Chris Ferraro recaps Flyers-Devils First-Round Playoff Series

2010 NHL Playoffs First-Round Series Recap

Philadelphia Flyers 4 – 1 New Jersey Devils

What an outstanding performance from the Philadelphia Flyers to upset the promising Stanley Cup contenders New Jersey Devils.  The Flyers came into the series well-prepared.  Goaltender Brian Boucher was patient, steady, and calm, and he was outstanding giving his team a very good chance every night to win.  His defense in front of him led by Chris Pronger,  Braydon Coburn, Kimmo Timonen, and Matt Carle were gritty, hard-nosed, aggressive on the Devils forwards and sacrificed their bodies blocking numerous shots and scoring opportunities that were attempted for Boucher.

Philadelphi’s Penalty Kill was flawless as they completely shut down the Devils power play which in my opinion would have made the difference in the series.  Philly’s leadership from Brad Richards and Ian Laperiere was commendable as they led the offense with the likes of Daniel Briere and Giroux doing much of the scoring at critical times.  The Flyers looked more determined and hungry throughout the series and coach Peter Laviolette came in with a game plan that frustrated the higher-seeded Devils as the Flyers showed no signs of intimidation as they won 8 of 10 games during the regular season and into the playoffs.  It was clear that this was Philadelphia’s series when Ian Laperiere was killing a penalty in the deciding game 5 and went down to block a shot off his face to prevent a scoring opportunity with blood dripping everywhere as he almost lost his left eye to a slap shot and then found a way to return later in that game to end the series with the Devils and move into the second round.  Congratulations to the Philadelphia Flyers for their hard-fought effort and relentless, aggressive play in this series.

With the discipline and team structure that this organization displays year after year and after finishing the 2009-2010 season among the Eastern Conference’s best, this first-round playoff exit is a major disappointment.  With the Devils’ high expectations and the players to get the job done, they faced a team that did their homework and surprised us all.  Goaltender Martin Brodeur was not at his best and the his defense in front of him were not as aggressive both physically and with shot blocking as the Flyers defense were and gave away many quality scoring chances that the Philadelphia Flyers forwards capitalized on.

New Jersey’s special teams did not help them in this series as they had numerous power play opportunities to take advantage of and couldn’t beat the Flyers aggressive shot blocking penalty killing style and the Devils penalty killing was below average, which was the difference in this series.  The Devils’ frustrations set in and took over and it just seemed as though the Flyers had better legs in the series and were beating the Devils to lose pucks and winning most battles.  Forwards Patrick Elias, Zack Parise, and Jamie Langenbrunner were not effective offensively in this series whatsoever and couldn’t find a way to penetrate Boucher’s dominate performance.  A sad ending to a terrific regular season for the New Jersey Devils.