For a recent stretch, the Philadelphia Flyers felt they were doing the right things but weren’t getting the results.
Now the results have been positive, and they’ll look to keep those coming when they visit the New Jersey Devils on Saturday afternoon in Newark, N.J.
The Flyers are 3-0-1 in their past four games after a 3-8-1 stretch in the previous 12 contests. They’re coming off a 5-3 win against the New York Islanders on Thursday, a result that brought them back to .500 for the first time since Dec. 31.
“We’re just finding ways to win the game,” captain Sean Couturier said. “We were playing some good hockey prior to that, facing some good teams. We couldn’t find a way to win. That’s how it goes sometimes. Just, lately, we are finding ways to get it done.”
Philadelphia will need that to continue amidst a stretch of schedule that has the club facing Metropolitan Division opponents in eight of its next nine games. The Flyers are 4-5-1 against division foes this season.
The Flyers also will look to improve on their recent results on the road. After starting the season 6-4-3 as the visitors, the Flyers are 4-5-2 since Dec. 10.
Joel Farabee returned to the lineup against the Islanders after sitting out three games as a healthy scratch. He delivered with a pair of assists and had three shots on goal. The assists snapped a five-game point drought and doubled his output over the previous 10 games, during which he had a pair of goals.
“I just went out there. I felt confident with the puck, was assertive with my plays, and just tried to play hard,” Farabee said.
“(Farabee) can make plays. He’s got a lot of skill. He’s a smart player as well,” Couturier said. “I think it’s about just getting his confidence back and you can tell when he’s feeling it, he can make plays.”
The Devils will open up a back-to-back set with Saturday’s contest and will look to get back on track after consecutive extra-time losses.
On Tuesday, they dropped a 2-1 decision in a shootout to the Florida Panthers. They held a one-goal lead three times before falling 4-3 in overtime to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.
New Jersey has won just twice in its past five games (2-0-3) on the heels of a four-game losing streak.
“Disappointing, I think,” captain Nico Hischier said. “We addressed some things in the overtime, mistakes that should not happen again. That’s why it’s frustrating.”
Hischier scored twice, both times on the power play, against Toronto. He has a team-leading 22 goals on the season and a career-high eight goals with the man advantage.
“He knows where to go, he can score different ways,” coach Sheldon Keefe said. “… He’s great around the net, he gets the puck back. He does a lot of really good things. He’s a great player in lots of ways — power play, penalty kill. He does it all for us.”
The power play went 2-for-3 against the Maple Leafs, marking the first time the Devils had scored multiple power-play goals since going 3-for-4 versus the New York Rangers on Dec. 23.
