Philadelphia Flyers Up Two Games, Down Two Players: Stanley Cup Playoffs

Before game one of the series between the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils went down, I came out and said that the Flyers were going to get “fisted.” Well, through the first four games of the series it has been the Flyers that have been doing the fisting, to the tune of a three to one lead.

The first three games were pretty close on the scoreboard, but outside of parts of Game One and Game Two, the Devils have been dominated on the scoreboard and in the trenches.

Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk has been ineffective and, in some cases, seems to have his teammates confused. Kovalchuk’s inability to grasp the Devils system seems to have put his line mates in an awkward position of trying to adjust to Kovalchuk’s crafty play instead of the other way around.

On the other hand, the Flyers seem to have grasped head coach Peter Laviolette’s system, which is to say the Flyers are playing a tight-checking, hard fore-checking, physical game, which has caused the Devils havoc throughout the entire series.

If the first three games were close, Game Four was an embarrassment for the Devils. They were dominated along the boards, dominated on the score sheet, dominated in the trenches, and, most importantly, dominated psychologically .

The Devils lack any semblance of confidence and seem content on letting Martin Brodeur bail them out night after night, which simply is not going to work against this hard working Flyers team.

Amongst all the bad news for the Devils comes some good news. The Philadelphia Flyers have announced that Jeff Carter (Game Four first star) and Simon Gagne will be out of the lineup for Game Five and possibly the series.

NHL.com Mike G. Morreale reported Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren as saying “Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne will both have right foot surgery on Friday performed by Dr. Steve Raikin in Philadelphia to repair fractures…Simon could return to action in three weeks. Jeff is out indefinitely.”

The injuries give the Devils a glimmer of hope of getting back into the series, albeit just a glimmer.

The Flyers have played through adversity all season long, losing starting goaltender Ray Emery to long-term injury, followed by goaltenders Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher going down with extended injuries.

Forwards Jeff Carter, Simon Gagne, Daniel Briere, and others have also spent time on the injured reserve list at various times this season, which caused other players to step up in their absence.

Laviolette will have to ask his team to dig deep one more time if they want to get past the Devils. Almost anyone that has ever played sports will tell you that the toughest win in a series is the final one, Game Five will be that kind of game for both the Flyers and Devils.

With the Flyers win on Tuesday night they have now amassed a record of 8-2 against the Devils this season. They say some series are won on player matchups alone, this may very well be the case in this series, let’s face it, the Flyers have done a hell of a job thus far.

One of the main reasons for the Flyers success is the inspired play of goaltender Brian Boucher, who has stopped 98 of 106 Devils shots thus far, en route to an impressive 1.98 goals against average and a stellar .925 save percentage.

Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger and forward Mike Richards will have to be on top of their games if they wish to be victorious Thursday night in New Jersey. Needless to say, the Devils are likely going to come at the Flyers with everything they have, leaving nothing on the table.

Thus far, both Pronger and Richards have been instrumental in the Flyers success, boasting two goals apiece and 11 points between them.

The suddenly red hot Daniel Carcillo will need to keep his game in check, as will many other players on the Flyers roster as they are giving up far too many penalties to the Devils, an attribute that is going to burn them sooner or later.

One thing is for sure, the Devils needed some kind of good news and, outside of a Game Five win, Carter and Gagne being out of the lineup will have to do.

For more NHL news and notes check out my website at www.theslapshot.com

Until next time,

Peace!