Jack Hughes delivered the first overtime jolt of New Jersey’s season, finishing a Jesper Bratt feed from the slot with 1:37 left in extra time to give the Devils a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at Prudential Center on Thursday.
The Devils opened at 1-0-0 behind goals from Hughes, Luke Hughes and Dougie Hamilton, while Jake Allen turned aside 23 shots. Philadelphia, coming off a 7-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday, left Newark at 0-1-1 despite a busy and impressive Flyers debut from Joseph Woll, who made 41 saves.
How the game turned
- Philadelphia struck first at 11:12 of the opening period. With the Devils facing a delayed penalty, the Flyers pulled Woll for an extra attacker and went 6-on-5. Travis Sanheim fired from the point, and Rasmus Ristolainen redirected the puck from the slot for a 1-0 lead.
- New Jersey finally solved Woll late in the second. Hamilton kept a Cam York clearing attempt inside the blue line, then snapped an unassisted shot from the point inside the left post at 17:58. Anthony Mantha provided the traffic in front of the Flyers netminder.
- Sanheim put Philadelphia back in front 5:33 into the third period, blasting a slap shot from the top of the left circle for his first goal of the season.
- Luke Hughes answered at 9:44, stepping into the high slot and beating Woll with a snap shot to make it 2-2. Luke Evangelista collected the assist in his Devils debut.
- In overtime, Bratt carried the puck into the right circle and found Jack Hughes cutting through the middle. Hughes converted down the slot to end it.
Notebook
New Jersey generated enough pressure to make Woll’s 41-save night necessary, but the Devils did not cash in on four power-play opportunities. Their equal-strength work, and the Hughes brothers’ finishing, carried the opener.
Evangelista’s assist came after a busy month that reshaped his situation. The forward arrived from the Nashville Predators in a Sept. 1 trade, then signed a five-year extension worth $36.25 million on Sept. 15. The deal carries a $7.25 million average annual value.
Woll, 28, was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs on June 16 and gave the Flyers a chance to recover quickly from Wednesday’s shutout loss in Pittsburgh. Sanheim supplied a goal and an assist, and Ristolainen’s early tip gave Philadelphia its first lead of the young season, but the Flyers could not protect it in overtime.
