Tonight in South Philly the Flyers will look to take a commanding 3 games to 1 lead in their best of 7 series with the New Jersey Devils. Such series' strangleholds are rarely overcome in the NHL. The last time the Devils were able to win 3 straight elimination games in a single series was a decade ago against...yep you guessed it, the Philadelphia Flyers. Anyway, that was then and this is now. The orange and black have had Jersey's number all season long and the 1st 3 games of this series have done nothing but supply further evidence to support that fact.
A quick glance at the final score of Sunday's 3-2 overtime thriller would suggest two evenly matched opponents, but anyone who watched the game saw just how much the Devils were outplayed. How much Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timmonen have dominated. How the Flyers have gotten offensive opportunities from all four lines and how, if not for Martin Brodeur, Sunday's contest would have been no contest at all. Sure, the once impenetrable Brodeur is no longer what he once was but make no mistake, he has kept New Jersey in this series.
For the Flyers to win game 4 and put their collective foot on the throats of the Devils they need only do that which they have already done. They must continue to out hit, out skate, and out work their counterparts, limit the legitimate penalty calls, and overcome the questionable ones. Do that, and barring an epic Marty Brodeur performance, the Flyers stand a great chance of pushing the favored #2 seed Devils to the brink of elimination.
Prediction: Boucher turns in his best performance to date. Flyers 3-1 sealing the deal with an empty net goal
To be honest, I simply cannot see the Flyers going up 3-1. Don't get me wrong, I hope they do and everything we've seen points to just that but... I think Flyers in 6.
ReplyDeleteI agree Flyers in 6 but I have them winning this game and losing game 5
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