Devils Look to Bounce Back Tonight Against Flyers

The Devils will try to get back on the winning side of things when they travel to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers tonight. Photo Credit: www.lehighvalleylive.com

EAST HANOVER, NJ – After winning four in a row, the New Jersey Devils (4-4-1) will attempt to put a disappointing 3-1 loss to the hapless Columbus Blue Jackets (2-8) behind them. They will try to put together a new winning streak, starting tonight, when they travel to Philadelphia to take on long-time divisional rivals, the Flyers (4-2-2) at 7 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Devils will once again use an unconventional method to try to secure the victory. For the second game in a row, head-coach John Hynes will dress only 11 forwards and seven defensemen. He mentioned that this strategy gives his squad more versatility and presents match-up problems for the opposition.

“When you go 11 and seven it allows you to give some more ice time to forwards that maybe either don’t play on special teams, or we have some guys who are playing real well right now and it gives them the extra two or three minutes a night,” Hynes told NHL.com.

“It’s difficult to match against that because we might put out a perceived fourth line, but it’s got your leading scorer on it. And on the defensive part, we think we’ve got some good young guys back there and it allows us to maybe have some special teams elements like Eric [Gelinas] on the power play or [Jon] Merrill on the penalty kill. It’s not just those two, but it gives you a little more versatility.”

The tactic did not work on Tuesday, in a game that many thought New Jersey would win. The Blue Jackets had only one win coming into the contest, but managed to score three in a row on goaltender Cory Schneider and the Devil’s in the third period to put the game out of reach.

“I thought we kind of had control of the game for the first two periods and just didn’t have anything on the scoreboard for it yet. Unfortunately, there are games like that. It’s disappointing that it happened to us,” Schneider said. “I thought we had two good periods and a really bad period. For me, that’s just not good enough.”

The Devils will certainly look to capitalize on their chances against Philadelphia tonight. To do so, they will need to finish their chances on net and play sound defensively through three periods.

Being on the road has not a bad thing for New Jersey so far this season. They have a 3-1 away record and will look to win their fourth straight game, not played in Newark, tonight.