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NEWARK, N.J. — Having the New Jersey Devils’ first Stanley Cup championship team on hand for a 20th-anniversary celebration seemingly rubbed off on the current team.
Adam Henrique scored two goals and Keith Kinkaid had 25 saves in his return to the lineup to lead the Devils to a 5-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night.
“I saw their eyes when they were sitting there,” Devils general manager and president Lou Lamoriello said of his team’s reaction during the pre-game ceremony in which stars like Scott Stevens, Marty Brodeur and Claude Lemieux were introduced to the fans. “How could you not, sitting there, and listening to the names, not only players who were with us but those who went to other teams in great careers.”
Henrique said it was special sitting on the bench and understanding what that team accomplished. They were underdogs in the finals against the Red Wings and won playing for each other.
“The group that they had and the leadership…all the players on the team bought in and everybody had their role and played together as one,” Henrique said.
The current team did all the little things on Sunday night.
Jacob Josefson broke a second-period tie with a short-handed goal and defenseman Eric Gelinas added a power-play tally to help the Devils bounce back from a disappointing loss to Columbus and send the Flyers to their second loss in two days.
Stephen Gionta also scored and Steve Bernier added three assists in the game between teams whose playoff hopes are fading.
Ryan White and Michael Raffl scored for the Flyers, who did not seem at their best after blowing a late lead to Boston on Saturday before losing in overtime. Steve Mason had 16 saves.
The result left Philadelphia seven points behind Boston in the race for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Devils are 10 behind the Bruins, who have played two less games than the Flyers and one less than New Jersey.
“We’ve been in deep trouble all year,” White said. “We have kept chipping away, getting wins here and there, but we have to play better than what we did today.”
The big goal for the Devils was Josefson’s fourth of the season. With Devils’ defenseman Adam Larsson off for hooking, defenseman Andy Greene sent a pass that Josefson carried into the Flyers zone and dropped to Gionta. Mason made the save on Gionta’s shot but Josefson got the rebound and scored for a 2-1 lead.
Bruins 5, Red Wings 3
BOSTON — Daniel Paille scored two goals, one short-handed, and Brad Marchand added a short-handed goal in the Boston Bruins’ 5-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.
Clinging to the Eastern Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot, Boston is 5-1-1 in its last seven.
David Pastrnak and Loui Eriksson each had a power-play goal for Boston. Backup goalie Niklas Svedberg made 36 saves. Tuukka Rask got the day off after playing 21 of 22 games.
Luke Glendening, Gustav Nyquist and Marek Zidlicky scored for the Red Wings. They have lost two straight after a three-game winning streak.
Avalanche 3, Wild 2
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Semyon Varlamov stopped 29 shots, Zach Redmond had a goal and an assist and Colorado beat Minnesota Wild 3-2 on Sunday night.
Cody McLeod and Gabriel Landeskog also scored for Colorado.
Chris Stewart and Thomas Vanek scored late for the Wild, and Devan Dubnyk had 18 saves in his 24th straight start for Minnesota. The Wild had won five straight.
Hurricanes 7, Oilers 4
RALEIGH, N.C. — Elias Lindholm had three goals for his first hat trick and added two assists and Carolina rallied from three goals down to beat Edmonton.
Jeff Skinner scored twice, and Alexander Semin and Andrej Nestrasi added goals for Carolina.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had his second career hat trick to increase his scoring total to 19 goals for Edmonton. Jordan Eberle added a goal and two assists for the Oilers.