The Flyers opened the 2023 preseason with a 6-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center in Newark. The Devils took it to the Flyers right away and quickly built a commanding lead. New Jersey never looked back.
Before the Flyers knew what hit them, they were staring at a 4-0 deficit before the game was six minutes old. Ondrej Palat (1st of the preseason) opened the scoring just 1:08 after the opening faceoff of the game. Erik Haula (1st) doubled the lead at 3:14. Jesper Bratt set up both of the first two New Jersey goals. Tyce Thompson (1st) had a rebound tap-in of an initial point shot for a 3-0 lead at 4:24. Alexander Holtz (1st) made it 4-0 at 5:50.
Timo Meier pounded home a power play goal (1st) to make it a 5-0 game at the 2:00 mark of the second period. The puck bounced right to him in the slot.
In the third period, after a Flyers power play ended, Dougie Hamilton sprung Michael McLeod (1st) on a breakaway. He made a slick move on Felix Sandström and scored for the Devils' sixth goal of the game.
Cal Petersen went the first two periods of the game in goal for the Flyers, stopping 19 of 24 shots. Felix Sandström took over in the third period, making nine saves on 10 shots.
Vitek Vanecek played the first 40 minutes of the game for the Devils, denying all 11 Flyers' shots he faced. Erik Källgren came in at the start of the third period, turning back 10 of 10 shots.
Cam Atkinson was a late scratch from the Flyers' lineup. He missed the game due to a lower-body issue. Wade Allison stepped into his place.
FLYERS STARTING LINE COMBINATIONS
Joel Farabee - Sean Couturier - Bobby Brink
Olle Lycksell - Morgan Frost - Wade Allison
Matt Brown - Denver Barkey - Tyson Foerster
Brendan Furry - Elliot Desnoyers - Samu Tuomaala
Cam York - Sean Walker
Emil Andrae - Helge Grans
Nick Seeler - Oliver Bonk
Cal Petersen
Felix Sandström
PP1: Foerster, Couturier, Tuomaala, Brink, York
PP2: Farabee, Frost, Lycksell, Allison. Andrae
POSTGAME 5
1. With the Flyers trailing 3-0 in the first period, Nick Seeler dropped the gloves with Brian Halonen at 5:04. Philly was still unable to stop the bleeding until the deficit grew to four goals.
2. Trailing 4-0, the Fyers finally started to get a couple chances of their own. The best opportunities belonged to Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost and Emil Andrae. first period shots were 13-5 in the Devils' favor.
3. Things did not appreciably improve for the Flyers in the second period, went 0-for-2 on the power play, never got in a rhythm at 5-on-5 and yielded a New Jersey power play goal. Second period shots on goal were 10-6 in New Jersey's favor (24-11 Devils through two periods). The one area where Philly fared at least slightly better in the second period was faceoffs.
4. Petersen made one of his better saves of his two periods of action with a good stop on Holtz. On Philadelphia's second power play, Farabee had a decent scoring chance. With the second unit on the ice, Wade Allison was on the receiving end of a big hit.
5. Samu Tuomaala saw shifts on the Couturier line. In the middle stage of the third period, the young Finn had a point-blank scoring chance. Bobby Brink moved to Morgan Frost's line. Matt Brown had a Grade A chance early in the third period but hit the post. Third period shots were 10-10 (34-21 Devils for the game). Hits for the game were 19-13 Devils despite New Jersey also having the territorial advantage.
