Luke Hughes Scores OT Goal, Devils Defeat Flyers | GAME STORY 

PHILADELPHIA, PA - The Devils had a 3-1 lead over the Philadelphia Flyers slip out of their grasp, the Flyers scoring the 3-3 game-tying goal with 50 seconds left to play, the Devils conceding two goals in the final five minutes of the game, which sent the game to overtime.

The Devils defeated the Flyers 4-3 in overtime. 

Leave it to Luke Hughes, who scored the overtime winner after a game where his availability was in question after the first period. The younger of the Hughes brothers had to go through concussion protocol during the first intermission before he was able to return to play. 

“Got a stick on the Sandheim shot, deflected and Nico won the battle, popped it up to Jack and I just beat my man up the ice. It’s pretty easy to put in the net when it’s right in your wheelhouse,” Hughes said after the game.

Alexander Holtz and Jack Hughes scored in the first period and Tyler Toffoli added a power play goal in the third for the regulation goals.

Toward the end of the first period, the Devils avoided a major loss in personnel. Luke Hughes left the ice with 3:45 remaining in the period after he was boarded by Garnett Hathaway, a hit which sent him into perpendicular into the boards, his shoulder slamming hard, taking most of the collision.

Hughes was able to return for the start of the second period to finish the game, a big sigh of relief for the Devils who are already without one of their top defensemen in Dougie Hamilton.

Older brother Jack, had a two-point night (1g-1a) and had a seven-shot effort, just a game after putting up nine shots on the Islanders. In his last five games, Hughes has taken 30 shots.

Hischier's assist on Toffoli's third period goal was his fourth point since returning to the lineup three games ago. The Devils are 3-0-0 since the return of their captain Nico Hischier and are 7-2-1 in games where both Hischier and Jack Hughes are playing.

Morgan Frost, Sean Walker and Tyson Foerester scored for Philadelphia

Here are some observations from the game:

• Samuel Laberge became the first player this season to make his NHL debut for New Jersey. Laberge, at 26, took the solo lap to start the game, walking through the player tunnel with cheers from his teammates.

Laberge had both his sister and girlfriend arrive from Montreal and Utica respectively to attend his first NHL game. 

"It was amazing," he said, "A lot of emotion and feeling, in my head, I was kind of seeing blurry. After a couple laps, it was great. The group was awesome to bring me in, and make me feel comfortable.”

• Alexander Holtz's seventh goal of the season was the opening goal of the night. Lindy Ruff has spoken very highly of how Holtz's game has grown and the success that he has been having of late. Case in point, against the Islanders, Holtz was one of the players on the ice in the final 30 seconds of the win, helping contribute to Curtis Lazar's game-winning goal as a presence at the net.

It's the finer details of his game that Ruff has appreciated over the past few weeks. The Devils head coach has emphasized that on several occasions, including yesterday, he has been having one-on-one meetings with Holtz to refine his game, from knowing when to shoot, how to approach the 50-50 battles along the boards and most importantly bring a degree of hardness to his game. It's clear that Holtz has responded to these meetings and used them as a learning opportunity.

Now he, and the team, are reaping the benefits.

"It just gets you more confident that you can score at this level as well," Holtz said, "I put up good numbers in the (AHL) but I’m starting to put the puck in the net here. It’s obviously a huge confidence boost.

• Flyers Garnet Hathaway was thrown out of the game, and called for a game misconduct and a five-minute major after his hit, away from the boards, sent Luke Hughes crashing on his side.

“It was a race to the puck, I thought I got the icing and I heard a whistle and he hit me," Hughes said post-game, "I probably got to protect myself there but, learn from it. Thank god I didn’t get hurt.”

Without hesitation, all New Jersey players on the ice immediately gathered in Hughes defense, as a scrum broke out around Hughes before he could wriggle his way out of the ruckus and went to the locker room to be looked at. Hughes went through concussion protocol to be able to return.

• In the absence of Dougie Hamilton, John Marino took his spot at the point on the second wave of the Devils power play. When Luke Hughes was missing at the end of the first period, Colin Miller assumed his spot, although Hughes returned to finish the game in his power play spot.

The power play units saw a bit of tweaking in the second period, Alexander Holtz having another strong game, was moved up to the first unit with Jack Hughes, Tyler Toffoli, Nico Hischier and Luke Hughes, while the second unit was made up of Bratt, Dawson Mercer, Ondrej Palat, Nathan Bastian and John Marino.

“I think when you look at the early power play, we didn’t shoot a lot," Lindy Ruff said, asked about his decision to move Holtz up on the man-advantage, "I think when you put hin on the flank, it gives you another shot option. It should have paid us dividends right away, I think he pushed it a little back into Hart, but great save by Hart. What I think (Holtz’s presence) did later on the power play, it attracted some attention, it opened up Toffoli in the hole and all of a sudden Toffoli was able to score.”

• Tyler Toffoli has a team-leading 12 goals this season after he picked up the Devils third goal. It was his second point of the game (1g-1a), bringing him to a point-per-game player with 21 points in 21 games.