Psychological Game Rules!

The Philadelphia Flyers, with just two more victories, will seemingly beat the New Jersey Devils at their own brand of hockey. INTIMIDATION!

Brian Boucher has been solid thus far; he has made fewer mistakes than the immortal Martin Brodeur, which is why his team in in this position. If they apply pressure on the Devils for just two more hours of game time (120 minutes) they will find themselves in round number two, facing another top seed. While Brodeur has kept N.J.’s ship sailing as usual, he is more human now than in the past. Maybe after one and a half decades, the Flyers have finally figured out the 37 year-old Devil net minder.

The Flyers have the clear psychological edge in this series right now. This was vividly established in Game 1 and has remained so throughout. They are no longer intimidated by New Jersey and its trap defense, yet now it appears as if the Flyers are the intimidator in this series. They have been able to put a damper on New Jersey’s system of play, thwarting any changes in momentum.

Philadelphia has been able to institute such a great sense of fear and doubt into the New Jersey locker room to the point where Jacques Lamaire’s crew knows they cannot defeat their divisional foe in this best-of-seven set. The intimidation factor could ultimately decide this series as the Flyers have been, as their slogan states, “relentless” in these first three games.

Kimmo Timonen and Chris Pronger have each played intricate roles in this series. They have continuously shutdown Lou Lamoriello’s top rent-a-player in sniper Ilya Kovalchuk. They managed to hold the trio of Patrick Elias, Zach Parise and Kovalchuk to just 3! shots in 68:22 of ice-time. If this keeps up, the Flyers should be able to put this series away relatively soon. Yet, offense is not what Jersey is notorious for, nor has it been the driving force behind three cups. The main asset over the past 15

years of N.J. dominance has been its goaltender Martin Brodeur of course.

Brodeur has started 70+ games twelve times in his career. He is very durable, but many wonder if his reign is coming to an end. The Jersey netminder is no longer complacent and is now more vulnerable than ever before. The Devils’ capabilities begin and end with Brodeur as he will continue to be the catalyst, but for how long? The Flyers have appeared to figure out his weaknesses and are exploiting them, hence their 2-1 series lead.

This series will be continued on Tuesday evening in Philadelphia in front of a raucous crowd. A pivotal Game 4 in which yours truly will be attending. Trying to be objective, but I have hated this team for as long as I can remember, so that being said, LET'S GO FLYERS!