7:30PM ET, Tuesday night will be the first of five meetings this season between the long-time rivals, New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Flyers. The two teams split last year's season series 3-3. This game is the opening home game for the Devils and "The Rock" will be rockin'! After beating the Islanders in a hard-fought game, the 1-0-0 Devils look to build on their performance against a strong Philadelphia team. The Flyers, also known as the "Broad Street Bullies", are 0-2-0 and looking to push the Devils around in their own playground.
The keys to this game will be:
~Ilya Bryzgalov must show up. He has a 3.05 GAA and has not been at all who the Flyers need him to be in these first few games.
~Philadelphia's special teams needs to start working. Their penalty kill is horrendous so far, and their power play is not much better.
~New Jersey needs to start strong, control the pace, and shoot the puck at Bryzgalov.
~The Devils need to stay disciplined against their rivals and stay out of the penalty box. That was a big topic during their playoff series last year.
Without the talent of Flyers forward, Danny Briere, in their lineup due to injury, the Devils will seem a bit tougher than otherwise. Philadelphia's actual "bully", Zac Rinaldo, is questionable to play due to a cut from a skate against the Buffalo Sabres. On the Devils side of things, Adam Henrique is still recovering from thumb surgery and remains out of play.
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