The Philadelphia Flyers needed this one. Or, at the very least, they needed to show signs that they were trending in the right direction after a stretch of frustrating losses. And while the effort was certainly there against the New Jersey Devils,

Dawson Mercer hit the post at 4:29 of the second as he ripped a shot from the deep slot. New Jersey extended the lead to 2-0 at 5:39 as Erik Haula (5th) scored from the right circle. A Brenden Dillon point shot was blocked down before Johnathan Kovacevic passed to an oncoming Haula.

Fresh off a win over the NHL front-running Winnipeg Jets, the Flyers had gone 4-0-1 coming off the two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, and with 22 games remaining it was clear that although there was a long way to go, one could envision a path to a playoff spot for the first time in five years for this moribund franchise.