Flyers Show Improvements but Fall to Devils in OT 3-2
Oct 1, 2026; Newark, New Jersey, USA; Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim (6) celebrates his goal against the New Jersey Devils during the third period at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images
The Flyers played much better in their second game of the season, buoyed by Joseph Woll in his Flyers debut, but when your goalie sees 44 shots, it’s hard to win games.
Even with this, the Flyers lost in overtime, dropping the second game of the season 3-2.
After the most lopsided defeat in an opening game in Flyers history, there wasn’t much time to think about the seven goals, as they went to New Jersey to take on the Devils for their home opener.
The Flyers were getting outshot for the majority of the first period — but on a delayed penalty call, the Flyers sent Woll to the bench for the extra attacker, and that paid off in a major way. Rasmus Ristolainen had a deflection on a shot from Travis Sanheim to get a puck by Jake Allen for a 1-0 lead and the first goal of the season.
In the second, Dougie Hamilton snapped a shot past Woll to tie the game. In the third period, Sanheim took another shot; this time it snuck past Allen for the Flyers’ second goal, taking a 2-1 lead. Luke Hughes tied the game at two on a snap shot with the Flyers on one side of the ice, going top shelf past Woll.
In overtime, on a breakout, Travis Konecny sold out to stop the puck with Jack Hughes, who passed it away to Jesper Bratt, who got Woll to commit and passed it back to Hughes wristed it home to end the game, 3-2.
Better Showing for the Flyers, Still a Loss
The Flyers played better all around, but in the end the same issues plagued the team. This starts with time in the zone; the Devils dictated the pace of the game, and the Flyers were retreating all game. This is because the Flyers couldn’t pass in their own zone, which made clearing that much harder, which was already hard to get out of the zone with the Devils smothering the Flyers on the boards.
It appears that the book might be out on the Flyers early on, which is press help when there is a battle for the puck on the wall and spread out in the Flyers’ zone and let them struggle to pass the puck cleanly, and take advantage of any lanes that open up. Fortunately for the Flyers, Woll was able to see the shots in this game or this could have gotten ugly as well. The passing is something that looked very good in the preseason, but once games became meaningful, the passing became an issue. Head coach Rick Tocchet needs to find an answer as quickly as possible.
Woll was Peppered All Game
Woll was getting peppered for the first two periods and held strong until the 30th shot, which ended up being a goal for Hamilton. But the Flyers’ defense was playing much better and not allowing clear looks on the goalie, which definitely allowed Woll to get on one of the shots and stop it. In Wednesday’s opener, those shots were not seen by Daniel Vladar.
In the third period, Woll saw the same pressure and did give up a goal to Hughes, but before this, he made the save of the young season, when Bratt shot a wrist shot that was on the way to the back of the net, and Woll got a pad on it and got just enough to deflect the puck and make it go wide.
He faced 42 shots into overtime and truly kept the Flyers in this game despite the barrage from the Devils. Though he gave up the goal in overtime, it was on his 44th shot of the game. Goaltending wasn’t the reason that the Flyers lost this game.
Time in Flyers Zone Still an Issue
In the first two periods, the Devils were putting the pressure on the Flyers and were spending too much time in the Flyers’ zone. They doubled the Flyers in time in the zone. This was in part because the Flyers had three penalties to kill off in the first two periods; this wasn’t an issue in the third and into the overtime period, but the shot discrepancy is the telling stat in this game: the Devils had 44 shots, and the Flyers had 25.
The issue from Game 1 was still an issue; the Flyers had 23 giveaways, and the issue is that the Devils had only seven takeaways, so that means that the giveaways that the Flyers committed were mostly unforced, and that is because the Flyers lost the board battles yet again. The in-zone passing was bad for the Flyers, giving the Devils many chances in transition, and thankfully Woll was up to the task, but this is something that the Flyers need to clean up posthaste, or they are in danger of starting the new season with three straight losses.
The Flyers will have a day off, and then it’s back to the ice at home against the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, who bounced them from the playoffs last season.
Steve Hamilton
Steve may have been born in California, but don’t let that fool you. After dating a local woman and clashing with her and her family over sports for decades, he has an affinity for Philly sports. Balancing love for Philly and Bay Area sports teams may seem impossible; we can all agree that the Cowboys are the true evil.
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