Flyers eliminated from second round by New Jersey

PHILADELPHIA – The Flyers scored the first win of their second round series

with the Devils.   They scored the first goal in the next four games of the series.   Philadelphia lost the series 4-1 after taking the opening edge in the series and four straight games.
 
It seems the advantage was too difficult to hold for the Flyers as the New Jersey Devils erased four early deficits to string together a series-ending effort and move on to the Eastern Conference Finals.
 
In game five Tuesday night, the Flyers looked to be more interested in exacting revenge for hits on their teammates.  
 
Early in the game the Devils’ Anton Volchenkov laid a strrong hit on the Flyers’ Brayden Schenn behind the New Jersey cage.   The clean hit raised the ire of the Flyers faithful in the stands and Schenn’s teammates.   On his next shift, Volchenkov paid the price when Zac Rinaldo laid him out along the far boards.
 
That series of plays seemed to exemplify the Flyers in this series.   They were more motivated to exact retribution for a hit than answer an opposition goal with one of their own.
 
Max Talbot got the Flyers on the board first when he poked home a bouncing puck in the New Jersey crease.   The goal lifted the crowd and sparked someenergy in the Philly bench.
 
But again the Flyers relinquished the lead when Bryce Salvador wristed a shot from the left wing boards that evaded Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov for the game-tying goal.
 
Just 3:18 later an errant pass from the Devils zone was redirected to Bryzgalov for control and a clearing effort.   Instead, Bryzgalov’s pass attempt hit the Devils’ David Clarkson’s knee pad and deflected between the goalie’s pads for the series-clinching goal at 12:45 of the first.
 
The Flyers were never able to rally around the opening goal of this game or any of the games they scored first.  
 
Rinaldo was in for the suspended Claude Giroux and was guilty of an interference call in the third period on New Jersey’s Dainius Zubrus behindthe net.   The hit was called a “cheap-shot” by the NBC Sports studio crew after the game.   Rather than chasing loose pucks and looking to score the Flyers were chasing down Devils to hit.
 
In the end, the Devils rallied from the early deficits in the series and four straight games.   The Flyers head to the off-season wondering what their next steps are to get back to the playoffs next season and build on their regular season success in the 2011-12 season.
 
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