There’s nothing fun about the first period of the New Jersey Devils' tilt with the Philadelphia Flyers. They didn’t do anything right outside of scoring a power-play goal. They didn’t defend well, Jake Allen had a rough period in net, and the offensive response was non-existent. No Devils fan is going to be happy with the effort or the result.
What was frustrating was just how quickly things changed for the Devils. After Timo Meier scored the aforementioned power-play goal, the Devils gave up four goals in a ridiculously short amount of time.
The first goal came just 1:23 after the Devils scored. It quickly removed any momentum the Devils had built. Then, the Flyers rode the momentum to one of the greatest scoring runs you’ll ever see.
The Flyers took the lead off the stick of Matvei Michkov, who got behind the Devils’ defense and scored on a breakaway. The Devils were clearly spooked, and the Flyers came down and got another one off the next faceoff, making it 3-1. And once again, off the ensuing faceoff, Tyson Forester scored to make it 4-1.
It was the first period, but the game felt over. In the second period, the Flyers made it 5-1, and the remaining Devils fans went to grab a drink on South Street.
The scoring was bad enough, but the quickness of goals 2-4 was actually record-breaking. Since all the goals came off the ensuing faceoff, the Flyers scored three goals in 26 seconds. That’s obviously one of the fastest goal totals of all time.
Philadelphia Flyers break franchise records against New Jersey Devils
It’s not the overall record, but it is the franchise record for fastest goals scored by the Flyers. The record is actually 20 seconds, which was set by the 1970-71 Boston Bruins, which was kicked off by Hall of Famer Johnny Bucyk.
This also destroys the record of fastest three goals scored against the Devils. The previous record was set by the Chicago Blackhawks in 1983 when Denis Savard scored back-to-back goals in 25 seconds, and Darryl Sutter followed up with one 26 seconds after that. So, 51 seconds was the previous record against the Devils, but now, it’s almost cut in half.
The Devils went from 129th in fastest three goals allowed to now tied for fifth. To say it was a rough night is undercutting it by a lot.