The Philadelphia Flyers took their series with the New Jersey Devils 4-1 Thursday night against the Devils with their 3-0 victory at the Prudential Center. The Flyers now advance to Round 2 of the playoffs.
This result was indeed not expected by anyone. The Devils were the popular pick to make it all the way to the Cup finals. The Flyers advancing beyond Round 1 was completely unexpected. The underdog came out the winner in this one.
In the final game of the series, the Devils came out with fire in their bellies right from the get-go. They made an uncharacteristically odd move early in when they pulled Martin Brodeur for a sixth attacker within seconds of the puck dropping. A penalty was instantly called on Flyers' Dan Carcillo at 0:43, which gave the Devils an early advantage before Jamie Langenbrunner was called for a penalty at 1:29.
With the Flyers on the power play, Daniel Briere put out the Devils' fire at 3:16. After that, the Devils were completely finished. Luckily for the Flyers, they had scoring power from an unlikely source.
Claude Giroux scored twice in the second period, finding the net at 11:48 and following it up with another one on the power play at 13:47.
The Devils never recuperated from the three-goal deficit and basically went through the motions of a defeated team in the final period. They did not even attempt to fight and claw their way back. They gave up completely.
The Devils lacked true playoff passion, or at least a complete 60 minutes worth of passion in the race for the Cup. The Flyers, on the other hand, had one mission: to destroy whatever chances the Devils thought they had in advancing to Round 2.
Their focus in this entire series has been on stopping the Devils. They weren't even thinking about Round 2, just putting a stop to the Devils. The Devils spent too much time focused on making it to Round 2, instead of seeing how Round 1 was falling apart underneath them.
Even with Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne out of the lineup with injuries, the Flyers were still able to put a stop to the Devils. When they lost Ian Laperriere in the third period to a horrible slapshot to the face, leaving a trail of blood behind him, the Flyers were still able to prevent the Devils from scoring a single goal in the fifth and final contest.
So how did the underdog team defeat the team expected to advance to the Finals?
Simple: The Flyers were able to rally together in the final months of the regular season to prepare for playoff-style hockey. They entered the first round ready to play playoff-style hockey.
The Devils never prepared the way the Flyers had in the final weeks of the season. They struggled to find that playoff chemistry during the first round. They never were able to pull it off.
There was always some sort of element that was missing in their attempt to change and conform to the new ways. They never truly switched into that new mode ... and they paid the cost.
"I felt that we could have played better," Devils coach Jacques Lemaire said after the game. "We did not play playoff hockey. Philly did a much better job in that department.
"It's a little frustrating because all along I felt that we had a good team. I didn't see this team play at their best. I don't think that I've seen this team play at their best yet, for a period of time. A game here and there, but not sustained. It's disappointing."
