The Time: 7:30 PM EDT
The Broadcast: TV - NBC SN, CBC, RDS; Radio - 1130 AM WBBR
The Series: The New Jersey Devils (1) vs Philadelphia Flyers (1)
The Last Devils-Flyers Game: The Flyers got off to a good start with a goal by Matt Read and good pressure in the first. Then the Devils began an onslaught in the 2nd period which lead to a big 3rd period and a 4-1 victory. John has a recap of the game here.
The Goal: From one of TG's latest posts on Fire and Ice, he mentions that Ilya Kovalchuk might make his return to the lineup tomorrow. Regardless of whether Kovy is in tomorrow night, I'd like it if the Devils just came in with the exact same mentality as they did last night. Keep calm and try and maintain pressure in all three periods. Game one featured the big attack in the first and average play for the other two periods and overtime. The Flyers did control the pace early on in Game 2, but after that the Devils were the guys in charge.
For an opposition's perspective, check out Broad Street Hockey. More thoughts after the jump.
Keep Calm and Stay out of the Penalty Box On
The whole theme of staying out of the box should not be forgotten. The longer the series gets, the more extra-curricular activities will be happening. And when you have players pushing each other around after the whistle, there's bound to be a ref who will call a roughing penalty, either nullifying a potential Devils power play or handing the Flyers one. The Devils penalty kill was able to stop the Flyers on the power play, but regardless, the Devils don't want to be killing penalties against an excellent offensive team like the Flyers
Beat the Flyers at their own game
If there's one thing that the Devils could take away from Game 2, it's that the Flyers are not nearly as deadly when they're defending- namely their big playoff scorer, Danny Briere. Exhibit A- Adam Larsson's goal in the 3rd period. Briere and James Van Riemsdyk leave their two defensemen and Ilya Bryzgalov out to dry and give Adam Larsson all day to shoot the puck. Exhibit B- Travis Zajac scoring the 3rd Devils goal on Tuesday. Briere had front row tickets to that Zajac goal. He might change his game up in the playoffs to help generate more offense, but he's basically a pylon when it comes to defense.
The Matchup Game
Through games one and two, Peter Laviolette did his best to try and get Claude Giroux out against Adam Henrique, so that their star player wouldn't have to deal with Patrik Elias. Giroux hasn't been that great at even strength in this series, and was held pointless last night for the first time in the 2012 playoffs. Now that the Devils have the last line change, does DeBoer try and get the Elias line out against Giroux despite Henrique being able to play him to a draw? If anything, I'm guessing DeBoer will try and use the last change to get Elias, Zach Parise and Dainius Zubrus away from Sean Couturier, who's been just as effective shutting those three down as Henrique has. And of course, if Kovy's in tomorrow night, DeBoer might have to think of a whole new plan.
With all that being said, is there anything else the Devils should avoid doing or trying to do better? Do you think after last night's performance, anyone needs to step up? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments. Go Devils.