Devils vs. Flyers: Jack Hughes Solves Joseph Woll in Overtime After 41 Saves Kept Philadelphia Alive

For more than an hour, Joseph Woll was the main character at Prudential Center. Forty-one saves, shot after shot from every angle, and the Philadelphia Flyers somehow still standing in overtime. Then Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt ran the play they have apparently been running for years, and the story got a new ending.

Bratt carried the puck into the right circle and fed Hughes down the slot, and Hughes buried a wrist shot with 1:37 left in overtime to give the New Jersey Devils a 3-2 win over the Flyers on Thursday night in their season opener. Luke Hughes and Dougie Hamilton also scored for New Jersey, and Jake Allen made 23 saves.

"Definitely a great handle by (Bratt). That pass was a bit of a grenade that I sent his way. So, great handle, back to me, empty net," Jack Hughes said.

Defensemen Run the Show

Here is a fun bit of trivia: all four goals in regulation came from defensemen. Philadelphia's Rasmus Ristolainen opened the scoring at 11:12 of the first, redirecting a Travis Sanheim point shot from the slot while the Flyers had Woll pulled for an extra attacker on a delayed penalty. The Devils had already come up empty on one power play by then and would finish 0 for 4 on the night.

New Jersey kept firing, and the Flyers kept throwing their bodies in the way. Philadelphia blocked 32 shots, with Jamie Drysdale leading the way with six, according to NHL.com. The equalizer finally came at 17:58 of the second, when Hamilton knocked down a Cam York clearing attempt inside the blue line and wired a snap shot from the point that beat Woll inside the left post, with new Devil Anthony Mantha screening in front.

The AP noted the goal came in Hamilton's 306th game with New Jersey and made him the second-fastest defenseman to record 200 points with the franchise, after Scott Stevens, who needed 250 games.

The Turning Point: Luke Hughes Answers Back

Philadelphia, coming off a 7-0 home loss to Pittsburgh on Wednesday, refused to fold. Sanheim gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead at 5:33 of the third, ripping a slap shot from the top of the left circle off a Sean Couturier feed.

That lead lasted 4:11. At 9:44, Luke Hughes stepped into a snap shot from the high slot, assisted by Luke Evangelista, and beat Woll to tie it 2-2. The Flyers had been bending without breaking for most of the night, and Luke Hughes finally found the crack.

Devils coach Sheldon Keefe knew his team made it harder than it needed to be. "We knew we were playing well and controlling play, so you just got to find ways to score," he said. "They're defending hard. They blocked a lot." He also admitted the Devils did themselves no favors. "You let the team hang around, so it makes it probably harder than it needed to be."

In overtime, the Hughes-Bratt connection did what it does. Jack Hughes said the give-and-go was a staple for the two of them. "We've been doing that for years and look forward to doing it for a lot more years with him," he said.

Star Watch

Jack Hughes: The overtime winner in 25:48 of ice time. NHL.com noted it made him the second player in franchise history with 10 career overtime goals, after Patrik Elias (16). It was also his fifth goal in a season-opening game, tying Zach Parise and Bobby Holik for second most in franchise history behind John MacLean (seven).

Luke Hughes: The tying goal in 24:17.

Dougie Hamilton: An unassisted goal and a franchise milestone.

Jesper Bratt: The primary assist on the winner and a plus-2 night.

Joseph Woll: 41 saves on 44 shots in his Flyers debut. Philadelphia acquired him in a trade with Toronto on June 16, and he gave them every chance to steal this one. "Not every game is going to be a perfect game, and I thought we did a good job and were opportunistic with our scoring chances," Woll said.

Travis Sanheim: A goal, an assist and three blocked shots in 25:47.

Stats That Matter

• 44-25: New Jersey's advantage in shots on goal.
• 32: Blocked shots by Philadelphia. New Jersey had 10.
• 0 for 4: New Jersey's power play. Philadelphia went 0 for 1.
• 8-1-0: The Devils' record when Jack and Luke Hughes score in the same game, per NHL.com.
• 23-18: Philadelphia's giveaways compared with New Jersey's.

What It Means

New Jersey starts 1-0-0 and visits the New York Islanders on Saturday. Amadeus Lombardi also got a taste of the big time, logging 8:03 in his NHL debut. The AP noted the Devils returned their top eight scorers from last season, when they went 42-37-3 and finished seventh in the Metropolitan Division, so the offense was supposed to be the easy part. Jack Hughes, who led the Devils with 77 points last season, according to the AP, wants the blue line driving it. "I mean, Luke and Dougie are the two guys that need to drive it offensively back there," he said.

Philadelphia is 0-1-1 with one point after two games and hosts Carolina on Saturday. Getting a point one night after a seven-goal loss is real progress, and Sanheim saw it. "I thought it was better tonight," he said. "I thought our guys battled harder for sure, but when you're turning over that many pucks and spending that much time in the defensive zone, it's hard to win hockey games."

Woll was frustrated but not discouraged. "I thought we had a good chance to win it, so it's just disappointed we didn't finish the job," he said.

Closing Take

The Hughes brothers have turned scoring in the same game into a family tradition, and the Devils keep winning when it happens. Jack, the Olympic gold medalist who led Team USA at Milan Cortina last winter, according to the AP, now has a game-winner to go with the hardware. Woll played the part of the guy who almost spoils the party, and he almost pulled it off. Almost is the operative word in overtime, though, and nobody in New Jersey will remember the 41 saves by Saturday.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and notes as reported by NHL.com.