Round 2: Official Series Discussion Thread: Philadelphia Flyers vs. New Jersey Devils

[RGM81]

#5 vs. #6

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=629809

There won't be many secrets when the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils meet in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Not only are the two teams separated by less than 100 miles, they see each other six times a season as rivals in the Atlantic Division.

They're meeting in the postseason for the second time in three years -- the seventh-seeded Flyers rolled to an easy five-game against the second-seeded Devils in 2010 on the way to the Stanley Cup Final. This time, the fifth-seeded Flyers will have the extra home game after finishing one point ahead of the sixth-seeded Devils in the regular season.

The teams have met four times in the playoffs since the Devils' franchise moved from Colorado to New Jersey 30 years ago. New Jersey won in 1995 and 2000 on the way to the Stanley Cup; Philadelphia has won the last two, in 2004 and 2010.

The Flyers should be well-rested when the Devils come to the Wells Fargo Center for Game 1 on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC) -- they'll have been off for a week after eliminating Pittsburgh, while the Devils had to go into double overtime in Game 7 before eliminating Florida in the early hours of Friday morning.

Each team won three of the six regular-season meetings, with one of the Flyers' losses coming in a shootout. Each team won twice in the other one's building.

You can't get much more even than that.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Did anybody say goaltending duel? I kid, of course. I don't really expect that Ilya Bryzgalov is going to be limiting the Devils to one or none in this series, but I do think that the Flyers are going to prevail here. New Jersey had a very tough series against Florida and I think they're going to run out of gas against a better-rested Flyers squad. I also expect that Claude Giroux is going to continue being absolutely dominant. Flyers in 5.

The usual administrative notes:

As things have occasionally gotten out of hand with the playoffs discussion threads in recent years, some rule reminders:

• All SCF Rules apply to these threads. Violations for language and personal attacks will not be tolerated.
• Staff will, at their discretion, remove any posts that are considered to be disruptive. This includes flaming, trolling, and hijacking. We will make every effort to keep these threads going for the duration of the series, but if it is found that people cannot be civil the thread will be locked and infractions will be handed out.
• Keep the comments about the game and the players on the ice.

Everybody was relatively well-behaved in the first round (unlike many of the players) so please let's keep that high level of discussion going!

[centrehice]

The Devils had more shots on goal against the Panthers, than any time I've seen in recent memory, They will need to keep the shot total high, as Bryz seems to day dream on occasion. A situation of throwing everything possible at the net.

I don't think that the Devil's defense knows what it is up against. The Flyers severely out-skated the Pens, if they are as quick on the fore-check and offense they will put huge pressure on players like Salvador who is simply another slower version of Johnny Oduya, who was eaten alive by the Coytotes.

Devils might win 2 games, but I doubt it.

[spuds1961]

I'm going to go with the Devils in 7 in this one,I think the layoff will make the Flyers stale and the Devils will steal game 1,after that I see it as a back and forth series with Marty being the difference.

[Wickabee]

I'm saying Philly in 6

[MatsSundin13Rocks]

My prediction in the Flyers in 6 games.

[NyFanCam01]

Flyers in 6.

[zas667]

Devils in my heart, Flyers in my brain. :-(

[xelloss1012]

Unless the Devils really tighten up their penalty-killing, Brodeur is going to get lit up. I think the Flyers will have the advantage in firepower, although the goaltending advantage definitely goes to the Devils (including the backup). The Devils will have to win the even-strength battles as well if they want to give Philly a run for their money. I wonder which Devils will be assigned to handle Claude Giroux?

In a number of series, winning Game 1 seems meaningless unless you win additional games beyond that. So many things can happen during and in between games that potentially be factors. This will likely be about a six-game series.

[hawk2618]

WOw!!!! nice act job by Schenn!!!unreal!!

[centrehice]

Flyers don't have their legs yet. Devils beating them on the fore-check, Read being eaten up by the Dev's fore-check.

Lilja beaten twice, but improved near the end of the period. Devil's controlling centre ice at the moment.