NEWARK, NJ – Martin Brodeur celebrated his 40th birthday Sunday but only after his teammates had erased an early 2-0 deficit to the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Devils came all the back from that deficit to take a 4-2 home ice win over Philadelphia and push the Flyers into a deep 3-1 hole. One more win and New Jersey can advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in eight seasons.
In the first thirteen minutes of the contest, Scott Hartnell and Claude Giroux had helped build the two-goal lead. Hartnell scored on a tip-in when the Flyers crashed the net ahead of the shot from the near wing. Brodeur had no chance on the deflection.
Giroux followed that up with a backhand shot off a perfect feed from Max Talbot as he was racing up the middle in the Devils’ zone.
For the Flyers that was it though on Sunday.
Petr Sykora picked up a shot from Maret Zidlicky on the right wing. Sykora corralled the puck and deftly lifted over Ilya Bryzgalov for the Devils’ first goal.
At 18:09 Zidlicky tied up the game at two when he tipped in a shot from Bryce Salvador off the left boards.
In the second, New Jersey took the lead for the first time in the match and the goal seemed to deflate the entire Philadelphia roster. Dainius Zubrus took a feed from the left corner from Adam Henrique. Zubrus then wristed the puck past Bryzgalov for the eventual game winner.
Bryzgalov was clearly disgusted with the goal given that Zubrus was left untouched in the slot to receive the pass and take the shot.
Philadelphia’s Giroux may face league discipline Monday after his hit on Zubrus after the forward scored the Devils’ third goal. Zubrus was skating the puck down the far wing when Giroux came in on an angle and seemed to raise his shoulder toward the Devils’ goal scorer’s head and make contact. Zubrus fell to the ice in some distress.
After the game, Giroux claimed to be trying to finish his check.
Zubrus exacted a measure of revenge with an empty net goal in the third to ice the win.
In the two games in Newark, the Devils have out-hustled, out worked and outplayed the Flyers, badly. Now Philadelphia needs to find some work ethic or face the off season far too prematurely for their liking.
The Flyers committed 20 turnovers in the game to the Devils five. Over the course of 16+ minutes in the first and second periods, the Flyers were held without a shot on goal.
For the Devils, the plan is to keep that effort going in Philadelphia this week and hope they can put an end to this second round series early and rest.
Contact Mitch.Cooper@prohockeynews.com
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