Devils Game 1 Review

It all seemed too predictable.

Predictably, the long layoff exacerbated the Flyers' slow starts, and the Devils had the game's first 10 shots and its first goal.

Predictably, the Flyers slowly took over the game against a fatigued Devils team.

Predictably, Brodeur had some real strong stretches, but doesn't dominate entire games anymore. 

Predictably, it was Danny Briere popping up to score two key goals.

Overall, I think we saw a preview of what this series will look like.  The Devils contained the Flyers at times, denying the Flyers space and stopping attacks before they started.  In time, however, the Flyers asserted their superiority. 

Notes:
-Briere simply turns it up in the playoffs.  He had a terrible regular season, making the success of his season entirely hinge on his playoff performance.  Well now he has 7 goals in 7 playoff games.  As good as he was in the playoffs last year, it took him 8 games to get 7 goals then.  This is all the more impressive considering he finished the season with only 3 goals in his last 34 regular season games.

-Playoff JVR is back.  He revved it up and drove the net a few times.  He didn't finish any of those plays, though he did roof a loose puck with style for one goal.  Laviolette put JVR up with Briere and Voracek, reducing the ice time of Schenn in the process, but it looks like that may be the right call.

-The Flyers were able to spread out their defensemen's ice time much more tonight than at any point of the Pittsburgh series.  The health of Grossman, increased faith in Lilja and Gustafsson, and quite frankly less threatening forward talent on the Devils made this possible.  This may not be a good sign because of what it implies about his health, but Timonen actually had the fewest even strength minutes of any defensemen.

-The Devils had success taking away the Flyers passing outlets and forcing the Flyers defensemen to carry the puck further than they normally would up the ice.  The Devils got their 3rd goal on a chain of events that started this way.

-Wellwood played a very good game, and looked like one of the few Flyers ready to go from the start.  As a member of the checking line with Talbot and Cooter, Wellwood will continue to see more ice time than Schenn, Read or Simmonds.

-My review of Bryzgalov today was a pretty strong start, but could've been better later.  In particular, he was a little slow moving around and reacting, leaving his five-hole open.  Bryzgalov didn't have much to do in the 3rd period, but he should've done better on the Sykora goal and made a momentum preserving stop.