Flyers-Devils Game 3 Recap: Time To Get Worried

The Devils topped the Flyers 4-3 in overtime to win Game 3 and take a 2-1 series lead. However, the game was much more lopsided than the score indicated. Here’s a recap of last night’s action at the Prudential Center in Newark:

The game started out fairly evenly, with both teams getting a few scoring chances but neither capitalizing on them. That changed 6:08 in when Brayden Schenn took a pass from Danny Briere and hit a slapshot past Martin Brodeur on the power play to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead. Brodeur had a chance to stop it, but it glanced off his pad and in. Jaromir Jagr also picked up an assist on the goal that gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead in the 1st period for the 2nd straight game.

Immediately after the goal, the Devils began to control the flow of the game and Braydon Coburn took a tripping penalty in his own end with 8 minutes to play. Almost instantly after, Patrik Elias ripped a slap shot on the power play that went under Ilya Bryzgalov’s arm and in for the goal, assisted by Marek Zidlicky and Ilya Kovalchuk, who was making his return from a back injury that sidelined him in Game 2.

The Devils took the lead just 20 seconds later, as Travis Zajac found Ilya Kovalchuk coming through the zone, and he buried his wide-open breakaway opportunity on Bryzgalov. Alexei Ponikarovsky also recorded an assist on the goal by Kovalchuk. Although the Devils continued to get scoring chances, finishing the period with a 14-7 advantage in shots, the score remained at 2-1 Devils after the 1st period.

The Flyers played much better in the 2nd period, keeping the puck in the offensive zone and preventing the Devils from establishing an offensive presence. 4:44 into the period, Scott Hartnell dumped the puck in to Jake Voracek, who wheeled behind the net and found Matt Carle. Carle unleashed a one-timed blast past Brodeur to tie the score at 2-2.

The Flyers finished the period with a 9-4 shots advantage, but the most important shot they took besides the goal was one that didn’t count. With a little over 2 minutes left in the period, Brayden Schenn skated through the crease and barely nudged Brodeur. The veteran goaltender made a save on a Flyers’ shot, and the rebound plopped out in front of the net where it was deposited for a goal by James van Riemsdyk. However, the referees saw Brodeur react like he’d been shot when Schenn went to the crease and called him for goaltender interference, nullifying the goal and keeping the score at 2-2 entering the 3rd period.

The Flyers came out flat in the 3rd period, playing it much like they had played in the 1st period. 7:29 into the period, Patrik Elias chased down a dump-in by Marek Zidlicky behind the Flyers’ net and moved the puck under pressure, and Zach Parise took the puck and put it between Ilya Bryzgalov’s legs before the erstwhile goaltender knew what had happened. He simply didn’t have time to close his legs, and the Devils led 3-2. Considering the puck had been in their own end for almost the entire period up to that point, the goal came as little surprise.

The Flyers, however, came back and a little less than 4 minutes later they tied the score. James van Riemsdyk took a pass from Wayne Simmonds and fired a shot into Martin Brodeur’s chest. Brodeur uncharacteristically left a rebound out in front of him on a very saveable shot, and Danny Briere, who was crashing the net, poked the puck over Broduer’s leg to tie the score at 3-3. Despite a few more opportunities for each team in regulation, the game would go to overtime.

The Devils played better in overtime, and they won the game as a result. The Flyers managed just 1 shot on goal on their 2 overtime power plays, and late in overtime the Flyers made a shoddy line change while the Devils had the puck in the neutral zone. Kovalchuck was drifting back into his defensive zone with the puck when he saw a wide-open lane down the middle of the ice that must have looked like the Red Sea was parting. He sent a long stretch pass down the ice to Alexei Ponikarovsky, who skated in on Bryzgalov. Ponikarovsky took a wrister that Bryzgalov stopped with his left pad, but the rebound went out to the side and back to Ponikarovsky’s backhand, and he put it past Bryzgalov for the game-winner with 2:39 left in OT.

Game 4 is Sunday evening in Newark at 7:30 EST