PHILADELPHIA _ In a terrifying moment, Flyers goalie Michal Neuvirth collapsed on the ice and had to be removed from Saturday night's game on a stretcher.
With 12 minutes, 23 seconds left in the first period and the Flyers holding a 1-0 lead over New Jersey at the Wells Fargo Center, Neuvirth fell on his back while a faceoff was down at the other end. He stayed in his crease, prone, for several minutes before moving his legs.
Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said Neuvirth was alert and taken to Pennsylvania Hospital for observation. Hextall said the Flyers would not have any more updates until Sunday.
The Flyers defeated the Devils, 3-0, for their fourth straight victory. They got goals from Brayden Schenn, Colin McDonald, and Jordan Weal.
Weal has goals in four straight games, and he has seven goals in his last 13 games. The left winger's power-play goal was the second for the second unit in the last 58 games.
The Flyers had two power-play goals for the first time since Feb. 28 against Colorado.
Anthony Stolarz, who relieved Neuvirth, made 26 saves. He blanked Detroit, 1-0, on Dec. 11.
With 24.5 seconds left, Eric Semborski, a Temple graduate who served as Stolarz's emergency backup, went into the game. But the refs waved him off because it wasn't an emergency and Stolarz returned.
Semborski is hockey director at the Skate Zone in Northeast Philadelphia.
The Flyers remained six points out of a wild-card spot and they have just four games left.
The Flyers' medical staff attended to Neuvirth on the ice and after about 10 minutes, he was gingerly placed on a stretcher and wheeled off while fans gave him a standing ovation.
While he was on the stretcher, several Flyers tapped Neuvirth with their sticks, and the Devils tapped their sticks on the ice, as if they were wishing him well.
Right winger McDonald, playing his first game with the Flyers this season, said Neuvirth was feeling ill before the game. Steve Mason is suffering from the flu, which is why Stolarz was recalled from the Phantoms on Saturday to serve as Neuvirth's backup.
"It's obviously pretty scary when your goaltender just collapses like that," left winger Chris VandeVelde said. "Not sure really what happened, (whether) he fainted or got light-headed or what. But pretty scary and glad to see he was functioning and moving when he was rolled off the ice."
Neuvirth, then with Washington, was the opposing goalie when former Atlanta Thrashers goalie Ondrej Pavelec collapsed in his crease in a 2010 game. It was later called a fainting spell.
Saturday's game was just Neuvirth's third start in the last 17 games.
In a game Feb. 8, 1972, Flyers goalie Bruce Gamble played the entire 60 minutes in a 3-1 win over Vancouver. At one point, Gamble collapsed to the ice without contact. He recovered and finished the game. He later had chest pains and was taken to the hospital and it was determined he had a heart attack during the game.
Gamble never played again.
It is possible Neuvirth had flu symptoms that caused him to collapse.
As for the testy, penalty-filled game, the Flyers' Dale Weise (high hit on Kyle Palmieri) and the Devils' Dalton Prout (high hit on Radko Gudas) could both be suspended. Both received game misconducts.
Gudas later returned to the game but then sat out the last period with an unspecified upper-body injury.
New Jersey had won the first three meetings this season, outscoring the Flyers, 14-3.
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