Newark, N.J. —The Philadelphia Flyers faced a raucous crowd at the Prudential Center. New Jersey honored their 2003 Stanley Cup title team in a pre-game ceremony and played like one of the top team in the NHL.
Center Dawson Mercer scored in his sixth straight game, Akira Schmid was a beast between the pipes with 24 saves in posting his first shutout game and New Jersey (39-15-5) blasted the Philadelphia Flyers 7-0 on Saturday night at the Rock, handing Flyers goalie Samuel Errson his first loss.
Ersson, who was the 12th NHL goalie to win each of his first six decision, was superb making 29 saves as the Flyers fell to 1-6-1 in its last eight games. Two of New Jersey’s goals were deflected by Flyers players, another one came when a defenseman was pushed into Ersson and opened the crease.
“You can feel the emotion in the rink when they’re coming out (the ’03 team) and just to see those guys so happy that they were back together with everyone and that’s a special bond,” Mercer said. “That’s what happens with winning teams and hopefully we can just keep working in the right direction.”
The Flyers (23-28-10) decline badly in February, going 2-7-1. They have one game left before next Friday’s NHL trade deadline. They will be selling off assets. The focus of their season has completely shifted to next season and beyond, which is expected.
“The effort’s there. I just don’t think we’re using our head in understanding how we have to play,” Tortorella said. “I think that falls on me to making sure they do understand that.
Jonas Siegenthaler, Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Dougie Hamilton, Jesper Bratt, and Nathan Bastian all scored for NJ. The Devils improved to 15-3-2 in their last 20 games. The seven-goal winning margin was New Jersey’s largest of the season, and the output matched their season high.
Mercer extended his streak with his eighth goal in the last six games, and 19th overall. The last Devils player to score in six straight games was Adam Henrique in 2014. The franchise record is eight games set by Paul Gardner in 1977-78 when the team played in Colorado before the move to New Jersey.
“I thought it was a great night just to honor all the players that were here and play the way we did,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “It’s something to be proud of.”
The last time the Flyers visited the Prudential Center, Carter Hart provided a 48 save night, a herculean type of night. But tonight wasn’t the Flyers night.
Philadelphia is 2-10-0 in the second game of back-to-back sets. It had a horrible loss Friday at home against the Canadiens.
“I let in seven goals. I can’t be happy,” Ersson said. “But like, yeah, it’s tough. I mean, I want to win every game. I want to save every puck. So it’s obviously a lot of goals. I have to make a couple of saves here.”
UP NEXT:
The Flyers return to the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday to take on the New York Rangers 7:30 P.M. TNT
The Devils will travel to Colorado to play the Avalanche on Wednesday, March 1st for a 9:00 P.M. start time.
