The Flyers and Devils met in New Jersey tonight for game 5 of their Eastern conference quarterfinal series. With a 3-1 series lead the Orange and Black needed only to win tonight to punch their ticket to the 2nd round of the playoffs. Unfortunately, following game 4 the Flyers were forced to Simon Gagne and Jeff Carter on the injured list so a win tonight would not be easy. it was going to take lot of heart and gutty spirited play to pull out another road win over the Devils without those 2. It turned out though that heart and spirit was exactly what the Orange and Black brought to this ice on this night in an inspiring effort. Of course New Jersey put forth another lackluster effort, but even if they had come to play the Orange and Black might have held them off anyway.
Danny Briere got things going just 3 minutes into the 1st period with a power play tally off an assist from Claude Giroux. Then late in the 2nd period Giroux basically put the Devils away by himself with an even strength goal and a power play within 2 minutes of each other to put the Orange and Black up 3-0. Brian Boucher took it from there, finishing off a fantastic night, saving all 28 shots he faced in a shutout win. The Flyer's defense though, was the real star tonight, limiting New Jersey to 28 shots on goal and killing all 8 of the Devil's power play opportunities. Considering the Orange and Black will likely play the Washington Capitals and their lethal power play in the next round, they can't afford to keep taking 8 penalties a night, but who cares about that right now. I am just thrilled to see the Devils once again exit stage left early in the postseason and to have the chance to see the Flyers play at least one more playoff series.
2 comments:
The Flyers just looked fantastic that series and if they keep it up I dont mind their chances to keep going.
-to ph1llysports
that's going to be tough to do though with no Gagne and no Carter.
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