Flyers shut out Devils to stay alive in East wild-card race

PHILADELPHIA -- Samuel Ersson made 20 saves, and the Philadelphia Flyers kept their hopes for the Stanley Cup Playoffs alive with a 1-0 win against the New Jersey Devils at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.

Travis Konecny scored for Philadelphia (38-32-11), which needed a victory to stay in the hunt for a postseason spot. The Flyers are tied with the Washington Capitals and Detroit Red Wings for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference but have played one more game.

"We played to get our game to Tuesday [against the Washington Capitals] to mean something," Flyers coach John Tortorella said. "So, that's all we have to be concerned about. ... I think we've gotten our structure back in our game. 'Ers' has played very well the past couple. So, I'm glad they get to play a meaningful game on Tuesday."

Kaapo Kahkonen made 20 saves for New Jersey (38-38-5), which has lost three of four (1-2-1).

"We played hard, defended hard," Devils coach Travis Green said. "They have a lot to play for. They were a desperate hockey team, and I thought we matched a lot of the desperation. Not happy we lost. When you lose a game like that, you're not happy. We knew we were going to face a desperate team and came up a little short."

Konecny made it 1-0 at 10:50 of the second period with his NHL-best sixth short-handed goal. Defenseman Nick Seeler stretched to poke the puck to Scott Laughton in the neutral zone, and his backhanded pass sent Konecny in alone for a wrist shot from the slot.

"I was kind of cheating up the ice, but [Seeler] got a great stick on it, he made a great play," Laughton said. "Then I heard 'TK,' saw him out of the corner of my eye taking off and just tried to lead him. He scores a big goal for us."

Konecny also scored the third goal in Philadelphia's 4-1 win against the New York Rangers on Thursday that ended an eight-game slide (0-6-2).

"It was getting back to believing," Konecny said. "We know where we're at. We've talked in the room about as long as we go home after the last three and say we gave it our best shot, that's all you can do.

"You can feel it in the room right now guys. Guys want to prove that we should be in the spot that we're in."

Konecny leads Philadelphia with 68 points (33 goals, 35 assists) in 75 games.

"I think he's been one of our best players for a couple years now," Laughton said. "That responsibility kind of falls on him, too. He's been great the last couple, taking over and leading that way."

Tortorella said it's been Konecny's maturity that has helped him have this kind of success.

"I think he's very cognizant that he's the leader of this team," Tortorella said. "I don't want him to be predictable. I don't want him to lose his craziness as a player. That's a huge part of who he is and that's why he's so effective. It's just making sure he doesn't go completely off the map where we can't see him with some of the stuff."

The Devils pushed in the third period, outshooting the Flyers 9-4, but Philadelphia hung on defensively.

"I think we just didn't get the puck through enough," New Jersey defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler said. "They do a good job blocking shots. There was always somebody in the lane. They did it pretty good and I think we just got to find a way to get the pucks to the net."

Ersson took care of the ones that did get through. It was his second straight game allowing one goal or fewer after he allowed 26 goals in his previous six starts.

"We're not shocked," Konecny said of Ersson’s performance. "He's done it all year. He's played great for us. The competitors, like himself, they step up in these big games. He's a gamer, you can tell he wants to be in these moments and he's there and he's playing great."

NOTES: Ersson is the first Flyers goalie with four shutouts in a season since Steve Mason had four in 2015-16, and he's first Flyers rookie goalie with four shutouts since Brian Boucher had four in 1999-2000. ... Konecny's goal was his 400th point in the NHL. His six short-handed goals are the most by any player since Michael Grabner scored six with the Arizona Coyotes in 2018-19. ... The Flyers honored forward Wayne Simmonds before the game. Simmonds, who announced his retirement March 18, played eight of his 15 NHL seasons with Philadelphia.