Records:
Philadelphia 47-26-9 (103 points) Home: 22-13-6 Away: 25-13-3
New Jersey: 48-28-6 (102 points) Home: 24-13-4 Away: 24-15-2
How They Got Here:
Flyers eliminated the #4 seed
Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-2
Devils eliminated the #3 seed
Florida Panthers, 4-3
Head to Head:
Oct 8th: Flyers 3 / Devils 0
Nov 3rd: Devils 4 / Flyers 3 OT
Jan 21st: Flyers 4 / Devils 1
Feb 4th: Devils 6 / Flyers 4
Mar 11th: Devils 4 / Flyers 1
Mar 13th: Flyers 3 / Devils 0
Season series tied, 3-3
Fights:
Oct 8th:
Wayne Simmonds vs. David Clarkson
Jan 21st:
Jody Shelley vs. Eric Boulton
Feb 4th:
Brayden Schenn vs. Ilya Kovalchuk
Lineup:
Goaltending: Draw
Scoring: Edge Philadelphia
Defense: Edge New Jersey
Coaching: Edge Philadelphia
Grit: Edge Philadelphia
Schedule:
Sun, Apr 29th in Philadelphia 3PM ET
Tue, May 1st in Philadelphia 7:30PM ET
Thu, May 3rd in New Jersey 7:30PM ET
Sun, May 6th in New Jersey 7:30PM ET
*Tue, May 8th in Philadelphia
*Thu, May 10th in New Jersey
*Sat, May 12th in Philadelphia
Prediction:
The Flyers had plenty of time to rest after a brutal, grueling series with their arch rivals from Pittsburgh, while the Devils went to the very edge with the Panthers in Florida. Despite defense being the name of the game in the playoffs, I'm favoring the Flyers because Brodeur looks shaky in net, the Devils PK has completely failed them this post season and Ilya Bryzgalov appears to be settling in. I see this being a brutally physical series with the Devils stingy defense winning a few, but in the end, I'll take the Flyers to prevail, needing all 7 games.