After driving to the net, getting shoved down hard to the ice and drawing a penalty, forward Taylor Hall still managed to keep his stick on the puck and deliver a needed goal for the Devils, breaking a third-period tie with a strong individual effort against the Flyers on Friday.

As the goal horn sounded, Hall jumped to his feet, rounded the back of the net and put his right hand to his right ear, quickly making a “let’s hear it” gesture to the erupting Prudential Center crowd.

That series came after a comment from Hall earlier in the week about the Devils hearing boos from crowd at points during a home overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday.

When asked about the celebration, Hall laughed, saying there wasn’t any ill will behind it.

“I thought I heard, I thought I was getting booed in the second period there,” Hall said. “So just making light of that fact.”

The goal ultimately went for naught, with the Flyers tying the game again a few minutes later before the Devils lost 4-3 in a shootout in Newark to mark the team’s second straight defeat beyond regulation.

When Hall made the gesture, he said it wasn’t about his comments following Wednesday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he mentioned the Devils battling the fans a little bit.

Hall’s initial quote about the booing partially cut off many places on social media, primarily because of the character limit on Twitter. Here’s the full quote Hall had on Wednesday. The second paragraph was the part omitted from a lot of tweets.

“We’re kind of battling our own fans at this point. We’re 1-for-3 on the power play and we’re getting booed. It’s a tie game and we’re getting booed. That’s a tough environment to play in sometimes, especially when you are at home. I know when we’re playing somewhere and their fans start booing, it’s a fun environment for the away team to play in.

"I understand the fans’ frustration. After the game if they’re booing because we are losing, that is fine. But when we’re 1-for-3 on the power play and they’re booing, that is tough. If you’re playing at home, you want to feed off the energy of the crowd and not let that affect you, but sometimes it does.”

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Over the course of Hall’s three-plus seasons in New Jersey, he’s mentioned countless times the type of atmosphere Devils fans provide at The Rock. He’s been overwhelmingly praiseworthy for what Devils fans do.

And Hall’s initial comment echoed something similar Patrik Elias said during the 2014 season.

Fans have every right to boo or cheer in any situation they want. If they chose to boo after the Devils score four straight goals, there’d be nothing stopping them. It’s part of buying a ticket and seeing a hockey game in person.

And with just two wins and eight points in 11 games, it’s entirely reasonable for fans to be more critical about the Devils’ current play. And like the fans, Hall and the players are just as frustrated about the lack of results on the ice.

“That’s sports. I mean, you’re up, you’re down, and that’s just kind of the way the season’s going right now,” Hall said Friday. “We play well enough to win and we don’t. So we’re gonna have to work for our breaks, and no one’s feeling sorry for us right now. We know we’re right there. We know that this is no time to quit on our game plan or quit on each other. It’s really just about going out there and keep doing the things that we’re doing well and I think wins are going to follow.”

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