- The Matchup: Philadelphia Flyers (13-7-3) @ New Jersey Devils (16-7-1)
- The Time: 7:00pm EST
- The Broadcast: MSGSN, Devils Hockey Radio
Last Devils Game
On Friday afternoon, the Devils defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-0. The game started at 4:00pm, which was thanks to it being the day after Thanksgiving. This game had everything a Devils fan could hope for. El Capitan Nico Hischier continued his point streak with his 4th game in a row with at least a point. He now has 9 points in his last 4 games. Paul Cotter finally got on the board again with an assist on Brenden “Bobby Orr” Dillion’s 3rd goal of the season, and with a nice breakaway goal of his own in the 3rd period. Ondrej Palat had 2 primary assists. Arseny Gritsyuk had his first 2 goal game of his career.
However, the biggest positive of the game, in my humble opinion, was the massive bounce back game from Jake Allen. It’s no secret that I’ve been a big Jake Allen supporter this season. It’s also no secret that Allen did not have a good game in his last outing, which was a 6-3 loss to Philadelphia on 11/22. However, Allen went out tonight to prove that the game against the Flyers was a fluke, and shut down any doubters with a 42 save shutout against the Sabres. Jacob Markstrom has been playing better, and Allen is back playing how he has been all season, minus that one game we all want to forget. Put simply, the game could not have gone any better today for the Devils.
Last Flyers Game
Also getting in on the 4:00pm game action, the Flyers defeated the New York Islanders today, 4-3 in the shootout. The game was the 3rd game of a 4 game road trip which ends tonight in New Jersey. It was also their 2nd win a row and their 4th win in their last 5 games. The Flyers ended the 1st period of the game up 2-0 thanks to 2 goals 22s seconds apart. It’s nice to see that the Flyers are also doing this to other teams and not just the Devils.
The Flyers scored again, less than 2 minutes into the 2nd period, and it looked like they might run away with the game at that point. While not quite as bad as the 3 goals in less than 30 seconds that the Flyers scored against the Devils in their last game, the Flyers did blow a 3 goal lead in the 2nd period. The Islanders scored 3 goals in less than 15 minutes, to end the period tied at 3-3. Any momentum the Flyers had quickly evaporated with the game now tied.
The game eventually went to OT, and when not settled there it went to the home run derby, I mean the 3 point contest, I mean the shootout. The Flyers scored on their 1st attempt. The Islanders tied in up in round 2, before Travis Konecny won it in round 3.
Injuries, Roster for Tonight, Yada, Yada, Yada.
There was a brief injury scare when Paul Cotter headed to the locker room after a hit, however he came back to score in the 3rd period and appeared to be fine as he finished the game. As expected, there have been no new updates as far as any injured players returning tonight. I suppose there is a small chance there could be some news on Pesce between Friday night and tonight, but that’s doubtful.
As of this writing there has also been no official announcement on the starting goalie for tonight either. I would also expect an update on that at some point today. My gut says that Keefe will go back to Jacob Markstrom for tonight. But I also would love to see Allen get “revenge” for his last game against the Flyers. We’ll have to wait and see. Luckily, with their recent play, both goalies have been giving the team a chance to win.
Grimace’s Prediction and 2025-2026 Record Tracker
Grimace is very happy to be back in the win column with his correct prediction against St. Louis and feels confident the Devils will hit a 4 game winning streak tonight.
Grimace’s 2025-2026 Season Prediction record currently stands at 8-5-0.
Your Take
For the first time in what feels like forever, everything went the Devils way against Buffalo. Markstrom has improved. Allen bounced back and both the Devils stars and supporting cast contributed. What else can you say but, let’s have more of this tonight please! Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below and thanks for reading!
In a shameless bit of non hockey related self promotion (approved by Chris – thanks Chris), I wanted to plug my brand new podcast on here, if any of you are interested in listening. We have a light hearted, fun discussion about any movies, music or video games mostly from the 1980s and 1990s. Please feel free to listen to us on any of the formats below and any feedback is welcome (positive and negative). Also, please follow us and subscribe, even if you think we stink. 🙂