Devils snap 10-game skid in wild, 6-4 win over Flyers
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Yegor Sharangovich scored the go-ahead goal at 12:36 of the third period and the New Jersey Devils snapped a 10-game winless streak with a wild 6-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.
Nico Hischier, Pavel Zacha, Miles Wood and Connor Carrick also scored for the Devils, who saw the Flyers rally from third-period deficits twice to tie the game.
Mackenzie Blackwood made 26 saves as the Devils ended an 0-9-1 skid and won for the first time since April 8. Mikhail Maltsev scored into an empty net in the waning seconds to ice the game.
“It feels much better to come in the locker room and celebrate a win,” Hischier said. “And we got to learn from that. I think if you look at the game, wasn’t easy, but we found a way to bounce back every time. And at the end of all the matters is we broke that streak and finally got a win.”
Oskar Lindblom, Philippe Myers, Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier scored for the Flyers, who had rallied from a late two-goal deficit on Sunday to beat the Devils in a shootout. Brian Elliott made 21 saves for Philadelphia, whose playoffs hopes are all but gone.
The Devils built a 3-1 lead after two periods on power-play goals by Hischier and Zacha, and Wood's third goal in as many games.
Lindblom started the Flyers' comeback, scoring 15 seconds after Wood.
The third period was crazy with six goals. Myers, scoring for the first time in 37 games this season and Giroux, who scored the Flyers two third-period goals Sunday, scored in the opening 3:34 to tie the game at 3-all.
Carrick, who spent most of the season in the AHL, scored his first at 8:04 to give the Devils the lead, but Couturier tied the game at 12:25 with a shot from the side board.
Sharangovich got the winner 11 seconds later when Elliott and his defenseman misplayed the puck behind the net, and the Russian rookie deposited it into a vacant net.
“There’s been a few times where we’ve let those slip away this year and obviously we need to continue to work out learning how to win, and I think tonight was a step in the right direction for that,” said Devils defenseman Ty Smith, who had two assists.
The Flyers had two great chances to tie the game with their net empty. Devils defenseman Matt Tennyson used his stick to prevent Couturier from tying the game after he beat Blackwood, who also stopped Giroux in close before the Maltsev goal.
“We need to be better,” Couturier said. "We need to be more ready from the start of the game and be tougher to play for a whole game. We can be on and off. When we’re on, we’re one of the best teams, but we got to be more consistent.”
This was the second of four straight games between the teams. They will play again in New Jersey on Thursday and meet on Saturday in Philadelphia.
NOTES: Undrafted Russian defenseman Egor Zamula made his NHL debut for the Flyers. ... Devils forward Andreas Johnson was hurt Sunday and missed his first game of the game with a lower-body injury. ... New Jersey was 1 for 25 on the power play during the skid before converting on its first two chances. ... New Jersey is 5-17-3 at home. ... Flyers rookie Jackson Cates picked up his first NHL point. ... Jack Hughes had two assists for the Devils.
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