Couturier, Flyers hand Devils sixth straight loss

NEWARK, N.J. -- Sean Couturier had two goals and an assist to help the Philadelphia Flyers to their fourth straight win, 5-3 against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Saturday.

WATCH: [All Flyers vs. Devils highlights]
Wayne Simmonds, Travis Konecny and Michael Raffl scored, and Brian Elliott made 26 saves for the Flyers (20-15-8). Philadelphia is 12-4-1 in its past 17 games.
"These are Metropolitan Division games in the second half of the season," Couturier said. "The games you need to win to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs."
Jesper Bratt, Kyle Palmieri and Drew Stafford scored, and Cory Schneider made 20 saves for the Devils (22-12-8), who have lost six straight (0-3-3).
Philadelphia and New Jersey each was coming off a five-day break.
The Flyers, who entered the game ranked 28th in the NHL on the penalty kill (75 percent), denied the Devils on 5 of 7 power plays. Philadelphia went 2-for-2 on the power play.
"I think we were probably in better position (on the penalty kill), had better sticks and the guys were focused," Couturier said. "It's about paying attention to details and willing to sacrifice the body to kill the penalty."

The Flyers have gone 7-for-14 (50 percent) on the power play in the past four games.
"Sometimes you get lucky and score and sometimes you move the puck around well and it doesn't go in," said Philadelphia forward Jakub Voracek, who had two assists and leads the NHL with 45. "We've been playing together for a long time and know that if we're not good enough, what we need to do to get better."
New Jersey forward Taylor Hall said, "It wasn't the game we wanted. I think that's the way things have been going lately. Good starts followed by so-so second periods. I think we had some of the worst shifts of our season that lost us the momentum and took the wind out of our sails."
This was the first time Devils forward Nico Hischier and Flyers forward Nolan Patrick, the No. 1 and 2 picks in the 2017 NHL Draft, played against each other in the League. Hischier had an assist and one shot in 15:52. Patrick went 5-for-7 on faceoffs and had three shots in 8:59.
"We never gave up," Patrick said. "The power play was huge and we had a lot of big penalty kills, so special teams was big."
Couturier gave the Flyers their first lead with a power-play goal 18:16 into the second on a snap shot from the left hash marks to make it 3-2. It was his third consecutive game with two goals; he has scored in four straight.
"I just want to keep it going," Couturier said. "I had a good first half but I need a better second half so that we can make a push and make the playoffs."
Konecny made it 4-2, taking a stretch pass from Ivan Provorov and scoring on a breakaway rebound 4:28 into the third period. Raffl scored on a backhand at 12:04 for a 5-2 lead.
Stafford scored a power-play goal at 19:15 to make it 5-3.
Simmonds tipped in a shot by Giroux to tie it 2-2 on the power play 11:53 into the second period after Voracek kicked the puck to Giroux in the left circle.
The Devils took a 2-1 lead on Palmieri's power-play goal off a one-timer from the left circle 1:46 into the second. Couturier tied it 1-1 at 14:35 of the first after Bratt had given the Devils a 1-0 lead at 5:43.

Goal of the game

Konecny's goal on a breakaway 4:28 into the third period.

Save of the game

Elliott's save on Hischier at 19:11 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Simmonds' goal 11:53 into the second period.

They said it

"I'm scoring more because I'm finding the open areas, and playing with Giroux helps because he creates a lot of plays. I'm shooting the puck on net moreso than any other year, so that has helped a lot." -- Flyers forward Sean Couturier
"This is not the way we wanted to come out of the [five-day] break. We were in a good spot to start the second period and after that goal we didn't get it done. It was a missed opportunity. We thought the break might set up right and get us back on track again but obviously we have some stuff to figure out and be better at and [need to] find a way to win this next game." -- Devils goalie Cory Schneider

Need to know

Couturier has nine points (seven goals, two assists) in his past four games. ... Hall had two assists, giving him 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games.

What's next

Flyers: At the New York Rangers on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVA Sports, MSG, NBCSP, NHL.TV)
Devils: At the New York Islanders on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, MSG+ 2, NHL.TV)