Devils at Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are on a bit of a roll, but it very well may be too late for them to sneak their way into the playoffs. Philadelphia, which trails Boston by six points for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference with five games remaining, looks to stay alive when it hosts the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.
The Flyers, who also have three other teams standing between themselves and the Bruins, are on a three-game winning streak during which they outscored their opponents 14-7 and captured four in a row at home - including Thursday's 6-3 triumph over the New York Islanders. Wayne Simmonds recorded three points in the victory, including his team-leading 30th goal, and is two tallies shy of matching the career high he set last season. New Jersey dropped to 2-13-4 over its last 19 contests with Friday's 2-1 road loss to the New York Islanders and lost nine straight on the road since topping Columbus on Feb. 4. Despite being unable to end a playoff drought that will reach five seasons, the Devils dominated the Flyers this campaign, outscoring their Metropolitan Division rivals 14-3 in winning the first three meetings.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG Plus (New Jersey), CSN Philadelphia
ABOUT THE DEVILS (27-36-14): Patrik Elias, the franchise's all-time leader in goals (408), assists (617), points (1,025), power-play tallies (113) and game-winners (80), announced he's hanging up his skates after spending his entire 20 seasons in the NHL with the club. A four-time All-Star who was a member of two of New Jersey's Stanley Cup-winning teams, the 40-year-old Czech underwent knee surgery after the 2015-16 season and was not re-signed but had hoped to return to the Devils before making his final decision. "I'm fortunate enough that ownership and the whole organization and everybody and the coaches and the guys gave me the time and the opportunity to come to the decision on my own time," Elias, whose No. 26 will be retired by the franchise next season, told reporters. "That's just so important because I cannot imagine how hard it is for some guys when their careers end overnight."
ABOUT THE FLYERS (37-32-8): Steve Mason won each of his last four starts and needs one more victory to reach 200 for his career. Dale Weise recorded seven points - four goals - in his last nine games and is two shy of the century mark in the NHL. Jakub Voracek leads Philadelphia with 58 points and is one goal away from reaching the 20-goal plateau for the fourth time in his career.
OVERTIME
1. Devils LW Mike Cammalleri returned to the lineup Friday after missing 13 games with an upper-body injury while D Michael Kapla made his NHL debut after signing with the team out of UMass Lowell on Tuesday.
2. Philadelphia signed C Mike Vecchione, who is a finalist for the 2017 Hobey Baker Award after recording 29 goals and 63 points - tying for the NCAA lead in both categories - for Union College this season.
3. New Jersey RW Kyle Palmieri remains two goals and two assists shy of 100 for his career in both categories while D Damon Severson's next game will be his 200th in the NHL.