If the Devils could just play the Flyers every night, maybe that winless streak would not have reached 10 games, and New Jersey would be doing more than playing meaningless games in the final month.
Adam Henrique and Taylor Hall scored two goals apiece and the Devils snapped a 10-game winless streak with a 6-2 victory over the inconsistent Flyers on Thursday night at the Prudential Center in Newark.
The win was the Devils’ third in as many games with Philadelphia and it gave them a 17-5-3 record against their New Jersey Turnpike rivals since the start of the 2011-12 season.
Henrique could not explain the success.
“Sometimes there are just those matchups and this has been one of them for us,” he said. “Maybe we could have played them a few times in this stretch and it would have been nice but i don’t know if it’s anything specific or not but every time we play them, we play a solid game start to finish and obviously find a way to get those extra goals.
The Devils have outscored Philadelphia 13-3 this season. This latest rout set a season-high for goals and ended an 0-8-2 streak, its longest without a win since going (0-7-4) in 1990-91.
“We’re probably not going to make the playoffs this year, so for us we have to come to the rink, have fun, enjoy what we are doing,” Hall said. “The way to get out of funks like that is to just go play, trust each other, and you saw that tonight.”
Kyle Palmieri and Joseph Blandisi also scored, and Keith Kinkaid made 17 saves for the Devils, who lost seven one-goal games during their skid.
Michael Del Zotto and Brayden Schenn scored the Flyers, who lost goaltender Steve Mason to leg cramps on Hall’s first goal early in the third period, a spectacular one-handed shot on a breakaway that gave the Devils a 4-2 lead.