The Philadelphia Flyers welcomed The New Jersey Devils to the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night for their home opener of the 2019-2020 season. The Devils have arguably made the biggest splash of the off season by acquiring big names such as P.K. Subban, first overall pick Jack Hughes, Russian sensation Nikita Gusev, and former Flyer Wayne Simmonds. All of them just couldn’t seem to find their footing in the Flyers home opener, which was full of relentless offense and impenetrable defense.
After one period of consistent back and forth hockey, Ivan Provorov buried one past Cory Schneider via a slap shot on the power play in the 2nd period. The Flyers were dealt a decent amount of penalties throughout the game, giving the Devils their chance to get on the board to even it up. However, Flyers goaltender Carter Hart faced all challenges that confronted him and shut them all down. Killing off a major 5-3 penalty, and making an incredible save on superstar Taylor Hall, the Flyers were able to hang on to their 1-0 lead.
Nearly 35 seconds into the 3rd period, Kevin Hayes whips the puck past Schneider to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead. Pressure didn’t stop after that thanks to Sean Couturier who scored on the backhand nearly seconds after Hayes scored. Near the end of the game, Travis Konecny cashed in on a Devils turnover and puts one past Schneider through the five-hole making it 4-0.
Carter Hart recorded his first career shutout, facing all 25 shots by the Devils, and also made history for being the youngest goalie in franchise history to post a shutout.
The Flyers head to western Canada next for their annual Canadian campaign. They’ll start in Vancouver on Saturday night at 10pm, and look to grab two more points for themselves.
-Jamie Martinez
photo credit: sportsnet.ca
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