Demolition Devils Disappointing Defeat

The Devils couldn’t avert another early playoff exit. New Jersey has the dreadful honor of being the first team eliminated in the post-season after falling at home Thursday night to the Flyers. Seventh-seeded Philadelphia shutout the second seeded Devils to advance to the NHL semifinal round. New Jersey has been unsavory in the first round in past three seasons. This year was supposed to be different for Atlantic Division winning Devils, who punched a playoff ticket for the 13th straight season. New Jersey squandered every opportunity and couldn’t beat the brilliant Brain Boucher in the series-clincher.
Boucher made 28 saves for his second career post-season shutout during the Devils’ demolition elimination at the Prudential Center. Martin Brodeur, the league’s all-time wins leader, stopped 18 in the loss. New Jersey was 0-for-8 on power play opportunities, while the Flyers capitalized on their first penalty of the game to go 2-for-6 on one-man advantages. Philadelphia’s special teams killed the Devils during this series. Danny Briere scored a short-handed goal at 3:16 in the first period on a backhanded pass by Mike Richards. The Philadelphia captain, Richards, recorded two assists on the red and black and finished with eight points in the series. His second assist came during a second period Claude Giroux goal. Giroux blew two by Brodeur during a two minute span as the Flyers skated to a 3-0 lead. The 22 year old Ontario native’s second tally came on a Flyers’ power play. Scott Hartnell corralled a Briere rebound and sent it across the crease to Giroux for the flip-on goal. Giroux really stepped up for Pete Laviolette’s club with stars Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne sidelined.
Boucher made the offense stand up and the Flyers fended off three penalties in the final 20 minutes to preserve the shutout. New Jersey provided very little offensive challenges to Boucher. Ilya Kovalchuck bounced a hard drive off the goalie’s pad in the first, Patrik Elias’s slap was batted down and Zach Parise unsuccessfully attempted the rebound goal. Boucher turned aside David Clarkson, stopped Paul Martin, robbed Brian Rolston and denied the dangerous Parise on a short-handed slap all in a night’s work. Even Philadelphia’s plentiful penalties weren’t enough to extend Jacques Lemaire’s dreary Devils’ post-season stint. The Devils’ sixth power play of the game was killed after Philadelphia’s Ian Laperriere blocked a shot early in the third period. Laperriere took a puck off the face on a Martin shot from the point as New Jersey was sent home early. The Devils were given 32 power play opportunities during the five games but were unable to score on all but four.

Parting Points: NFL news updates- Big Ben suspended six games, Sam Bradford goes number one to St. Louis and Drew Brees is the new Madden cover boy