Flyers-Devils Series Preview
The Flyers start their second round series against the New Jersey Devils this afternoon at 3:00 EST at the Wells Fargo Center. Here’s a preview of the series:
Trends:
The Flyers and Devils split the season series at 3 games apiece. However, Ilya Bryzgalov went 3-0 vs. the Devils this season with some eye-popping numbers: 0.29 GAA, .987 save percentage. The Flyers also beat the Devils in 5 games the last time they met in the playoffs, which was the first round in 2010.
Goalies:
The Flyers send out Ilya Bryzgalov, whose up-and-down season continued into the postseason last round. He went 4-2 despite an unsightly .871 save percentage and 3.89 GAA. However, he’s coming into the series on a high note after a dominant Game 6 performance a week ago where he stopped 30 shots and only gave up 1 goal. The Devils send out Martin Brodeur, who is ancient but is still getting the job done. He posted a 2.06 GAA and a .922 save percentage in their Round 1 victory over the Florida Panthers. However, he was inconsistent at times during the series and was pulled one game, so the numbers might overstate his level of play. However, I think it’s still safe to say that the Devils have the advantage in net.
Defenseman:
The Devils defense is made up of Bryce Salvador, Peter Harrold, Marek Zidlicky, Andy Greene, Anton Volchenkov, and Mark Fayne. It’s a group of solid defenders who hit hard, block shots, and are consistent. There isn’t really much of an offensive threat coming from the back line for the Devils, but they do their jobs well. For the Flyers, the series will start off with Kimmo Timonen, Brayden Coburn, Nik Grossmann, Matt Carle, Andreas Lilja, and Erik Gustafsson at defense. Pavel Kubina looks to be a healthy scratch to start the series, and Andrej Meszaros isn’t back from injury yet. This group plays well defensively, particularly Coburn and Grossmann, but also provides an offensive punch, giving them the edge over the Devils’ blueliners.
Offense:
The Devils have a solid but unspectacular offense. Led by sniper Ilya Kovalchuck and team captain Zach Parise, the unit scored just 18 goals in 7 games in the first round. Center Travis Zajac and rookie sensation Adam Henrique also were among the team’s top performers in round one. The Devils were heavily reliant on the Kovalchuck-Henrique-Parise line for goals in round 1 (7/18 of the team’s goals), and if that top-line dominance continues they could struggle against the Flyers due to the excellence of the Flyers’ top defensive line. The Flyers are getting scoring from top-to-bottom in the lineup, as Claude Giroux led the sensational top line while Max Talbot scored goals on the bottom line. It remains to be seen whether the outburst of goals in round 1 (30 in 6 games) was a result of poor defensive play from the Penguins and awful goaltending by Marc-Andre Fleury or spectacular offensive play from the Flyers. Even if their stats were boosted by Fleury’s struggles, the Flyers’ offense definitely has the advantage in this series.
Special Teams:
The Flyers led all postseason teams in the first round with an outrageous 52.2% success rate on the power play, while the Devils were 6th with a 20% conversion rate. On the penalty kill, the Flyers were 13th in the playoffs out of 16 teams, killing just 69% of penalties. One spot behind them, tied for 14th, were the Devils, who only stopped 66.7% of the Panthers’ power plays. With both teams playing spectacularly on the PP and struggling on the PK, it’s safe to say that special teams will be a very important part of this series. Whichever team stays out of the box has a very good shot to win the series, but the advantage goes to the Flyers.
Coaching:
Peter Laviolette is an excellent coach who leads his team with a fiery, emotional style. The Devils are led by Peter DeBoer, who is coaching in his first postseason in his first year with the Devils after 3 years with the Panthers. The advantage has to go to the Flyers here: Laviolette has won a Stanley Cup and coached in another, while this is DeBoer’s first trip to the playoffs.
Injuries:
The Devils don’t have any major injuries entering Round 2, as Bryce Salvador seems to have recovered from the slash he received in OT of Game 7 against Florida. For the Flyers, Nicklas Grossmann is expected to make his return from a concussion suffered in Game 4 this afternoon and James van Riemsdyk (foot) is back in the lineup. Tom Sestito (groin) and Andrej Meszaros (knee) are still out, although Meszaros is expected back sometime during this series. The Devils are healthier entering Round 2, but the Flyers are on the road to recovery.
My Prediction:
Flyers in 6. The Flyers’ speed and depth on offense will overwhelm the Devils’ defense. They struggled with Florida’s speed in the first round, and the Flyers are a much better offensive team than the Panthers. Ilya Bryzgalov can neutralize the Devils’ advantage in goal with Martin Brodeur if he is on his game, and if the Flyers can stay out of the penalty box and convert on their power play opportunities they will score a lot of goals.
Here are my predictions for the rest of the NHL Playoffs:
Western Conference:
Los Angeles Kings (8) defeat St. Louis Blues (2) in 7 games. Both teams have excellent goalies and strong defenses, but the duo of ex-Flyers Jeff Carter and Mike Richards puts the Kings’ offense over the top.
Nashville Predators (5) defeat Phoenix Coyotes (3) in 7 games. I think Pekka Rinne is just a little bit better than Mike Smith, and the Predators’ defense (led by Shea Weber and Ryan Suter) is just a little bit better than the Coyotes’ defense. Those two slight advantages will be the difference in the series for the Predators.
Eastern Conference:
New York Rangers (1) defeat Washington Capitals (7) in 6 games. Henrik Lundqvist is proven, Brayden Holtby is not, and Lundqvist will outplay him in the series en route to a decisive win for the Rangers.
Philadelphia Flyers (5) defeat New Jersey Devils (6) in 6 games. You read the article, didn’t you?