The New Jersey Devils began the season 8-1-0, but their last 11 games have told a very different story.
The Devils aim to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season Saturday when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers.
Since its blistering start to the campaign, New Jersey is 5-5-1 — a record that has included lopsided defeats to the Colorado Avalanche (8-4), San Jose Sharks (5-2) and Tampa Bay Lightning (5-1).
However, all of the Devils’ wins over this stretch have been tight victories, as the team has won in regulation only once since Oct. 24.
Most recently, New Jersey came up empty on its trip to the Sunshine State, as the Lightning and Florida Panthers took turns shutting down the Devils’ offense.
After the loss to Tampa Bay, New Jersey was unable to solve Florida netminder Sergei Bobrovsky (32 saves) in Thursday’s 1-0 defeat.
“We played a pretty hard road game here. Their goalie was really good,” New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe said. “They got a world-class goal from a world-class player. That was the difference, ultimately.”
That player was Sam Reinhart, whose snap shot from the left side was the only blemish against Jake Allen. The Devils’ goaltender finished with 23 saves as the team fell to 2-2-0 on its five-game road trip.
“Whenever (Florida) had a rush, or started picking up momentum, Jake was there,” New Jersey forward Jesper Bratt said. “He had a great game for us, really strong performance that kept us in the game.”
The Flyers also received a strong effort from their goaltender in their most recent contest. Dan Vladar allowed two first-period goals against the St. Louis Blues before shutting the door — including a variety of spectacular saves — as his team rallied for a 3-2 overtime win Thursday.
Travis Sanheim scored the game-winner for Philadelphia, which had not played since the previous Saturday. Despite the slow start, the Flyers were able to avoid their fourth loss in five games.
“Not the start you wanted,” Sanheim said. “In saying that, you have the four days off, it takes a little bit to get your mind and your legs back into it. Then I thought we started to find our game toward the second half of the game.”
Rodrigo Abols and Tyson Foerster scored for the Flyers, who also have struggled to win in regulation of late. They have done it just once in their last nine games, although they do have two shootout wins and an overtime triumph in that stretch.
“Another resilient win for us,” defenseman Nick Seeler said. “Just need to build on it and continue to work at those first-period starts.”
Philadelphia is tied for the NHL lead with eight come-from-behind wins this season. Five of those have been third-period comebacks.
“There’s a ton of belief in this room,” Abols said.
This is the first of three matchups between the Flyers and Devils, who will reconvene in New Jersey next Saturday. The teams split four meetings last season with the Devils winning the final two by a combined margin of 8-1.
