For more on this game, check out our Devils blog, In Lou We Trust, and our Flyers blog, Broad Street Hockey.
Underdog Flyers Look To Continue Regular Season Success Versus Second-Ranked Devils
NEWARK, New Jersey (Sports Network) - A pair of bitter rivals will begin their postseasons against each other tonight as the Atlantic Division champion New Jersey Devils host the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals at Prudential Center.
New Jersey, the East’s second seed, has been knocked out in the first round in each of the past two years and faces a Philadelphia club that won five out of six against the Devils in this year’s season series.
The Devil and Flyer franchises have faced each other four times in the playoffs with each team winning twice. Philly won the last postseason encounter, earning a 4-1 series’ victory in the opening round of the 2004 playoffs.
Perhaps sensing that time is running out to score another Stanley Cup title before the Martin Brodeur era ends, Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello took an uncharacteristic risk this year. His team already sitting atop the Atlantic Division, Lamoriello pulled off the biggest in-season trade of the 2009-10 campaign, acquiring superstar winger Ilya Kovalchuk from Atlanta.
The deal came weeks before the trade deadline, and with Kovalchuk set to become a free agent this summer, he could wind up being nothing more than a rental player. That means New Jersey’s Hall of Fame GM has quite a bit riding on Kovalchuk’s playoff performance.
At first it seemed that the standout winger would clash with head coach Jacques Lemaire’s defense-first style, but Kovalchuk had a strong 27-game run with New Jersey following the trade, posting 27 points over that stretch with 10 goals and 17 assists. All told, he recorded 41 goals and 85 points in 76 games with the Devils and Atlanta, giving the former No. 1 overall pick his sixth straight season with 40 or more goals.
Hopefully, Kovalchuk's presence will at least be enough take some heat off fellow left wing Zach Parise, who notched 38 goals and 82 points for New Jersey during the regular season. The 25-year-old Parise has posted 12 goals and 12 assists in 32 career playoff games, but he was shut down towards the end of last year's series with Carolina and that was a big reason the Hurricanes wound up winning that set in seven games.
Kovalchuk and Parise gives New Jersey prolific scorers on each of its top-two lines, making it difficult for most teams to stop both of them.
Even with the likes of Kovalchuk and Parise scoring up front, the Devils are still driven by their ability to play defense and stop pucks. Of course, this strategy is built around Brodeur, the future Hall-of-Famer who is the NHL’s all-time leader in wins, shutouts, and too many other categories to mention.
Brodeur has also won three Stanley Cups, but he hasn’t reached the top of the mountain since the spring of 2003. He will turn 38 years old in early May and it’s clear that the goaltending legend’s career is winding down. Still, Brodeur showed few signs of aging this season, going 45-26-6 with a 2.24 goals against average, .920 save percentage, and a league-leading nine shutouts.
While New Jersey comes into the playoffs off a consistent season, the seventh- seeded Flyers' road to the postseason this year was anything but smooth. The club fired head coach John Stevens in early December and replaced him with Peter Laviolette. Then, needing a win on the final day of the regular season to make the playoffs, the Flyers posted a shootout victory over the New York Rangers to finally punch their ticket to the postseason.
Philadelphia came into this season with Ray Emery as its starting goaltender, but he was lost for the year in early February. Michael Leighton, who was acquired off waivers during the year, thrived as the No. 1 goaltender with Emery gone, but he suffered a high ankle sprain on March 16 and won't be ready to return until the middle of May at the earliest.
That leaves Brian Boucher as the main man between the pipes for Philadelphia, making 2010 seem a lot like the spring of 2000 when Boucher and the Flyers battled New Jersey in the conference finals. Although Boucher was spectacular in 18 games for Philadelphia during that postseason, the Devils wound up winning the series in seven games and Boucher hasn't played a full playoff game in the decade since.
Boucher, who played for five different NHL teams other than the Flyers since 2000, was just 9-18-3 in 33 games (26 starts) for Philly this year with a 2.76 GAA and an unimpressive .900 save percentage. If Boucher fails to improve upon those numbers, it will almost certainly be a short postseason for the Flyers.
The Flyers lost some of their scoring depth in the offseason with the departure of Mike Knuble and Joffrey Lupul and it showed as the club scored 28 fewer goals this season than they did in 2008-09.
Philadelphia's top-two scorers, captain Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, led the team with 62 and 61 points, respectively. Carter also paced the team with 33 goals -- two more than Richards -- despite missing eight games after suffering a broken foot on March 21. Carter returned for the final two games of the regular season and is ready to go for the opening round of the playoffs.
After Richards and Carter, the Flyers next-best point producer during the regular season was defenseman Chris Pronger, who had 10 goals and 45 assists while skating in all 82 games this year.
The Flyers’ biggest asset is their power-play proficiency. Philly had the third-best power-play unit in the NHL this year, scoring on 21.4 percent of its opportunities with the man advantage.
Game 2 of this best-of-seven series is scheduled for Friday night in New Jersey.
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