That's how you get things started: Flyers take Game 1

I think just about everyone knew how important it would be for the Flyers to take one of the first two games of their first round series with New Jersey, but I don't know how many people thought that they could actually do it in Game 1. Yes, the Flyers took five out of six regular season games from the Devils, but they only had Brian Boucher in goal for one of them, and Boucher hadn't won a playoff game for anyone in almost ten years.

Well, all of that changed last night. The Flyers played great hockey, frustrating the Devils to no end, and Boucher kept New Jersey out of the net for almost 58 minutes, knocking the Devils back on their heels as the Flyers took Game 1.

To beat the Devils in this series, the Flyers are going to have to play as well as they have all season, and last night, they did. Though they only took 14 shots, they scored on two of them in the second period, with Chris Pronger netting the first goal, and Mike Richards blasting the second one past Martin Brodeur after a nice pass from Ian Laperriere. The penalty kill was great last night, stopping the Devils on five chances, including a huge four minute New Jersey power play in the third period. The Devils only managed to shots for the entire four minutes, as the Flyers locked down and played great defense. That's what has to be done for the rest of the series. The Flyers can beat the Devils in a best of seven series, but they have to play like this for the rest of the time.

They also need solid goaltending from Brian Boucher again. The much-maligned goalie found his way back into the good graces of Philadelphia fans after his save against the Rangers on Sunday, and I think he might be getting back even higher with the way he played last night. He made some great saves, and stopped the final New Jersey attack with about ten seconds to play to give the Flyers the Game 1 win. It was his first playoff win since the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals, when the Flyers were playing the Devils. Last night, Boucher seemed to turn back the clock to when he was a promising looking rookie, and he got the Flyers all the way to Game 7 of the conference finals. Hopefully, this series ends a little bit better than that one did, but so far, things are going well for the Orange and Black.

Everyone has to remember, it's only Game 1. There's still potentially six games left, but the Flyers have already done what they had to do in the first two games. They took home ice advantage away from the Devils, and they sent New Jersey a message that they will be able to go toe to toe with them for this entire series. The Flyers/Devils rivalry is a deep one, and this year, the Flyers owned New Jersey. If they can do it for three more games, then Philadelphia will be moving on to the second round, leaving New Jersey to taste defeat once again, as they have in the first round for the last two seasons. That would make this hockey season that much better.