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Tale of the Tape: Flyers vs Devils

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James

On Sunday, the Philadelphia Flyers will host the New Jersey Devils in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal (3:00 pm ET, NBC). Here’s a look at recent history between the two clubs.

Leading scorers

New Jersey: Travis Zajac (3G-3A-6PTS) | Philadelphia: Claude Giroux (6G-8A-14PTS)

Starting goalies

New Jersey: Martin Brodeur (4-2, 2.06 GAA) | Philadelphia: Ilya Bryzgalov (4-2, 3.89 GAA)

Oct. 8, 2011 – Philadelphia 3, New Jersey 0. Bryzgalov’s first shutout as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers came against the Devils. Philadelphia’s Matt Read, who went on to lead all rookies in goals, found the back of the net for the first time at 2:41 of the third period. Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds accounted for the Flyers’ other two goals.

Nov. 3, 2011 – New Jersey 4, Philadelphia 3 SO. When the two squads met again, it was rookie Adam Henrique’s turn to shine. Henrique scored his first NHL goal to give us an early indication of the kind of season he would have. As was the case in their last meeting, Claude Giroux scored against New Jersey. However, this time around Patrik Elias proved to be the hero with a shootout goal.

Jan. 21, 2012 – Phildelphia 4, New Jersey 1. Claude Giroux got two assists, but it was Scott Hartnell that led the Flyers to victory. Hartnell netted two power-play goals, including the game-winner. Wayne Simmonds chipped in an empty netter and also recorded two assists. On the Devils’ side, this would be the first of two games where they allowed less than 20 shots, but still lost the contest.

Feb. 4, 2012 – New Jersey 6, Philadelphia 4. This was a truly bizarre contest. The Devils scored three goals in each of the first and second periods to take a 6-0 lead. In that span, they got two power-play goals from Kurtis Foster and Zach Parise also scored with the man advantage. On top of that, Ilya Kovalchuk got a Gordie Howe hat trick.

The Philadelphia Flyers came back hard in the final period, outshooting the Devils by an unreal margin of 24-1. With 6:29 still remaining in the contest, the Flyers had reduced the Devils’ lead to two, but New Jersey managed to hold on after that.

March 11, 2012 – New Jersey 4, Philadelphia 1. Ilya Kovalchuk didn’t get into a fight this time, but he did score a goal and register two assists. As impressive as that is, the night belonged to Martin Brodeur, who became the first goaltender in the history of the league to win 650 regular season games. The next best goaltender, Patrick Roy, won 551 contests in his NHL career.

March 13, 2012 – Philadelphia 3, New Jersey 0. The Flyers bounced back in the second half of their home-and-home series. Ilya Bryzgalov, who was allowed to rest on March 11, earned his third straight shutout. Danny Briere netted a goal and an assist for Philadelphia while Sean Couturier accounted for the game-winning goal.

Injuries

Philadelphia: Marc-Andre Bourdon (upper body), Tom Sestito (groin), Andrej Meszaros (lower body), Chris Pronger (concussion), Blair Betts (knee), Ian Laperriere (concussion), Nicklas Grossmann (concussion)

New Jersey: Jacob Josefson (wrist), Henrik Tallinder (leg)