Philadelphia Flyers-New Jersey Devils Semi-Final Series Preview -NHL Playoffs Special
Philadelphia Flyers and the New Jersey Devils were two teams that certainly wowed the crowd in their quarterfinal series against Pittsburgh Penguins and Florida Panthers respectively.
Now as both teams gear up to face each to advance one more step in achieving Eastern Conference supremacy, Philadelphia and New Jersey definitely have to pack on some extra strategies if their planning to advance.
Flyers took down one of the best teams in the league, Pittsburgh Penguins, like it was a piece of cake but looking at how Sidney Crosby and co reacted to the situation, it should not have been a problem for Philadelphia in the first place.
New Jersey took down a confident and looking to achieve Panthers club, seriously disappointing the Florida fan base, but Martin Brodeur and his fellow teammates showed that they still have it in them.
Now as two very different teams prepare to go up against each other, it will be interesting to see how they battle it out and go on towards fighting for the title of the Eastern Conference champion let alone a chance at the Stanley Cup.
Philadelphia was easily able to eliminate the Devils in their last meeting in 2010 when Flyers won in Game 5 and went on to the Stanley Cup Finals. Flyers have the home-advantage this time in addition to that benefit and could be taking the series.
In the four times both have met in National Hockey League (NHL) history, the stats remain tied as New Jersey took the series in 1995 and 2000 but Philadelphia was able to win two series, in 2004 and 2010, for having the advantage of winning recently.
They were pretty equal during the 2011-2012 regular season as well with Devils and Flyers winning three games apiece out of six.
What will give Philadelphia the advantage over New Jersey
Philadelphia has a very good advantage against New Jersey if you talk about comparing each team’s offensive line-up.
Flyers have Claude Giroux, who led in the league in terms of scoring with 14 points (6 goals, 8 assists). Scott Hartnell, Jaromir Jagr, Danny Briere and James Van Riemsdyk have also provided superior depth on the offence to Philadelphia, definitely making
them heavier on the opposition in this respect.
What will be the real series decider is goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. If the Russian manages to work his magic, than New Jersey could be having a real tough time getting those pucks into the net.
What will give New Jersey the advantage over Philadelphia
New Jersey definitely has a lot of heart and pride. They might not have such a superstar line-up like the Flyers do but they are confident with themselves out there on the ice.
Ilya Kovalchuk and Travis Zajac have turned out to be the x-factors for the Devils on the offensive side of things along with captain, Zach Parise, and Patrik Elias. Parise and Elias definitely need to step up in this series and make their presence felt
if New Jersey decides on going aggressive in regard of scoring goals.
Rookie forward, Adam Henrique, could certainly be termed to be a saviour for New Jersey as the player made their double overtime game-winner against Florida Panthers in Game 7 and could further step up his game with the newly gained confidence of the quarterfinals.
Veteran goalie, Martin Brodeur, is one of the best in that department and if he manages to show Bryzgalov how the game is meant to be played, Devils should not have a hard time getting some goals.
Brodeur will need to shutdown Philadelphia’s offence and give New Jersey the peace of mind to focus more on their scoring instead of defending.
Prediction
Philadelphia Flyers will advance in six games.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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