Devils blank Flyers to snap seven-game skid
NEWARK, N.J. -- Playing their most complete game in recent memory, the New Jersey Devils snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 4-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night at the Prudential Center.
Goaltender Cory Schneider rebounded from a shaky performance in Tuesday's 5-1 home-ice loss to the Nashville Predators and stopped all 16 shots he faced to earn his first shutout of the season, and 22nd of his career. His most impressive stop was a diving glove save along the goal line early in the second period to rob Philadelphia's Michael Raffl.
P.A. Parenteau and Adam Henrique each had a goal and an assist for the Devils (13-13-7), who had not won a game since Dec. 6. The loss marks only the second time this season that the high-scoring Flyers (20-12-4) were shut out.
The Devils jumped on a Flyers team that had played an overtime game the night before against the Washington Capitals, grabbing a 2-0 lead less than 14 minutes into the contest.
Parenteau opened the scoring at 7:40, deflecting Michael Cammalleri's power play slap shot off Flyers goalie Steve Mason and over the goal line for his eighth of the season. Then at 13:26, rookie Miles Wood chipped the rebound of Henrique's shot into the cage for his fourth goal.
Fireworks were set off 22 seconds later when Brandon Manning dropped New Jersey's Sergey Kalinin to the ice with a hard, high hit. A scrum ensued, and four players were sent off for roughing minors.
That was just the beginning of the bad blood. Before the first period was over, 46 penalty minutes were assessed, including fighting majors to Seth Helgeson and Cammalleri of the Devils, and Dale Weise and Nick Cousins of the Flyers.
Though the second period began with six players sitting in the penalty boxes, things settled down considerably, and only two minors were called in the next twenty minutes.
Henrique buried a Taylor Hall feed at 13:49 of the second to extend New Jersey's lead to 3-0 with his eighth of the season.
NOTES: The Devils had not lost eight games in a row since a 10-game slide (0-6-4) from March 25-April 15, 2013. ... D Seth Helgeson was called up from AHL Albany on Thursday and took the place of veteran D Kyle Quincey in the Devils lineup. To make room for Helgeson on the roster, New Jersey placed C Jacob Josefson (upper body) on IR. ... The other Devils scratches were RW Nick Lappin and RW Devante Smith-Pelly. ... The Flyers remained without C Sean Couturier, RW Matt Read and G Michal Neuvirth, who all are on IR. ... The Flyers scratches were D Mark Streit (upper body), D Nick Schultz and C Boyd Gordon.