faced vs. FLA on Oct. 27.
• He recorded a career-high season-opening five-game win streak.
• Per NHL Stats, he became the seventh goaltender in Flyers history to win each of his first five games of a season and first since Ron Hextall (5-0-0 in 1995-96). The longest such stretch in franchise history is eight straight games, achieved by Dominic Roussel (1993-94) and Bob Froese (1982-83).
• The 24-year-old’s 48 saves tied for the eighth-most by a Flyers goaltender while his 51 shots faced T-10th. Per NHL Stats, his 48 saves mark the highest single game save total by a Flyers goaltenders since Steve Mason on March 22, 2016 (51 at CBJ).
• Outside of Philadelphia, he only has one NHL team he has not earned a win against: St. Louis.

IVAN THE GREAT

• Ivan Provorov recorded his 200th career NHL point (assist) Nov. 26 at NYI to become the seventh defenseman in Flyers history to reach the 200-plus point milestone.
• He ranks T-4th in team history for goals by a defenseman with Shayne Gostisbehere (60).
• The blueliner ranks third on the team in assists (11) and shots (64) and ranks fifth in hits (52) this season.
• The 25-year-old leads the Flyers and ranks second in the NHL with 75 blocked shots.
• The Russian native’s 10 blocked shots on Oct. 13 tied the franchise record for most in a game for the third time: Andrew MacDonald (3/11/16); Provorov (11/2/17 & 10/13/22).

CZECH HIM OUT

• Lukas Sedlak has five points (2-3=5) in the last nine contests.
• He registered two assists Nov. 29 vs. NYI, including his first career shorthanded assist.
• He recorded back-to-back multi-point games for the first time in his career (1-3=4), Nov. 26-29, and has three multipoint games on the season.
• The forward has eight points (3-5=8) with the Flyers since being claimed on waivers from Colorado on Oct. 19.
• The Czech Republic native’s five assists are his second-most in a season (6 in 2016-17) and his eight points are tied for his second-most in a season (13 in 2016-17, 8 in 2017-18).

NEW JERSEY DEVILS NOTES:

LAST GAME
Dallas Stars 4 New Jersey Devils 1
(17-8-5—39 PTS) (21-6-2—43 PTS)
Three Stars: 1. S. Wedgewood 2. A. Schmid 3. R. Hintz

Goals:
DAL: T. Dellandrea, R. Hintz, E. Lindell (ENG), M. Marchment (ENG)
SCORE 1
ST 2
ND 3
RD OT SO FINAL
Dallas 0 2 2 – – 4
DEVILS 0 1 0 – – 1
New Jersey Devils: Media Notes
NJD: M. Wood
Game Summary | Event Summary

INJURIES/ILLNESS
PLAYER INJURY OUT SINCE GAMES MISSED
Jonathan Bernier – LTIR Lower-body, hip 2021-22 29
Ondrej Palat I.R. Lower-body Retro-active to Oct. 24 23
Nate Bastian Upper-Body Nov. 27 7
2022-23 Total Man-Games Lost to Injury/illness: 80

DATE PLAYER ACTION
12/1 Nico Daws Reassigned to Utica
12/2 Andreas Johnsson Recalled from Utica
12/13 Mackenzie Blackwood Assigned to Utica (conditioning loan)

The Devils hit the ice for the second game of a three-game homestand that concludes on Sat., Dec. 17, vs Florida. Jersey’s team is winless in three consecutive games (0-2-1) for the first time this season. Prior to the streak, the last time the Devils suffered a loss in consecutive games was when the team opened the 2022-23 campaign vs Philadelphia and Detroit (Oct. 13-15). The Devils haven’t lost consecutive home games since Apr. 21, 2022, to Apr. 24, when the team dropped three consecutive games at home. After Tuesday’s loss, the Devils recorded less than two goals in a game (1-2-0) for the third time this season. The last time the Devils earned one goal in a game was Nov. 23, vs TOR (2-1, L). The Devils announced on Tue., Dec. 13 that the team loaned Mackenzie Blackwood to Utica for conditioning purposes. The last time that Blackwood played in a game for New Jersey’s AHL affiliate was on Feb. 22, 2019, with Binghamton. The team’s 21 wins after its first 29 games to open a season tied a franchise record for the most victories over that span: 2009-10, 21-7-1. The most wins after 30 games played to start a season in franchise history is 21 wins, which was earned in 2009-10 and 1997-98. The team’s +33 goal differential is also tied for first in franchise history, after 29 games played to start a season (1997-98). After the Rangers defeated Jersey’s team 4-3 in overtime on Monday, the Devils suffered their first road loss since the team’s season opener on Oct. 13, at Philadelphia (5-2, L). The loss ended the team’s franchise record of an 11-game road winning streak, while the NHL record was 12 games earned by Detroit in 2005-06 and Minnesota in 2014-15. Per NHL Pr, the Devils are the third team in NHL history that earned 10+ home and road wins through a team’s first 26 games of a season:

Boston: 1929-30
Chicago: 2012-13

Jersey’s team is 19-2-2 when scoring three-or-more goals in a contest this season. The team has lost consecutive games in regulation once this season, which dates to Jersey’s opening two games via Oct. 13 to 15. The Devils are 11-5-1 vs the Eastern Conference and 5-3-1 vs the Metropolitan Division. The Devils entered the month of December with a share of first place, or sole possession, atop the League standings for the first time in franchise history. Jersey’s team is 14-4-1 when scoring first this season, which ranks third (tied, DAL) behind Vegas (16-4-0) and Boston (16-0-0), as of Dec. 14. The Devils are 7-2-1 when trailing first this season, and the two regulation losses are tied for the fewest with Toronto (7-2- 3) for this matter. Jersey’s team is 18-1-2 when Nico Hischier recorded a point in a game this season and 10-1-1 when Jack Hughes scored a goal in a game for 2022-23. The Devils have allowed 1, or fewer, goals against nine times this season in a game. Jersey’s team allowed one, or fewer goals against, in a game just eight times all of last season.

THE RANKS
STAT NHL RANK
GA/GP, 2.45, 3RD
GF/GP 3.59, 6TH
SA/GP 26.7, 2ND
SF/GP 34.7, 4TH
(Per one day before gameday)

Since 1994-95, the franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship, the Devils have finished a season averaging under 25 shots against, per game seven times:

23.7 1997-98
24.7 1998-99
24.7 2000-01
23.2 2001-02
23.6 2002-03
24.4 2003-04
23.1 2012-13

The team clinched a playoff berth in six of those seasons, while winning a Stanley Cup championship in 2002-03, plus advancing to the Stanley Cup final in 2000-01. The team didn’t clinch a playoff berth in the shortened (lockout year) in 2012-13. Since 1994-95, the team’s highest shots per game total is 33.1, which was earned in 1999-00. The team then won its second Stanley Cup championship. Head coach Lindy Ruff became the fifth bench boss in NHL history who earned 800 wins. Only four other NHL coaches all-time are in the “800 club.”

S. Bowman: 1,244 wins
Joel Quenneville: 969 wins
Barry Trotz: 914 wins
Ken Hitchcock: 849 wins

The Devils officially announced and revealed their second-ever Adidas Reverse Retro sweater, which turns back the clock and nods to the franchise’s Colorado roots. The team is scheduled to wear the sweaters four times this season and twice on the road:

Dec. 3, at PHI, 7:00 P.M. 3-2, W
Dec. 9, vs NYI, 7:00 P.M. 6-4, L
Dec. 30, at PIT, 7:00 P.M.
Jan. 7, vs NYR, 1:00 P.M.
2022-23 TEAM STATS

RECORD ON DAYS OF THE WEEK
The Devils record on Thursday in 2022-23…4-1-1…at home: 1-0-1…road: 3-1-0
Record in night games in 2022-23…18-6-2…home: 8-5-1…road: 10-1-1
Record in day games in 2022-23…3-0-0…home: 2-0-0…road: 1-0-0
2022-23 Alternate jersey record…3-1-0

RECORD WHEN SCORING FIRST
Scoring first…14-4-1…Trailing first…7-2-1
Longest duration of a game this season: 2 hours, 42 minutes, 11/23, vs TOR, 7:12pm – 9:54pm
GOALS BY PERIOD

PERIOD GOALS FOR/AGAINST DIFFERENTIAL
1 27-22 +5
2 43-28 +15
3 31-19 +12
OT 3-2 +1
TOTAL 104-71 +33
The team’s +36 goal differential ranks second in the NHL, while Boston ranked first with a +48 differential, per Dec. 14.

BACK-TO-BACK GAMES
Overall: 3-2-1
First game: 1-1-1 | home: 0-1-0 | road: 1-0-1
Second game: 2-1-0 | home: 1-1-0 | road: 1-0-0