In the Eastern Conference semi-finals, the Flyers will take on the New Jersey Devils. The Devils beat the Florida Panthers in 7 games in the first round, and will meet up against the Flyers in Game 1 Sunday at the Wells Fargo Center. To get you ready for this series, in this article we will go through the regular season series.
The Flyers were fairly successful against the Devils during the regular season and will look to continue that success in the playoffs. Here is a quick game by game breakdown.
October 8, Flyers 3 Devils 0
The Flyers won this game mainly because of the outstanding play of goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. In just his second game with the Flyers, the Bryz had a shutout as the Flyers cruised to an easy 3-0 victory. Giroux scored an early first period goal, and Matt Read and Wayne Simmonds both had 3rd period goals for the Flyers.
November 3, Devils 4 Flyers 3 (SO)
Backup Sergei Bobrovsky got the start in this game as the Flyers fell to the Devils 4-3 in a shootout. Max Talbot scored a late penalty shot goal to tie the game at 3, but ultimately the Devils were able to come away victorious to knot the season series at one game a piece.
January 21, Flyers 4 Devils 1
The Flyers were able to win the game thanks to Scott Hartnell who had 2 goals that were both assisted by Claude Giroux. Bryzgalov also had a very strong game stopping 30 of the 31 shots that came his way.
February 4, Devils 6 Flyers 4
I think this game is one Flyers fans want to forget about. The Flyers got burned at home as the Devils cashed in on 6 unanswered goals to start the game. After allowing 6 goals, Sergei Bobrovsky was quickly replaced by Bryzgalov who kept the Devils off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game. The Flyers were able to battle back, but ultimately they couldn't climb their way out of the 6 goal deficit.
March 11, Devils 4 Flyers 1
Sergie Bobrovsky surrendered 3 3rd period goals as the Devils won 4-1. Claude Giroux was the lone goal scorer for the Flyers.
March 13, Flyers 3 Devils 0
Ilya Bryzgalov got the start in the season finale between the two teams and he capped it off with another shutout. Sean Couterier was able to solve Marty in the second and the Flyers added 2 3rd period goals to secure the victory.
So what does this all mean? It's simple: in all three games that the Flyers lost, Sergei Bobrovsky was the goalie. Bryzgalov was the goalie in the three victories, and posted a shutout in 2 of those games.
While I don't like to make too much of the regular season, the Flyers have proven that the Devils are not a scary team and they should be able to beat them. Stay tuned to the blog over the next few days as I will be posting my complete breakdown and prediction for the series.
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