In Newark tonight, the Flyers had their chances to go up 2-0 on the Devils, but in the end, they couldn't get it done, and the Devils took advantage, scoring four of the last five goals to win Game 2 and tie up the series at a game a piece.
I'm not going to put all the blame tonight on Brian Boucher. As much as I want to, I just can't. Tonight, the Flyers had their chances, and they wasted them, and that's why this series is tied now. Yes, Boucher allowed four goals, but you knew that the Devils weren't going to sit by and let the Flyers hold them to a single goal in each game of this series. That just wasn't going to happen. Plus, the Flyers had seven chances on the power play, and only scored on two of them, while the Devils added a short handed goal in the first period that gave them the early lead. Some things did go right for Philadelphia tonight, as Chris Pronger played another solid game, as did Claude Giroux and James van Riemsdyk.
The only problem was that those players were about the only ones that did their jobs tonight. Several Flyers missed shots on goal when they had the Devils on the ropes, and this game never should have come down to the third period, but it did, and New Jersey won. Martin Brodeur still doesn't look that sharp so far, but with his team scoring five times in one game, and the Flyers missing several open shots, why should he look that good? The fact of the matter is that the Flyers blew their chances in this game tonight, and the Devils didn't. Despite playing a similar style of defense to what they did in the first game, Philadelphia just couldn't get on track in the second and third periods tonight. If they can't do that for the rest of the series, then things might get bad very quickly for them. If somehow, they can get back on track, then this series has a chance to go the distance.
Regardless, the Flyers still have the home ice advantage now, and with Game 3 at home on Sunday, anything can happen. I'm hoping for a Flyers win, just so Flyers fans can hold this over the Devils for the next year. That would be nice.
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