Devils defeat Philadelphia Flyers again

After the Tuesday night game, where the Philadelphia Fyers has been defeated by the Devils in Game 2. The story is repeated again in Game 3. In fact,the New Jersey Devils defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Thursday night to take a 2-1 lead in this Eastern Conference semifinal series.Patrik Elias, Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise also scored for the Devils, who killed off two penalties in overtime before Ponikarovsky came through with his first goal of the postseason on a backhander that sneaked past Ilya Bryzgalov on his left side.

New Jersey Devils chase down Philadelphia Flyers with relentless effort

The Philadelphia Flyers had a chance to take a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference Semifinals game against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night. Instead, they lost 4-1 and now head out of town with their series tied at one game apiece. Keep in mind that these two teams were only separated by one point in the regular season standings and that the Devils are hardly the Pittsburgh Penguins. So, winning Game 3 becomes key for either side.  For much of the second and third periods it appeared as though the Flyers were skating through mud. First, let's give credit to the Devils for creating that reality. The two shots that the Flyers had in the second period seems to be reflective of a combination of factors. The first of which was New Jersey's defensive attack. They were all over the orange and black at times, bottling up the ice, blocking pucks, not allowing shots to get through or rebounds to be had. Martin Brodeur, who played well in Game 1, only faced nine shots in the first period and later saw that exact same amount of rubber in the third.  Logic would indicate that this type of performance would have occurred in Game 1, due to the long layoff after the Quarter-Finals. But, maybe the Game 2 effort was partially a delayed let-down.  The Flyers relied on their offense efforts almost all season long. After two games, they are 1-11 on the power play and that needs to change. It will be interesting to see how the flow of Game 3 develops, as we cut into that third slice of playoff bread on Thursday in New Jersey.