The Broad Street Blog

With 2 games remaining in the season and the playoffs on the line, would you really want to play a team who you’ve gone 1-5-1 against this season? A team that has had your number every season for more than a decade? Yeah, that’s what I thought. But, when adversity like this comes your way, either stand up and face it, or just go home.

And stand up is exactly what the Philadelphia Flyers did tonight against the New Jersey Devils. The crowd was raucous right from the start. The Wachovia Center was the loudest I’ve heard it in a long time. They handed out thunder sticks to everyone as they came in, so that contributed to it.

The Flyers came out and took it right to the Devils. They put the pressure on offensively and smothered them defensively. They would not let the Devils up for air. Any New Jersey offensive try was stopped at the Flyers’ blue line. An early Flyers goal, originally given to Scott Hartnell but eventually credited to RJ Umberger, further fueled the Flyers.

The score would stay at 1-0 for the rest of the first period and the entire second period. At the end of the second period the Devils started to show some life. That would continue into the third period with several offensive flurries by New Jersey. The Flyers seemed to be back on their heels for the first half of the period.

However, two quick goals were scored about midway through the third period, the first by Scottie Upshall and the second by Joffrey Lupul. The goals were only 37 seconds apart and gave the Flyers a 3-0 lead. This resulted in Martin Brodeur being pulled and replaced by backup Kevin Weekes. The crowd went nuts seeing this and relentlessly started chanting “Marty”.


These two quick goals were a shot in the arm the Flyers needed to pick the pace back up to where it was in the beginning of the game. At the other end, Martin Biron was spectacular in goal and was able to stop all of New Jersey’s 22 shots to earn his 4th shutout of the year.

Danny Briere didn’t play, he was a game time decision. He was still hurting from that hit from Pittsburgh’s petty thug Jarkko Ruutu. Joffrey Lupul’s goal tonight was his 20th of the season. He is the seventh Flyer to score 20 or more goals this season. With tonight’s win and Carolina’s loss, the Flyers clinched a playoff spot.

Next up is Pittsburgh on Sunday for the last game of the season.

Highlights
Game Summary
Box Score

Tags:   Brodeur · Devils · Flyers · Lupul · Umberger · UpshallNo Comments