Devils 5, Flyers 2
Adam Henrique recorded his sixth career two-goal performance as host New Jersey dealt another blow to Philadelphia's flickering playoff aspirations.
Stephen Gionta collected a goal and an assist, defenseman Eric Gelinas converted on the power play and Jacob Josefson scored his third short-handed goal of the season in the victory. Steve Bernier recorded a career-high three assists, Scott Gomez and blue-liner Andy Greene each added two and Keith Kinkaid finished with 25 saves as the Devils improved to 9-3-1 in their last 13 home games.
Ryan White scored and set up Michael Raffl for a short-handed tally for the Flyers, who have lost five of their last seven (2-3-2) to drop seven points behind Boston in the race for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Steve Mason turned aside 16 shots to fall to 1-10-5 away from Philadelphia this season.
Gionta's shot from above the right faceoff circle was denied by Mason, but Josefson cleaned up the rebound 3:32 into the second to give New Jersey a 2-1 lead. Gelinas' blast from the point with 1:51 left in the period doubled the advantage and Henrique capped a 2-on-0 rush with Bernier 5 1/2 minutes into the third to essentially seal the victory.
After seeing a late lead evaporate en route to a crushing 3-2 overtime loss to the Bruins on Saturday, the Flyers stumbled out of the blocks as Henrique benefited from a turnover and backhanded a shot over Mason's glove 4:49 into the first period to open the scoring. Philadelphia answered three minutes later as White won an offensive-zone faceoff and skated toward the net to deflect blue-liner Luke Schenn's wrist shot from the point.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Raffl drove to the net to trim New Jersey's lead to 4-2 at 11:44 of the third period, but the momentum was short-lived as Gionta scored on a breakaway less than two minutes later. ... Gomez, who has 355 assists, moved past John MacLean and into sole possession of third place on the franchise list. He now has 476 points with the club, moving him into a tie with Scott Niedermayer for fourth place. ... Philadelphia D Michael Del Zotto is expected to be sidelined at least one week with an upper-body injury, the team announced. ... Prior to the contest, the Devils honored members of the 1995 Stanley Cup championship team.