Gloomy Sunday: Flyers stifled by Devils, 5-2

Adam Henrique's sixth career two-goal game, coupled with three unanswered goals over the second and third periods lifted the New Jersey Devils to a 5-2 win Sunday over the Flyers.

Henrique scored his first goal at the 4:49 mark of the first period — just the third shot on goal for the Devils. Ryan White tied it just 2:56 later on a tip-in from a Luke Schenn shot, which would hold through the first period.

Two special teams goals from the Devils (28-28-10) in the second period — a Jacob Josefson shorthanded goal and an Eric Gelinas power play tally — gave them a 3-1 lead with 20 minutes to play. Henrique's second of the game at 5:31 of the third period — off a rare 2-on-0 opportunity with Steve Bernier — increased the lead to 4-1, effectively burying the Orange and Black.

Michael Raffl scored at the 11:44 mark of the third off a tip-in from White — good for his first multi-point game as a Flyer — but a Stephen Gionta breakway goal nearly two minutes later (following a Sean Couturier open-net miss, to boot) quelled any hopes of a comeback.

In his second start of the weekend, Steve Mason stopped just 16 of 21 Devils shots. Subsequently, he was unable to get his second road win of the season, and remains winless against the Devils in his career.

Making just his ninth start of the season, Keith Kinkaid was admirable between the Devils' pipes, as he saved 25 of 27 pucks. Kinkaid was easing the workload of Cory Schneider, who started the previous 11 of 12 games for the Devils.

The Flyers (28-16-13) were able to drive possession of the puck, and finished with a 27-21 advantage in shots. At multiple points of the game, their shots advantage was twice as much as the Devils, until the second half of the second period, when stifling Devils defense prevented any shots from going through.

Sunday's loss also drives the metaphorical dagger further into the Flyers' hopes at a playoff spot. Taking Boston's 5-3 win over Detroit on Sunday into consideration, the Flyers now sit seven points behind them for the Eastern Conference's final playoff spot, and would still have to hop over Ottawa and Florida to get there. 

The Orange and Black next take the ice Tuesday, taking on the Dallas Stars as part of a brief, one-game "homestand."

Prior to the game, the Devils recognized their 1995 Stanley Cup-champion team, on the 20th anniversary of the team's first Cup championship. 

Follow Rob Riches on Twitter @Riches61