Schedule
All times Eastern; *if necessary
Game 1: Sunday, April 29 at Philadelphia 3 p.m. (NBC, CBC)
Game 2: Tuesday, May 1 at Philadelphia 7:30 p.m. (NBCSN, CBC)
Game 3: Thursday, May 3 at New Jersey 7:30 p.m. (NBCSN, CBC)
Game 4: Sunday, May 6 at New Jersey 7:30 p.m. (NBCSN, CBC)
Game 5: *Tuesday, May 8 at Philadelphia, TBD
Game 6: *Thursday, May 10 at New Jersey, TBD
Game 7: *Saturday, May 12 at Philadelphia, TBD
Three storylines to follow
1. Philly’s flying offense. The Flyers scored 30 goals in their six-game ousting of Pittsburgh, highlighted by Claude Giroux (6G-8A) coming within one point of Tim Kerr’s franchise record for most points (15) in a series. Four other Flyers -- Danny Briere, Jakub Voracek, Jaromir Jagr and Brayden Schenn -- averaged at least a point a game and 12 different players scored goals. That, folks, is a dynamic offensive attack.
2. The ageless wonder. After getting yanked in Game 3 of the Florida series, 39-year-old Martin Brodeur turned back the clock. He proceeded to stop 113 of his next 119 shots faced and came up huge as the Devils faced elimination, stopping 14 of 16 in Game 6 and 43 of 45 in Thursday’s double-overtime Game 7. Brodeur finished the series with a 2.06 GAA and .922 save percentage, his best numbers in years.
3. Blueline woes. The Flyers will start this series without the services of Andrej Meszaros and Nicklas Grossman (and were already without Chris Pronger). That, combined with a largely ineffective Pavel Kubina, forced Philly to essentially roll with five defenseman in Game 6 against Pittsburgh -- Brayden Coburn, Matt Carle, Kimmo Timonen, Erik Gustafsson and Andreas Lilja -- with Coburn logging a game-high 29:27.
Records
No. 5 Philadelphia: 47-26-9, 103 points (3rd in Atlantic) | No. 6 New Jersey: 48-28-6, 102 points (4th in Atlantic).
Leading playoff scorers
Philadelphia: Claude Giroux (6G-8A-14PTS) | New Jersey: Travis Zajac (3G-3A-6PTS)
Starting goalies
Philadelphia: Ilya Bryzgalov (4-2, 3.89 GAA) | New Jersey: Martin Brodeur (4-2, 2.06 GAA)
Head-to-head
Series tied 3-3-0
Oct. 8: Philadelphia 3, at New Jersey 0
Nov. 3: New Jersey 4, at Philadelphia 3, SO
Jan. 21: Philadelphia 4, at New Jersey 1
Feb. 4: New Jersey 6, at Philadelphia 4
Mar. 11: At New Jersey 4, Philadelphia 1
Mar. 13: At Philadelphia 3, New Jersey 0
Playoff history
Tied 2-2.
1995: New Jersey 4-2 (Eastern Conference finals)
2000: New Jersey 4-3 (Eastern Conference finals)
2004: Philadelphia 4-1 (Eastern Conference quarterfinals)
2010: Philadelphia 4-1 (Eastern Conference quarterfinals)
2012 playoffs
Philadelphia: Def. Pittsburgh 4-2 (EC quarters) | New Jersey: Def. Florida 4-3 (EC quarters)
2011 playoffs
Philadelphia: Def. Buffalo 4-3 (EC quarters), lost to Boston 4-0 (EC semis) | New Jersey: Did not qualify
Stanley Cups
Philadelphia: Two (1974, 1975) | New Jersey: Three (1995, 2000, 2003)
Injuries
Philadelphia: Nicklas Grossmann (concussion), Marc-Andre Bourdon (upper body), Andrej Meszaros (back), Chris Pronger (concussion) | New Jersey: Jacob Josefson (wrist), Henrik Tallinder (leg)