Flyers look to take commanding 3-1 lead over Devils
NHL.com
DEVILS AT FLYERS
(Philadelphia leads best-of-seven series, 2-1)
Big Story -- Flyers agitator
Daniel Carcillo scored the biggest goal of his career on Sunday when he converted a feed from captain
Mike Richards 3:35 into overtime to send Philadelphia to a 3-2 victory in Game 3. The win gave the Flyers a 3-0 mark against the Devils in overtime playoff games. Meanwhile, Devils goalie Martin Brodeur owns an all-time postseason record of 6-5 against the Flyers in Philadelphia, but is now 0-4 in his last four starts there. Philadelphia is 21-9 when winning Game 3 of a playoff series.
Team Scope:
Flyers -- The Flyers played their best game of the series on Sunday, outshooting (34-19) and outhitting (40-36) the Devils to the point where goalie
Brian Boucher was called upon to make a combined four saves in the third period and overtime. Richards and Carcillo each had a goal and one assist and linemate Simon Gagne chipped in with a team-high five hits and one assist.
"We need everyone to chip in," Richards said. "It's nice to see Danny (Carcillo) chip in with a couple of points and a goal. It's only a matter of time before Gags (Gagne) gets one since he has such a great shot. Our line wasn't that good the first couple of games, but we definitely got better on Sunday."
Devils -- Coach Jacques Lemaire admitted some disappointment during a media conference call on Monday over how some players were more concerned with their individual success versus team success. In particular, Lemaire has really struggled in finding complements for power forward Ilya Kovalchuk -- who registered no shots and averaged a series-high 1:11 per shift in Game 3, 23 seconds longer than the next highest player on the Devils' roster.
"The whole line (that Kovalchuk played on) didn't get a lot of shots, they didn't create a lot," Lemaire said. "They work more individually at times because probably the fact they're not getting any points and they want to get points. It's not the proper way to work and when you're looking at your top players, we always say your top players have to be the best players on the ice. But I want to be patient with (Kovalchuk). It's not because of lack of work. As you guys witness and see, he puts in a lot of effort and work."
Who's Hot -- Richards is in a three-way tie for the team lead with 2 goals, but tops his club in assists (4) and points (6). Richards is the top point-producer through three games of this best-of-seven series. Goaltender
Brian Boucher has a 2.07 goals against average and .907 save percentage in the playoffs so far.
Injury Report -- The Flyers are without goalies
Michael Leighton (high ankle sprain) and Ray Emery (bone graft surgery). … New Jersey forward Vladimir Zharkov is nursing a sore back.
Stat Pack -- According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Carcillo was the first player to score an overtime goal in the postseason after accumulating at least 200 penalty minutes during the preceding regular season since Buffalo's Brad May connected for the series-winning goal against Boston in the first round of the 1993 playoffs.
Puck Drop -- "I think we need to be a little more desperate in our play," Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner said. "We're playing not to lose instead of playing to win. We're playing cautious and worried about making mistakes instead of just playing the game."
Devils
Flyers
Game Notes (pdf)
Limited tickets remain for tonight
Laviolette pregame
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