FLYERS RIDE BIRON’S GOALTENDING TO VICTORY OVER DEVILS

Since his return from injury, New Jersey goaltending legend Martin Brodeur has been receiving most of the media attention after Devils games.  On Tuesday, Philadelphia goalie Martin Biron served a reminder that there’s plenty more goaltending talent in the NHL’s Eastern Conference.  Biron stopped 32 of 34 New Jersey shots as the Flyers ended a three game winless streak against the Devils with a 4-2 home ice victory.

Ironically, Brodeur—who recently passed Montreal Canadiens’ legend Patrick Roy for the top spot on the NHL’s all time regular season victory list—has won more games in his career against Philadelphia (43) than any other team in the league.  On this night, however, Brodeur allowed two goals in just over two minutes early in the third period as the Flyers broke open a 2-2 tie.  Brendan Shanahan got the Devils on the board first with his goal midway through the opening period assisted by Dainius Zubrus and Brian Gionta.  Philly would answer at 15:57 of the first period as Daniel Briere lit the lamp on the power play assisted by Kimmo Timonen and Simon Gagne. 

The Flyers would use another power play goal, this one by Mike Knuble set up by Daniel Briere and Gagne  to take a 2-1 lead early in the 2^nd period.  New Jersey would even things up once again at the 9:58 when Jamie Langenbrunner scored on the power play assisted by Brian Rolston and Paul Martin.

That set the stage for the Flyers’ third period scoring onslaught, which began with Jeff Carter’s 40^th goal of the season coming on the power play just 55 seconds into the final frame.  Kimmo Timonen and  Scott Hartnell were awarded assists on Carter’s score which gave the Flyers a 3-2 advantage.  Simon Gagne would make it 4-2 at the 3:01 mark of the period assisted by Claude Giroux.  The two Flyers’ goals came despite the team only getting off a total of six shots in the 3^rd period.  Philly’s defense shut down the Devils in the process, however, allowing New Jersey only 8 shots in the final 20 minutes of the game.

Afterwards, Brodeur suggested that the defensive intensity was lacking for his team:

"We gave them a lot of room out there. They found ways to attack the net and get goals. It was kind of obvious that we had some breakdowns in the open ice. We gave up some untimely goals."

The Devils’ Langenbrunner concurred:

"We made some mistakes on special teams and gave them too many chances. We've got to be able to kill penalties."

New Jersey will try to get back on track against the Blackhawks in Chicago on Friday night before returning home to face the Carolina Hurricanes the following evening.  They’ll take the short trip to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Rangers on Monday night.  Philadelphia will host the Florida Panthers on Thursday night before traveling to Long Island to play the New York Islanders on Saturday.  They’ll return home for a big game against the Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins on Sunday.