Thursday, December 11, 2014

Flyers leading Devils 2-0 after first period

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Sean Couturier and Matt Read both scored and assisted on each other's goals as the Flyers take a 2-0 lead over the New Jersey Devils after one period Thursday night.

Their first came as a pleasant surprise for their 29th-ranked penalty killers. 

Couturier notched the Flyers' first shorthanded goal on the year when he and Matt Read skated a sudden 2-on-1 development.

Read brought the puck himself into the Devils zone before darting the assist to Couturier in the crease, who flicked a wrist shot clean past Cory Schneider's right side for his 6th goal this season. 

New Jersey was a man down at 3:04 after putting a sixth man into play. Jordin Tootoo served the penalty for the visitors.

Couturier and Read would strike again for the home side, with their roles reversed, the former assisting and the latter scoring.

After some passing near the Devils net, Nick Schultz fired the puck behind Schneider, finding its way to Couturier, nestled along the near boards outside the circle. 

He fired to Read, who came open suddenly and snuck into the crease, finding a hole to the goalie's left side for the advantage at 13:37.

Cory Schneider stopped 8-of-10 after twenty minutes for the Devils, who are 2-4-2 in their last 8 outings, though have taken four straight from the Flyers in Philadelphia. 

He nearly allowed a late power-play chance from inside his crease when Wayne Simmonds overpowered him with a minute remaining, and again thirty seconds later when Brayden Schenn tried a one-time blast from near the blue line.

Jersey's Martin Havlat was serving two minutes for tripping Mark Streit.

Philadelphia (9-13-5) returns to Wells Fargo Center after a 1-3-1 road trip over five contests, the sole victory a 2-1 decision over Los Angeles last Saturday.



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