MadDevil

They're due.

HockeyMatty85

Im sorry but I agree with Mr. Bryant here. The FLyers/Penguins series was very entertaining but it also showed how sloppy and weak both those teams are. You can score all the goals in the world but it means nothing when you can't stop them. Both of those teams have leading goal scorers but both of those teams also have weak Defense. The main ingredient. It doesn't matter if the Bryz from March or the Bryz from game six shows up; none will compare to Marty Brodeur. That is the Devils will prevail and the Flyers will be nine holes behind the Penguins.

jtkratzer

These are some homer posts here. Flyers/Pens is what happens when you put the top two offenses in the league against each other. Goals are going to get scored no matter who the goaltenders are. Malkin and Giroux combined for 212 points in the regular season. Goals had to get past goaltenders for those points to rack up, even against guys like Brodeur. That's just what happens.

Defense is important, but if you don't score goals, you can't win. There are no points for OT. There are no shootouts, Devils fans.

Marty isn't even in the top 5 in GAA or SV%. Look who is number 1 - Schneider...and he's not playing hockey any more this year. Guess where Marty and Bryz are tied - wins, at 4. Both won 4 games. Doesn't matter how you win. 30 goals in 6 games or 18 in 7 games. Both got the team 4 wins. Personally, I'd rather win the way the Flyers did than with a larger margin than a single goal in a Game 7 OT, and a single goal in the entire series. I'd rather my season not come down to a single goal deciding if I advance or join the offseason crowd because my offense can't muster enough goals to close out a team.

Defense and goaltending are important, no doubt, but you have to outscore your opponent. As obvious as that sounds, you both are acting like Brodeur is a 40-year-old water walker who will some how just stop the Flyers offense. 5 goals per game in the postseason, over 3 goals per game in the regular season. Marty is good, but the Devils penalty kill looked like garbage against the Panthers.

This is why we play the games. I honestly think the Devils are going to be overwhelmed by the Flyers speed and the only way this series gets beyond Flyers in 5 is if Marty plays out of his mind overall, but especially rebound control, and the Devils stay out of the box or figure out how to stop the Flyers PP.

Bring on Sunday.

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jtkratzer

Just to compare, and I know the regular season goes out the window during the second season, but there are some trends that can carry over.

Compare Brodeur vs Bryz during the regular season when playing the opponent:

Bryz went 3-0, 0.29 GAA, .987 SV% (1 goal, 2 SO) against the Devils
Brodeur went 1-3, 2.26 GAA, .905 SV%, against the Flyers

And just so we're not all hyped up about the month of March, Bryz's three wins came on 10/8, 1/21, 3/13. Only once during the month of March. Take out that game and he's still posting a 2-0, 0.50 GAA in the other two games.

Hedberg had a higher SV%, lower GAA, and more shutouts during the regular season than Marty, but you can ride Brodeur into the offseason and his retirement all you like.

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MadDevil

What? There's no shootout in the playoffs? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The Devils will never win a playoff series...

What's that? They won a series, including two OT wins? But that can't be. There are no shootouts in the playoffs!

LiAmTrAnSdEmOn

MD, I think jt was referring to the Flyers ineptitude in the shootout, something that plagued us all year.

Anyway, I have to pick the Flyers in this. Call me a homer but I see this ending in 5. The Devils scratched and clawed out a series win over the Panthers, which is commendable but we are not the Panthers. This Flyers team is playing with more firepower and has shown they have the heart to make comebacks if they get down early, something the Devils let Florida do to them. Sorry, but this ain't Marty of the late 90s/early 2000s, he needs the entire team in front of him to play very good for them to win because he wont be stealing games by himself anymore. I know the Flyers dispatched the Penguins in 6 games but I don't feel as though people realize just how dominant they were. They outplayed the Pens in all but one game, which was not a showing of their true talent. If you point to that 10-3 and say look, that's why the Flyers will lose, you are highly underestimating this team and what they are capable of. Oh, and we might be getting two top defensemen back in Grossman and Meszaros, so I'm sure they will help out our "porous" defense. I can't wait for this series to start tomorrow and to see if Giroux will keep up his play because he took over game 6 against Pittsburgh early and I hope he can keep up that kind of intensity for however long we remain in the playoffs.

swflyers8

Flyers in 5 or 6.

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MadDevil

Sorry, all I've been hearing at one of the other places I post was how the Devils only made the playoffs because of the shootout and that they couldn't win in the playoffs because there was no shootout. I'm just tired of hearing about anything related to shootouts.

HockeyMatty85

Let us not waste anymore time talking about the Flyers or Devils cause the Rangers are going all the way!

MadDevil

Right, all the way to not winning a Cup again. What is it now, one Cup in the last 70 years? No wonder the Rangers celebrate like they just won a Cup after every playoff win.