How and Why the Devils Will Win Game 2 Against the Flyers

Martin Brodeur gave his team every chance to win but no one could beat Flyers goalie Brian Boucher until the very late stages of the third period in Game 1 that Philly stole, 2-1.

Brodeur will turn a similar performance in Game 2; Boucher may not.

A number of pucks during scrambles in front of Boucher rolled or were poked by an empty net while the Flyers goalie was down and out of the play.

New Jersey coach Jacques Lemaire will make sure his guys are stopping in front of the net and are active in front of Boucher and one or more of those pucks bouncing in the crease will be banged in.

Ilya Kovalchuk had a number of great scoring chances and failed to finish, including one end-to-end rush that, if he scored, would have been one of the best highlight goals of the year.

This guy is one of the best pure snipers in the game and though he has only played in four playoff games in his career, all with the Atlanta Thrashers, all losses, there is no question he is capable of putting the puck in the net.

Kovalchuk has played the point on the power play and has been deadly throughout his career on that left side just above the circle. Lemaire will make sure his team gets the puck to him over there more often, as the power play was horrid, seeing only four shots on five opportunities.

New Jersey will certainly be getting a lot more pucks to the net with the man advantage.

The first 20 minutes of the game were dominated by the Devils and they hemmed Philly in their own zone for much of the game.

Philly has been playing playoff hockey for almost a month now and just snuck in on a shootout in the last game of the season.

The Devils have now woken up and will be in playoff mode as well.

The Devils have to play a full 60 minutes of the tenacious style of hockey they are known for and that they played in those first 20 minutes and in the third. If they do, they will get the win.