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Flyers need to beat Devils on Saturday

With the wild-card race intensifying, the Flyers desperately need to defeat a team they are chasing, the New Jersey Devils, in Saturday's matinee at the Wells Fargo Center.

Jake Voracek.
Jake Voracek.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

With the wild-card race intensifying, the Flyers desperately need to defeat a team they are chasing, the New Jersey Devils, in Saturday's matinee at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers are four points behind New Jersey and have two games in hand on the Devils, who began Friday tied with Pittsburgh with 61 points. The Penguins entered Friday in the last wild-card spot because they had played fewer games than New Jersey.

"Every game is a must-win for us," winger Jake Voracek said Friday after practice in Voorhees. "We have to find a way to get points in our next three games."

The Flyers play three games in the next four days - home-and-away matchups with the Devils and a Sunday night game at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers.

Voracek was asked if he looked at the crowded standings every day to get a feel for the Flyers' situation.

"If you win, you look. If you lose, you don't," he cracked.

He looked Friday because the Flyers were coming off a 5-1 win Thursday over Buffalo. It was an odd victory because the Flyers were dominating in a 4-0 second period but were outplayed in the other two.

The Devils defeated the Flyers, 4-1 (with an empty-net goal), at the Wells Fargo Center on Oct. 29. The Flyers, aided by two power-play goals, won the Dec. 4 rematch in overtime, 4-3, in Newark.

"They've been playing really good hockey and they play a good team game," captain Claude Giroux said of a Devils team that is on a 6-2-2 run.

Michal Neuvirth, who was sidelined by a lower-body injury and has not played since a 4-3 overtime win in Washington on Jan. 27, may get the start Saturday. He is 5-2-4 with a 2.03 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage in his career against the Devils. Steve Mason has struggled in his career against New Jersey: 0-7 with a 3.70 GAA and a .861 save percentage.

Conversely, Mason has performed well against Sunday's opponent, the Rangers: 7-3-3 with a 2.13 GAA and a .934 save percentage. Neuvirth's numbers (1-5, 4.60 GAA, .856 save percentage) are awful against the Blueshirts.

Mason has started the last six games and played admirably (3-2-1, 2.33, .929) and will rest in one of the weekend games, coach Dave Hakstol said.

Hakstol said the goalies' past performance against teams "plays a small role" in whom he plays. He would not reveal his Saturday starter.

The Flyers have 29 games remaining.

"It's definitely doable," Giroux said about the team's playoff chances. "Maybe it's not the situation we would want to be in, but there are so many games left. . . . We hit a little bump the last week, but after [Thursday's] win, hopefully we can get on a little roll here."

scarchidi@phillynews.com

@BroadStBull www.philly.com/flyersblog