Flyers Share the Offensive Wealth in Win Over Devils

By Adam Kimelman, Flyers.com

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Flyers have been hoping for some offense from Sean Couturier and Matt Read, and the duo provided some Thursday against the New Jersey Devils.

Couturier and Read each had a goal and an assist to lead the Flyers to a 4-1 win against the Devils.

Wayne Simmonds and Jakub Voracek scored and Ray Emerymade 17 saves for the Flyers, who were opening a four-game homestand.

Martin Havlat scored for the Devils, who got 32 saves from goalie Cory Schneider.

Couturier and Read combined to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead after one period.

The Flyers opened the scoring on Couturier’s shorthanded goal at 6:12 of the first.

Read stepped out to block Marek Zidlicky’s shot at the Philadelphia blue line. The New Jersey defenseman reacted by tripping Read, who quickly got to his feet and started a 2-on-1 shorthanded rush. Read centered the puck to Couturier, who had a step on Jaromir Jagr and tipped the pass past Schneider.

The goal was Couturier’s sixth and extended his point streak to five games. He has two goals and four assists during his streak after he had one point in his previous 10 games.

It also was the Flyers’ first shorthanded goal of the season.

Read’s third goal of the season, his first in 12 games, extended the Flyers’ lead to 2-0 at 13:37 of the first. Couturier and Read were part of a puck battle along the boards on the left side of the Devils zone when the puck squirted loose. Read tipped it away from Stephen Gionta and chased it down in the right corner. He flipped it behind the Devils net to Couturier, who skated into the bottom of the left circle and sent a pass back across the zone to Read on the right post, where he tipped it past Schneider.

The Devils got within 2-1 on Havlat’s power-play goal at 13:02 of the second period. New Jersey worked the puck high in the Philadelphia zone with Damon Severson finding Scott Gomez along the wall on the right side of the ice. Gomez took a shot that Havlat, screening Emery on the right post, redirected over Emery’s shoulder. It was Havlat’s third goal of the season, his first in nine games.

The Devils had other chances to get into the game, including a 3-on-1 break with 13:58 remaining in the second, but Flyers defenseman Mark Streit sprawled to tip the puck away from Jordin Tootoo and Emery stopped Andy Greene’s shot from the right side.

The Flyers were able to preserve their lead in the third period by outshooting the Devils 14-7. They got some breathing room on Simmonds’ power-play goal with 4:16 remaining. Simmonds tipped Streit’s high shot, but Schneider stopped it and denied Simmonds on the rebound. But Simmonds stayed with the play and knocked his third chance past Schneider for his 12th goal.

Voracek closed the scoring with an empty-net goal with 2:30 remaining. It was his 10th.