Devils VS Flyers

[devlman]

Courtesy of McKay........

There's a vid somewhere that puts both hits (this and the one on Lindros) side by side to show how they were almost identical.

Too bad Gary thorne butchered that call. He was so anti-Devils

[DaneykoIsGod]

On the eve of the playoffs, I'll say this:

Regular season means nothing. Throw away the Flyers record against us. Also throw away the Devils defense's top ranking. Toss aside the gap in experience between Brodeur and Boucher. The goals, the mistakes, the line shuffling, the shooting percentages ... it all means diddly poo. Wipe it clean and start anew.

What we have are rivals. In any sport, when two rivals meet up you can usually put them on dead-even ground. Statistical advantages here or there get swept under the rug by emotion. This series will be brutal on all who skate in it. Even the announcers might get bruises just from being in the same buildings.

When I look at this series, I see one player who stands above the rest as being pivotal, and that player is Chris Pronger. He took Edmonton to the Finals. He got Anaheim over the hump and helped etch "Ducks" on the Stanley Cup. He's a winner. But his track record as a winner could be de-railed by the locker room rift in Philly. It'll be the younger Richards Camp versus the older Pronger Camp. If the young guys pull their heads out of their asses and follow the team's real leader, the Flyers could win or at least push the series to seven games. If not, the Devils could win in five.

He's also a dirty bastard. He was a dirty bastard all season long, but come tomorrow night he'll multiply his dirty bastard quotient by about a million. Can the Devils' smaller forwards survive? Besides the assault of swinging elbows and stomping skates, the Devils will have to deal with his ability to shut down forwards. But who does Laviolette put him out against? Zach? Ilya? Whoever doesn't draw Pronger will need to take advantage, and whether or not he does may very well decide the series. (If I were the Flyers, I'd put him on Zach. No-brainer.)

So, yeah, IMO that's what this series will boil down to. I think that (along with goaltending, which has been the Achilles Heel of the Flyers since Hextall hung them up) the locker room rift will, just as it has all season, keep a very talented group of Flyers from playing up to their potential. This is ideal for the Devils, because instead of having to rise to the occasion of exorcising their past first-round ghosts, they can just let their opponents beat themselves.

Devils in six, with at least two games going into OT and one defenseman getting hurt.

[adavid]

and one defenseman getting hurt.

Hopefully the right one!

[ringtwins]

Imo, to get zach awqay from pronger means the third and fourth lines need to spend some time in the flyers end. They have seemed on their heels against the third and fourth lines and if they can reverse that trend, Zach could get on more.

[Ollie McKraut]

I'm scared but I have faith

[losdiablos103]

I'm always nervous come playoff time, but this has me shaking

GET OUT GET UP AND REPRESENT! I'm wearing my 00 Sarge stanleyy cup jersey tomorrow.

[Legion15]

would be great if game 2 was saturday instead of friday, then i could go. would be a great time to watch a win and watch a phag get tossed from the rock

[Devs3cups]

Devils will win this! The "D" needs to work hard! And the offense too! GO DEVILS GO ZACH GO KOVY GO MARTY ETC. DEVILS IN 6 I SAY IT AGAIN! :gd: :gd: :gd: :gd: :gd:

[Par9]

Keys to win:

1. Goaltending

2. Goals

3. Physical play

Marty has been playing stellar and the Devils need to take advantage of this. The Flyers will have a very difficult time beating Marty.

With Boucher in net we need Kovalchuk and Parise's line to light him up. We have a clear advantage and we have two lines with a 40 goal scorer!

Don't let them control the game. Get at least one of PL3, Pelley, or Corrente in the lineup. Fraser, Salvs, and White need to hit. Zubie needs to use his body in the corners.

Final thought and this is for us. Be loud. Muffle the Flyers fans and start some good old Boucher chants to get him scared.

[BlueSkirt]

Parise says it will be special

[Pepperkorn]

I have my necklace and my cap -- I'm always proud to wear them -- but .. what hurts is all my Flyer fan friends are ashamed of their team... it's like I'm their one saving grace - they can be smug around me, the Devils fan, and that blows. I'd like the team to give us all a hand and dispense a mighty ass kicking this series, to be perfectly frank.

[ThreeCups]

Parise says it will be special

Can someone paste the text from that here? Stupid web filter at work!

[run_to_the_ditch]

whatever man...the Flyers are tough, Boston is playing well right now, the Caps are too strong...enough already...sound like a board of whiney spoiled girlfriends who complain about what they got for Christmas.

You keep puttin it out there in the universe that the Devils are going to take a big injury or the Flyers will upset them and guess what...THEY WILL!!!

It's the playoffs people! The BEST 16 teams get in, thats the way it is and the way it will be. Hopefully 2 months of in your face ground and pound hockey. Isnt that what makes hockey playoffs the BEST playoffs in all of sport?!?

Right now the DEVILS are the BEST team for many reasons. Our top 2 lines can be thrown together like pot luck and they've been scoring. Kovalchuk seems just as good with Zajac as his center as Elias. Andy Greene is a hidden gem. Paul Martin is all set to go. Marty's recent play has him looking like he's 10 years younger. The young kids who come up fit in seemlessly.

What does Philly bring to the table...injuries, loads of LACK of confidence, and more issues than 5 seasons of The Real World put together.

So either stand behind YOUR team NO MATTER WHAT OR WHO THEY FACE, or gladly exchange your jersey at the door for a nice blue Rangers jersey. This way as a Rangers fan your low expectations will always be met.

Devils in 5

[Jerrydevil]

whatever man...the Flyers are tough, Boston is playing well right now, the Caps are too strong...enough already...sound like a board of whiney spoiled girlfriends who complain about what they got for Christmas.

You keep puttin it out there in the universe that the Devils are going to take a big injury or the Flyers will upset them and guess what...THEY WILL!!!

It's the playoffs people! The BEST 16 teams get in, thats the way it is and the way it will be. Hopefully 2 months of in your face ground and pound hockey. Isnt that what makes hockey playoffs the BEST playoffs in all of sport?!?

Right now the DEVILS are the BEST team for many reasons. Our top 2 lines can be thrown together like pot luck and they've been scoring. Kovalchuk seems just as good with Zajac as his center as Elias. Andy Greene is a hidden gem. Paul Martin is all set to go. Marty's recent play has him looking like he's 10 years younger. The young kids who come up fit in seemlessly.

What does Philly bring to the table...injuries, loads of LACK of confidence, and more issues than 5 seasons of The Real World put together.

So either stand behind YOUR team NO MATTER WHAT OR WHO THEY FACE, or gladly exchange your jersey at the door for a nice blue Rangers jersey. This way as a Rangers fan your low expectations will always be met.

Devils in 5

Wouldn't you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?

[SatansDevils]

Devils in 5 on home ice. The shorter the series for the Devils the better.

[BlueSkirt]

Can someone paste the text from that here? Stupid web filter at work!

Check your PMs

[Marshall]

I'm so nervous I have to go fishing or something. The gym didn't help.

[Joe B]

I was going to start a new thread with a bunch of rambling (and lots of tangent going this and that way, I'm sure pk will keep up with me but I'm sorry to everyone else who like to think in more of a lineral fashion) about more then just this game/series, but I'm too lazy and don't want to clutter up the board. Looking foward to this post season, matter of fact thinking about getting season tix again for next year but that is getting to ahead of myself. I'm thinking devs in 5. Refs will play a big role in style of the games. You get one of the most penalized teams vs one of the least with an NHL mindset of PP chances usually ending up pretty even at the end of the game and you have lots to play with. Does the PP score in the first couple games so Philly has to be more diciplined? It's looked better the last couple weeks, but an 0 - 2 in a close game 1 and grips get tighter, fans start booing(still drives me nuts) and it becomes a close game. Don't see it happening, but the possibility is always there.

I feel the lines will start as zzpops, elias- ilya - zubrus, clarkson-pelly-pl3(he earned a shot in game one form his play the last couple weeks, any other series I think Pando plays) who does that leave? nieds-rolston-mcamond. Thats how I would start the game. If Pronger is on the ice every time Zach is, swap langs and Zubrus. JL tells the 4th line(cp3) don't take any penalties, hit everything in orange, don't give up any goals, if you are in the offensive zone, shoot the puck and crash the net.

If Langs isn't meshing with Elias and Ilya, rolston should be the first to get the oportunity. I just thought clarckson didn't look in step with them enough. Looked good for a few sh!ts(which as one or two more shifts better then Zharkey did) but overall I didn't think he did enough. Rolstons the vet with a much higher upside potential and would deserve a few shifts.

Looking for a nice 2 goal(3 with en) game win tonight. I don't like blowouts wins in the first game because it's too easy to say that the loosing team just didn't have it for the night, throw the game away and sneak a win in the next game.

I'm hoping for lots of mock boooosh chants when he stops the puck behind the net or such.

I don't see any Clarckson - Carcillo follow over. sure they will both be in scrums, but if they want to drop them(which I think was the original intent of the cross check, nothing dirty) there is always a pre season game next year.

(now I think I'm just going to ramble casue I don't like posting in tons of different threads as you can tell by my horrid post count for a person thats been here for longer then the board. Now that I think about it, can I get a title other then lowel devil? spelling and punctuation killer, old fogie, kool aid drinker, vile bastard, anything else)

I'm still under the belief that Lou has about a 25% - 33% chance of signing ilya. don't want to get my hopes up too high but would love to see him with a full training camp, family in the area settled in. since he's been here he's always says the right thing, and seems like a team guy. Hopefully he likes it here and wants to try and make it work out. If it comes own to pure $$ he won't stay, but I'd make that trade again in a second even if he splits. Lou will try and i'm sure a call from Fetisov(as long as he doesn't pitch the khl), Brylin, Nemchinov and about 3 or 4 more might help.

I could easily see a different captain to start the season. I think it's 50 - 50 Langs is back next season.

I'm off to see the game. sorry if you read the whole thing

<not edited for spelling, punctuation or logical content whatsoever>

[skullsmasher]

Anybody want to take a stab at when game 6 would be? right now its next sunday with no time announced any chance of it being a afternoon game?

[Devils731]

Anybody want to take a stab at when game 6 would be? right now its next sunday with no time announced any chance of it being a afternoon game?

I'm gonna guess it's TBD because they don't know if they'll need it to be the national TV game that day, so I think there is a chance it could be afternoon. It could be afternoon either way actually.

[Found]

Just found this great Devils vs. Flyers preview interview http://msg.com/devils/ its pretty interesting also apparently they will be showing tonight game on the MSG plus network at 7 tonight.. I wonder how good there coverage will be..

[Joe B]

Since my last post ground this thread to a screaching halt I figure why not one more time.

For those complainging abuot the too many men on the ice before the goal, There were at least two times in the first period that too many men on the ice that I thought could have been called, one for both teams. Part of the game, I would have been shocked if that one was called actually. Refs pretty much called it liek I thought they would. Philly does so much they don't call everything, Devils get a few PP's ina row so anything close gets called agasint them. Sees to be the way of the NHL. if you don't make them pay on the PP Philly will continue if not rachet it up.

ice must have sucked, lots of falling players, pucks jumping over sticks, unfortunatly the devs didn't adjust and make shorter crisper passes. I don't mind when kovie tried to make those end to end rushes. It's a risk reward thing. Seems like he tries them at the end of the shift when his linemates are going for a change. Rather he attempt to create a scoring chance(and if he did score on that one it probably would have been the nicest individual effort goals I've ever seen live, A-line had some amazing passing to set up goals, maybe a scott niedermayer end to end) then dump the puck in. As everyone already know that game was decided by special teams, not sure if there was enough movement on the PP. There were a few chances where the open player got the puck, but the pass was in the feet and that extra second cost them a good(or any) shot(as opposed to the goal they scored which was a one timer). I thoght Ilya passed a couple times too many so hopefully that sets up his shots for tonight. Series are all about adjustments.

I don't see major changes for tonight. Booch left tons of rebounds, Devs just have to fight to get to them. I expect a more desperate team tonight, but I thought they controlled play pretty much. I don't think I noticed PL3 so if corrente gets an oportunity, maybe he will hit everything. Not even saying the 3rd/4th lines played badly, they created oportunities. Think one or two slid wide of the net. Had the devs scored on one of the many oportunites int he first, that game plays totally different. Flyers played a decent road game. Survives the opening onslaught, chip in an ugly goal, hold on for dear life. If the Devils get an early goal it could open the floodgates. Hold Philly to under 20 shots again and good things shuold happen.

I still think they can win, although in 5 sounds a bit tough now.

Joe

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Flyers in five. I'm not saying that for the sake of being negative, because I would've picked the Devils to win in six or less against Ottawa, Montreal, or Boston. I just have a bad feeling against this particular opponent, much like I did against the 'Canes last year (though the Devils did fare better in that series than I thought they would). I have a feeling by the end of this series, we'll have seen too much of what we saw in the recent 5-1 loss to the Flyers (Devils looking slow and pressured), and we'll be lamenting how Boucher could have possibly played so well against the Devils...and lamenting it even more when Boucher looks human against whatever team he plays next.

The Devils are coming in having gone 10-4-4 in their last 18, and Brodeur has been terrific as of late, and there's positives to be found that refute my prediction. I'm just hoping I can read this post not too long from now and say "What was I thinking with this one?!"

Special teams are going to be key, especially with the Flyers' PP...Kovalchuk is a big key as far as I'm concerned as well...I know people will point to his point-per-game pace, but 10 goals in 27 GP (as a Devil) aren't nearly enough. And his decision-making with the puck still baffles me quite a bit...he'll pass when he has an open shot, he'll try to Kovalev his way around three or four guys to make a play, and he can be sloppy at other times...no player is perfect, but I rarely find myself questioning a guy like, say, Parise's on-ice smarts. At any rate, the Devils are going to need Kovy to produce, and put pucks in the net at a better rate than 1 per 2.7 GP.

The Flyers are only halfway home, and the Devils can still pull this out, but this series is pretty much unfolding exactly as I thought it would (especially with the third period-OT Devils looking three steps slower than their opponent...we've seen this many times before, dating back to the '04 playoffs).

And Kovy supporters will point to Kovy's very respectable 5 points in 3 GP in the playoffs as reason that he's playing well, but let's face it, he was brought in to be the guy that would absolutely, positively find a way to put pucks in the net, and the flat-out truth of it is, he's not doing that. Not one shot on Sunday. He's scored 11 goals in 30 GP. Spare me the sabes and unlucky talk Tri...at some point, the guy's got to put the damn puck in the damn net. The Devils need him to.

[Triumph]

The Flyers are only halfway home, and the Devils can still pull this out, but this series is pretty much unfolding exactly as I thought it would (especially with the third period-OT Devils looking three steps slower than their opponent...we've seen this many times before, dating back to the '04 playoffs).

And Kovy supporters will point to Kovy's very respectable 5 points in 3 GP in the playoffs as reason that he's playing well, but let's face it, he was brought in to be the guy that would absolutely, positively find a way to put pucks in the net, and the flat-out truth of it is, he's not doing that. Not one shot on Sunday. He's scored 11 goals in 30 GP. Spare me the sabes and unlucky talk Tri...at some point, the guy's got to put the damn puck in the damn net. The Devils need him to.

do we really need 'i told you so' after game 3? kovalchuk's not having a good series, he was terrible last night.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

do we really need 'i told you so' after game 3? kovalchuk's not having a good series, he was terrible last night.

This is hardly an "I told you so". I made it clear that SO FAR it's evolving the way I thought...series is far from over...if the Devils win the next three or three out of four, we'll forget all about Games 1-3, and my prediction will have meant zilch. Kovy could go a long way toward helping with that, but it needs to happen pretty damn soon.