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The intangibles Special teams to play major role in Devils-Flyers series
Posted: Saturday May 13, 2000 01:11 AM
WEST ORANGE, N.J. (AP) -- If there is a given for any Devils-Flyers game, it's going to get physical. Put a berth in the Stanley Cup final on top of that and there is going to be a ton of hitting, and some of it isn't going to be legal. That means penalties and special teams play may well decide which team wins the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final. The Flyers enter Game 1 of the conference final on Sunday in Philadelphia with the NHL's top-ranked power play in the playoffs. They've converted on 13 of 52 chances with the extra man, or 25 percent. Against New Jersey, Philadelphia will be facing the top penalty killing unit in the postseason. The Devils have killed off 33 of 34 short-handed chances, including the last 23. Toronto failed on all 20 of its power plays against the Devils in the conference semifinal. "I don't ever feel we're on a roll," said Devils rookie John Madden, who set a team record with six short-handed goals this season. "Obviously we know we are doing well in the 'PK' department, but we have to keep paying attention to detail and watching more video and focusing in on their players." On the power play, the Flyers try to get John LeClair in front of goaltender Martin Brodeur and get shots from the points from defensemen Eric Desjardins and Andy Delmore, who has scored five goals in 11 playoff games after having just two in 27 regular-season contests. Philadelphia's power play is expected be short-handed on Sunday with center Keith Primeau uncertain because of a concussion sustained in the Flyers' series clincher against Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. "They're a shooting power play," Devils defenseman Scott Stevens said. "They have size in front with LeClair and Primeau and they got (Mark) Recchi to set it up and they got good shooters at the point. I think their main thing will be to get the puck to the point and get it on net and get shots and tips." The Devils will use an aggressive approach to their penalty killing and it will start by trying to keep Philadelphia out of the offensive zone. Madden and Jay Pandolfo have been good at breaking up plays and Stevens and Ken Daneyko have been stopping forwards trying to enter the zone. That's forced opponents to dump the puck in a lot, which can be a major mistake because Brodeur is probably the league's best puck-handling goalie. As fast as the Maple Leafs dumped the puck in the Devils' zone, Brodeur flipped it back out. "When a team pretty much has to think about where it's going to dump the puck while someone is in their face, it's pretty hard to do," Stevens said. "You tend to make mistakes. They know they have to keep the puck away from Marty. They will try to hard around it, but Marty is good at grabbing the puck and getting it out." If Philadelphia gets the puck into the offensive zone, the Devils will try to prevent the Flyers from passing it around by attacking the puck carrier. During the regular season, the Devils won the special teams battle with the Flyers in winning four of five games. Philadelphia, which converted on 20.3 percent of their power plays in the regular season, was 2 of 21 with the man advantage against New Jersey, or 9.5 percent. New Jersey actually had a better power play, converting on 4 of 17, or 23.5 percent.
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