Martin Brodeur pretty much did stand on his head all night long, but the Flyers, despite taking eight penalties and missing several chances, were able to finally put the game winner past New Jersey's goalie and take a 2-1 lead in the best of seven series.
Tonight, Brodeur was at his best, but the Flyers were still able to get three shots past him. Claude Giroux scored in the first period, and he was followed by Mike Richards in the second before Dan Carcillo, of all people, scored the game winner in overtime on a rebound. To be fair, if it wasn't for Brodeur, the Flyers would have won this game easily, and in regulation. I hate giving the Devils any credit, but Brodeur was outstanding tonight, keeping his team in the game despite taking 34 shots from the Flyers. Philadelphia was all over him during the entire game, but Brodeur played like someone had turned the clock back about five years, and that was enough for most Flyers fans to think that this game would somehow end up in the hands of the Devils, no matter how well the Flyers played.
Of course, the Devils had their chances as well. Both of their goals came on the power play, and New Jersey had eight turns on the man advantage. Still, the Flyers played well on defense tonight, a great difference from their loss on Friday night, as they held New Jersey to just 19 shots on goal for the game, including just one in the overtime period. It's defensive play like that that's going to push the Flyers into the second round if they're going to get there. In Game 2, the Flyers didn't play well on defense, and they paid the price with a loss. Tonight, they played much better on defense, and despite a few questionable calls, they were able to hold the Devils to two goals and limited offensive chances. That's what has to be done for the Flyers to win this series with Brian Boucher in net. The Flyers have to control Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise and the rest of the Devils like they did tonight if they want to win this series.
I can't give enough credit to the Flyers' attack tonight. Even though they only scored three times, it would have been much, much worse for New Jersey if they didn't have Martin Brodeur in net. The Flyers completely dominated in terms of offense, outshooting the Devils by 15 and just being more aggressive than New Jersey throughout the game. That's just how I want to see this team play against the Devils. As long as they can do that, they have a chance. If they go back to being timid, then anything can happen, and it may not be good. For now, though, everything is going the way the Flyers hoped it would. They managed a split in Newark, and took Game 3, in overtime, with Brodeur doing everything he could to give the Devils a win. It couldn't have gotten any better tonight, and now the Flyers have Game 4 on home ice to really put New Jersey on the ropes. If it goes like two of the first three games of this series did, then the Flyers will be sitting pretty, but I'm not celebrating just yet. Even with Dan Carcillo finally doing something useful, there is still a lot of series left.
Game 4 is Tuesday. Let's see what happens then.
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