Flyers Devils Preview

Coming into the playoffs, all of the experts picked the Penguins to beat the Flyers in the first round.  Some experts even went and picked the Penguins and their high powered offense to win the Stanley Cup.  But the Flyers were ultimately too much for the Penguins to handle, and the Flyers were able to advance in 6 games.  Now the Flyers are a young and dangerous team with a ton of swagger and confidence heading into their round 2 match up against the Devils.

I personally think the Flyers should have no problem taking down Marty and the Devils.  While the season series was an even split, the play of goalie Ilya Bryzgalov against the Devils during the season is an extremely encouraging sign for Flyers fans.  Bryzgalov was 3-0 against the Devils during the regular season with a .987 save percentage and a dazzling 0.29 GAA.  In total Bryz faced 76 shots from the Devils this year and stopped 75 of them.  Those are very impressive and encouraging stats especially when you consider how much scoring took place in the series against Pittsburgh.  If Bryzgalov can have similar success against the Devils in the playoffs the Flyers should be in very good shape.


Marty Brodeur's regular season stats against the Flyers are not as encouraging.  Marty was 1-3 with a 2.26 GAA and a .905 save percentage.  But don't forget that while he may be turning 40 soon, Marty still has that playoff switch that he can flick and has the ability to get extremely hot at any time.  

Another encouraging sign for the Flyers going into this series is that they are now the number one offensive team in the playoffs.  The Flyers scored 260 regular season goals and 30 goals against the Penguins good for a total of 290 goals on the season.  The closest team to the Flyers still alive in the playoffs are the Nashville Predators who had 232 regular season goals and 16 against Detroit in the first round for a total of 248 goals.

New Jersey has a total of 234 goals on the year, and their main scoring threats are Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise, David Clarkson, Patrick Elias, and Peter Sykora.  Kovalchuk, Parise, and Clarkson all had 30 goals or more during the regular season, while Elias and Sykora were both 20 goal scorers.

While the Flyers don't have as many 30 goal scorers as the Devils they feature a much more balanced scoring attack.  11 guys on the Flyers had 10 goals or more while only 7 guys on the Devils had 10 or more.    And the Flyers had a lot more production than the Devils offensively in round 1.  

The special teams stats for both teams are as follows: the Flyers had a 81.8% penalty kill during the regular season, and a 69% kill against the Penguins.  The Devils led the NHL with an 89.6% penalty kill during the year but posted just a 66.7% kill against the Panthers in round 1.  The power play percentages definitely favor the Flyers.  The Flyers were 19.7% during the regular season and a dazzling NHL best 52.2% against the Pens.  The Devils were 17.2% during the season and 20% against the Panthers.  Overall the Flyers definitely have the special teams advantage.  Their power play line is extremely efficient and they had a pretty solid penalty kill against a very dangerous Penguins team.

Lastly the Flyers have a ton of confidence and rest while the Devils just barely scraped their way past the Panthers.  The Flyers have been practicing and resting all week in preparation for round 2 while the Devils are probably still scrambling after their game 7 victory.  Simply put the Flyers beat a very good Penguins team in 6 games while the Devils needed all 7 games to beat a sub par Panthers team.

Overall I think the Flyers will win this series in 5.  I think they will split at home to open the series, and then win 3 straight to close out this series in a hurry.  If the Flyers can put the Devils away early it will be huge considering the fact that I think the series between the Capitals and Rangers will probably turn out to be a long 7 game series.  I was right about the Flyers beating Pittsburgh in 6, and hopefully I'm right about the Flyers in 5 as they attempt to return to the Eastern Conference finals.