PHILADELPHIA — These are the games that make general managers believers. They also cause them enough horror to make them trade-deadline buyers.
In the end, the Devils’ 6-4 victory over the Flyers yesterday was glorious for the six-goal lead they opened and frightening because of the four they gave back in their familiar third-period foldup.
But as they play host to the Penguins this afternoon in Newark with a chance to pull within a point of Pittsburgh, yesterday will be memorable for the $100 Million Dollar Man Ilya Kovalchuk’s Gordie Howe hat trick, an indisputable stand for his captain and team.
Kovalchuk could have broken his right hand with the haymaker he landed on Brayden Schenn’s face, the product of objecting to a cheap shot by Zac Rinaldo on linemate Zach Parise.
Kovalchuk leads the Devils with 21 goals after scoring on with two assists yesterday and compling a line of 2-5-7 during their three-game winning streak. The Devils won’t want him turning enforcer. But this mattered.
The Orange Crud was mounting a comeback, already back to 6-2, in familiar Flyer fashion — with deliberate thuggery. After the whistle, Rinaldo took down Parise from behind, with what Parise called a “slew-foot.”
Kovalchuk immediately went after Rinaldo — who later was fined a sum of $5,000 for the trip of Parise and a second-period late hit on Jacob Josefson — and the pileup began.
Kovalchuk wound up paired with Schenn, and after they swung each other around by the jerseys, Kovalchuk landed a right that ended the dancing.
“That’s a 10, for sure,” said longtime teammate Eric Boulton, a fighting authority. “It can’t get any better than that. People take Kovy lightly. He’s a strong, tough dude.”
The meaning was not lost on Devils coach Pete DeBoer.
“I like why he fought,” DeBoer said. “He didn’t fight for himself. He fought for Zach, and that says a lot about him as a teammate.”
“It was great,” Parise said.
The Flyers scored twice more in short order thereafter, but that’s sweating the small stuff in this situation.
It would have been historic if the Devils had blown the six-goal lead, but in the end, they won their third straight, lifting them to 8-3-1 in the past 12 and 17-7-2 in 26.
The Flyers, who visit the Garden this afternoon, are just five points ahead of the Devils in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
The Devils scored early and often, with Kurtis Foster rebounding from his benching Thursday to start the spree, connecting on a 5-on-3 just 3:05 into play. Dainius Zubrus got away with chopping down Claude Giroux then set up Kovalchuk’s short-hander, and Zubrus made it 3-0 with 0.4 seconds left in the first. Parise on the power play, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Foster, again 5-on-3, gave the Devils their 6-0 lead, chasing Flyers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
Johan Hedberg, making his first appearance since Jan. 11, lost his bid for a third shutout 2:59 into the third on Wayne Simmonds’ rebound, but improved to 13-7-1 on the season, including victories in his last three starts. Jaromir Jagr added the Flyers’ second goal at 9:23 off a blocked shot. With Ponikarovsky in the box, Giroux converted at 12:40, and Jakub Voracek pulled Philly within two 51 seconds later.
The Flyers outshot the Devils 24-1 in the third, which screams for correction, but it didn’t overshadow their first two periods. Or Kovalchuk’s part.