Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

NHL on NBCSN: Flyers take momentum to New Jersey

Philadelphia Flyers v New Jersey Devils

<> during the first period of an NHL hockey game at Prudential Center on November 2, 2013 in Newark, New Jersey.

Paul Bereswill

NBCSN continues its coverage of the 2013-14 campaign tonight when the New Jersey Devils host the Philadelphia Flyers at the Prudential Center at 7:30 p.m. ET. In addition to NBCSN, you can also watch the game online.

Through eight games, the Flyers and Devils had one thing in common: They had both earned a single victory. Both teams have undone much of the damage caused by those disastrous starts, but Philadelphia’s success has stood out.

The Flyers’ anemic offense, which only managed to score more than two goals in one of their first 15 games, has woken up. Meanwhile goaltender Steve Mason has remained solid despite a few rough patches. That’s allowed Philadelphia to win seven of its last nine matches, including four out of five contests on their current road trip.

Editor’s Note: Pro Hockey Talk’s partner FanDuel is hosting a $2,000 Fantasy Hockey league for Tuesday night’s NHL games. It’s just $10 to join and first prize is $400. Starts Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. ET. Here’s the FanDuel link.

Just as noteworthy is the amount of determination the Flyers have shown lately. During their road trip, they overcame 2-0 deficits against Edmonton and Phoenix and edged out Vancouver in a back-and-forth match.

“I think we learned the hard way at the start of the year,” Flyers captain Claude Giroux told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Even if we’re down a couple of goals, we stay with the system, we stay with the way we’re playing. We play a patient game and play the way we should.”

The picture isn’t nearly that rosy in New Jersey. They’ve been largely mediocre lately, but the big story is the absence of forward Patrik Elias. The Devils have lost two straight contests since he was banged up on Tuesday. He’s on the injured reserve list, so they will still have a major hole in their lineup tonight.

The Devils have only averaged 2.35 goals per game this season and with Elias gone, their only major offensive threat is 41-year-old Jaromir Jagr.

That will put the pressure on goaltender Martin Brodeur to be the Devils’ best player tonight. That wasn’t an issue for him earlier this season when he held Philadelphia to just two goals over two games in early November, but that was before the Flyers started to heat up. He’ll be facing a much tougher opponent this time around.

It also helps that this match is in the Prudential Center where Brodeur has a 1.74 GAA and .926 save percentage this season.

This could very well be Brodeur’s last campaign and although it initially looked like it would be a painfully bad season for the Devils, there’s still hope for them to make the playoffs. Naturally beating a Metropolitan Division rival tonight would go a long way towards helping them stay in the running.

Follow @RyanDadoun