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Devils VS Flyers


Sickman

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I really wanted us to play Bos or Mtl in the first round. This is going to be a physical series. But I cant see their goalies stealing more than 1 game so I predict the devils in 5 or 6. Just hoping that Pronger wont hurt any of our players with is dirty antics.

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yeah, this was in the days of zubrus, luke richardson, boucher and duce staley on the eagles. lol @ 'slope-browed'.

76, that's because kovalchuk's shooting percentage is off his career norm. normally in 111 shots, kovalchuk would have 16 goals. he's just that good.

He didn't though, though I do understand what you're saying about the shooting percentage, and how it can even out, and how it appears he's due for a tear. But when does that happen? The Devils need it to happen very soon...if Kovy scores 2-3 goals in this series (depending on how long it goes, of course) that probably isn't going to be enough, unless some like Elias steps up.

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One other thought I forgot to add... I really think that this play-off season (and the next one or two) are break out situations for Zach, Travis, and Paul Martin. I've watched a great deal of hockey this year, and those three players are exceptional by any standard across the league. They are unstoppable at times, and I think this year will be the year that people outside of the Devil's Fandom learn that.

Paul Martin and Zach Parise really have the right stuff, and are "Cup worthy". I can't picture their careers with out a Cup, and I think that these next 2 or 3 are as good a shot as any. I also think it always bodes well when other teams have to plan their games around your players - this will open the door for guys like Jamie and Zub to step up and score (they are capable).

Here's why the Flyers stand no chance:

1) Strong goaltending (Marty has been lights out for almost a month)

2) Consistent scoring across 2 lines (do you really think Boucher and Pronger can stop Zach and Ilya? the Flyers are probably terrified of Kovalchuk)

3) It's been a long time since the Devils had a player that other teams were scared of - Zach and Ilya are those players...

4) As much as we dog our d-men, Martin's injury gave important ice time to some key guys. In the play-offs when teams go to no more than 6 d-men, I think we stack up just fine. (White, Martin, Salvador, Skoula, Greene, and Mottau will be fine).

5) Intangibles - in the end, teams that win the Cup always have an unexpected player contribute in a big way (Kunitz for Pit, Cleary or Franzen for Det recently). The Devils have three or four candidates that fit this description (Clarkson, McAmmond, Neidermayer are all three guys that I could picture contributing at key - unexpected - times).

6) It's the Flyers, and Carcillo is no Avery... (I just don't think he bothers Marty like Avery did, and the Devil's PP can really hurt Philly).

Anyway - if the above reasons don't work, there's always "Lou". You just gotta believe. :koolaid:

Ilya playing for a contract and trying to get playoff wins should scare the Flyers, I can see him being extra motivated and coming up HUGE in this series

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He didn't though, though I do understand what you're saying about the shooting percentage, and how it can even out, and how it appears he's due for a tear. But when does that happen? The Devils need it to happen very soon...if Kovy scores 2-3 goals in this series (depending on how long it goes, of course) that probably isn't going to be enough, unless some like Elias steps up.

he's not due for a tear. he's due to be ilya kovalchuk, a player that shoots 3.7 times a game and scores on 14% of his shots - a legitimate 40 goal scorer. right now he is shooting like 7% on the power play, which is just ridiculous for many reasons.

i mean, the guy is getting unlucky and he's still on a 30 goal/82 game pace as a devil, because that's just how good he is. according to the binomial theorem (so that's assuming that all of ilya kovalchuk's shots are the same, etc.), 94% of the time, kovalchuk will have more goals than this.

Edited by Triumph
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5) Intangibles - in the end, teams that win the Cup always have an unexpected player contribute in a big way (Kunitz for Pit, Cleary or Franzen for Det recently). The Devils have three or four candidates that fit this description (Clarkson, McAmmond, Neidermayer are all three guys that I could picture contributing at key - unexpected - times).

You forgot to mention Rolston. His contribution would be incredibly unexpected.

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He didn't though, though I do understand what you're saying about the shooting percentage, and how it can even out, and how it appears he's due for a tear. But when does that happen? The Devils need it to happen very soon...if Kovy scores 2-3 goals in this series (depending on how long it goes, of course) that probably isn't going to be enough, unless some like Elias steps up.

If Kovalchuk gets just two but Rolston gets three, I'll take that. (Warning, don't drink milk while reading that statement. It will come out of your nose.)

I love how you made "Kovalev" a verb in a prior post. Excellent!

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6) It's the Flyers, and Carcillo is no Avery... (I just don't think he bothers Marty like Avery did, and the Devil's PP can really hurt Philly).

Agreed. I don't watch him all the time, but I'd put him in the same category as Clarkson when it comes to agitation. He plays hard, and while he will sometimes throw out the dirty hit (unlike Clarkson), he's not a bush league player like Avery.

Avery would never apologize for a dirty play like Carcillo did.

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brodeur did not have a mediocre performance last season. even with the devils' anti-home cooking policy (brodeur loses around a shot and a half a game), brodeur had a .929 SV% and faced 34 shots a game; he was the only reason there was a game 7.

MATH! OH NO HSODFSDKF

jk, you're right the last 2 minutes of game 7 distorted my opinion of his performance. The Defense was what was mediocre last year (which can happen again easily this year...so I have a whole new set of concerns)

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For fun lets say we compare the teams line by line even though in a game it wont be quite like that especially with all the line juggling...who do you think wins?

F1: Gagne-Richards-Carcillo vs. Parise-Elias-Zubrus

F2: Hartnell-Carter-Briere vs. Kovalchuk-Zajac-Langenbrunner

F3: JVR-Giroux-Asham vs. Rolston-McAmmond-Pelley

F4: Powe-Betts-Lapperriere vs. Pandolfo-Niedermayer-Clarkson

D1: Pronger-Carle vs. Martin-Mottau

D2: Timonen-Coburn vs. Salvador-Greene

D3: Parent-Kraijcek vs Skoula-Fraser

G: Boucher vs. Brodeur

F1: I say we have the edge because Carcillo isn't the most skilled player for the top line and certainly isnt as good as Zubrus. Elias is a proven playoff performer and Parise rocks. Richards is having an excellent year though and Gagne is a Devil-killer.

F2: All very respectable players for the Flyers but Kovalchuk is a world class player and Langenbrunner is a proven playoff performer. Carter and Briere are always dangerous though.

F3: JVR and Giroux are having pretty good years. Rolston has 20 goals but hasn't shown up for about 40 games and McAmmond is a pleasant suprise. I think the Flyers have an edge here.

F4: Its a wash. Not too much should be expected from either of these 4th lines. Their best contribution will probably be in the PK for Betts, Niedermayer, and Pandolfo.

D1: Mottau is poison as far as I'm concerned but Martin is excellent. Pronger when not injuring people is a great defender. Perhaps a slight edge to the Flyers.

D2: Salvador has been solid and Greene has been even better at times. Timonen is very reliable and Coburn has improved each season. Tie

D3: I don't know enough about the flyers 3rd D pairing to make a judgement, but Skoula has been great for us.

G: CLEARLY Boucher is superior ;)

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If the Flyers had a healthy Michael Leighton (can't believe I just typed that) I see them winning the series. But Boucher will eventually sh*t the bed and hand one or two games away which should be enough for the Devils to win in six games or less. Boucher has had some great stretches but he's also had some real bad ones. His positioning is horrible at times.

The Flyers have not had a goalie since 1987 and nothing has changed this year. And goaltending wins in the playoffs.

I would be completely surprised if the Flyers win this series.

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HOI mentioned this on page 1, but Jacques 100% absolutely has to get Zubrus on Zach's right wing. He is the only guy with the size and ability along the boards to play Pronger shift after shift. Pronger has dominated Zach and his line all year long, something has to be done to try to prevent that because there wont be a friendly match up on the road.

Along that tone Jacques has to use home ice to its full advantage. Rather than just rolling along with his lines, with the 4th line taking the odd shift off, he has to dictate the match ups to the Flyers. If they want Pronger on vs Zach they will have to work for it. Disrupt what Laviolette wants to do early in the series because getting out of the Rock up 2-0 would be huge.

The second key to the series is going to be puck support on the breakout. The Flyers will come out with a pressure forecheck, the Devils forwards need to provide the d with short quick outlets that allow the d man to get himself out of the forecheck as quickly as possible. Too often this year the D man had no passing outlet other that just tossing the puck out, leading to the devils getting caught playing a lot of defense.

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If only the Flyers still had Biron, my favorite goalie to play against. Oh well, Elias is still going to do this all over the Flyers' faces: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWD6-iTn_Fs&feature=related

If the Flyers had Biron in net I would say Devils in 4. He is beyond awful. He gave up 3 absolutely disgusting goals against the Devils on Saturday. Zubrus's was a joke, McAmmond's was a joke and Elias' second was a joke. I can't remember the last time I saw a goalie get a chance to give up 3 unbelievably soft goals in 1 game. Why the hell did Gordon leave him in?

This series scares the bejesus out of me. I did not want the Flyers at all. Sigh. This series is going to force me to drink heavily.

There is your silver lining. I hope that place Port 44 is open by Friday.

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HOI mentioned this on page 1, but Jacques 100% absolutely has to get Zubrus on Zach's right wing. He is the only guy with the size and ability along the boards to play Pronger shift after shift. Pronger has dominated Zach and his line all year long, something has to be done to try to prevent that because there wont be a friendly match up on the road.

agree 100% about this.

Along that tone Jacques has to use home ice to its full advantage. Rather than just rolling along with his lines, with the 4th line taking the odd shift off, he has to dictate the match ups to the Flyers. If they want Pronger on vs Zach they will have to work for it. Disrupt what Laviolette wants to do early in the series because getting out of the Rock up 2-0 would be huge.

this i don't agree with. i'd rather have jacques rolling 4 lines. if we had a good third line, i'd agree. we could put out this good third line against pronger, forcing him to change. but right now, it's either parise vs. pronger, kovalchuk vs. pronger, or rolston-niedermayer-clarkson against pronger. neither of those three is any good - the less ice time the 3rd line sees, the better. i'd rather just put parise out for his shift and let philadelphia do what they will - they still won't match up well against one of the top 2 lines.

The second key to the series is going to be puck support on the breakout. The Flyers will come out with a pressure forecheck, the Devils forwards need to provide the d with short quick outlets that allow the d man to get himself out of the forecheck as quickly as possible. Too often this year the D man had no passing outlet other that just tossing the puck out, leading to the devils getting caught playing a lot of defense.

agree here, though the devils gave up the 2nd lowest shots on goal in the league, and even adding in the ones the scorers missed only gets us to 4th best - lemaire's system is/was doing something right.

Edited by Triumph
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Interested in purchasing playoff tickets for game 2, wanted to know what you guys think.

Is it better to purchase tickets in 110-113 or 127-130 and sit in row 5 or 6 or purchase tickets in 126, 131, 109, or 114 and sit in row 1 or 2? Does being center ice outweigh the four or five row pushback? The only game I've attended in these mezzanine seats I sat in 114 row 1, and I feel like I'd like to move a little closer to center ice but not if the move back to row 5 or 6 compromises the center ice advantage.

FIgured I'd' ask all the Prudential Center frequents.

Thanks! :cheers:

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Interested in purchasing playoff tickets for game 2, wanted to know what you guys think.

Is it better to purchase tickets in 110-113 or 127-130 and sit in row 5 or 6 or purchase tickets in 126, 131, 109, or 114 and sit in row 1 or 2? Does being center ice outweigh the four or five row pushback? The only game I've attended in these mezzanine seats I sat in 114 row 1, and I feel like I'd like to move a little closer to center ice but not if the move back to row 5 or 6 compromises the center ice advantage.

FIgured I'd' ask all the Prudential Center frequents.

Thanks! :cheers:

Depends on what you like.

If you want to sit at center ice then get yourself center ice seats. But if you wanna sit upstairs and still be close, try to get seats in the front row of the balconies (101-107, 116-124). I've sat front row in the mezz and front row in the balcony. I thought the mezz wasn't worth the price but was amazed at how close you actually are when sitting up front in the balcony. You can practically spit on the goalie.

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If the Flyers had Biron in net I would say Devils in 4. He is beyond awful. He gave up 3 absolutely disgusting goals against the Devils on Saturday. Zubrus's was a joke, McAmmond's was a joke and Elias' second was a joke. I can't remember the last time I saw a goalie get a chance to give up 3 unbelievably soft goals in 1 game. Why the hell did Gordon leave him in?

There is your silver lining. I hope that place Port 44 is open by Friday.

if you notice, Elias and Biron have a weird thing going. it seems like Biron gives him a ridiculous goal (that he doesn't even try on) every time the Devils play a Biron goalied team.

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This is the only series I expect to sweep. There is nothing about the Flyers that scares me. They are too prone to panic if they get behind. Boucher is not the type of goalie especially now that is going to save them.

If the Devils score the first two goals in game one this series is over. The Flyers have made the playoffs in spite of themselves and will completely collapse once a modicum of doubt gets in there heads.

i think this is just taking the flyers way too lightly and putting too much importance on game 1.

the devils looked like they wouldn't lose a period much less a game after game 1 vs. the canes last year.

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