Flyers Tie Series With Second Win On Road

NHL playoffs

Maybe the Stanley Cup won’t wind up in Nashville after all.

In fact, the New Jersey - and possibly soon-to-be Nashville - Devils may not wind up in the Cup final at all this year.

For the second consecutive game, the Philadelphia Flyers put a dent in the invincibility of the Devils’ stingy neutral zone trap as they tied the Eastern Conference final series after four games with a 4-2 win Saturday.

Game 5 is today at Philadelphia, where the Devils won the first two games in such convincing fashion that they appeared headed to their first Stanley Cup final and possible title.

The Flyers put those thoughts on hold, winning two games at the Meadowlands Arena. New Jersey, which is considering an offer to move to Tennessee, might have thought an overtime loss in Game 3 was a fluke because of a bad-bounce goal that tied the score, but Philadelphia was clearly the better team during Game 4.

“It’s just normal for people who watch from the outside to think we were down,” said Flyers defenseman Eric Desjardins, who with Shjon Podein, Mikael Renberg and Rod Brind’Amour scored to support a 32-save effort by Ron Hextall.

“But for us, we knew we were able to come back,” Desjardins said. “We knew we could play a little bit better and that’s what we did the last two games.”

The four goals were the most against the Devils in a playoff game this season. The Flyers drove Martin Brodeur from the net with 7 minutes, 45 seconds to play. He had only 13 saves on 17 shots.

Devils coach Jacques Lemaire credited the Flyers, but also said his team was to blame.

“We just didn’t play a smart game,” he said, noting the Flyers’ first three goals followed bad plays by his team.

“It gives them their life again,” Devils forward Randy McKay added. “We had gone in and taken it away from them, and now they have it again.”

Brian Rolston, filling in for injured Stephane Richer, and Mike Peluso scored for New Jersey, which lost two in a row for the first time in the playoffs.

Rolston gave the Devils a 1-0 lead with 5:16 left in the first period, beating Hextall between the pads on a shot from the left circle. Podein tied it with 1:51 remaining in the period, deflecting a shot by defenseman Karl Dykhuis under Brodeur’s thigh with the goalie on the ice.

Eric Lindros, who scored the game-winner Wednesday night, set up the go-ahead goal with 2:10 left in the second period. He skated from his end to the Devils blueline before finding Renberg streaking down the middle. Renberg one-timed his pass and it deflected past Brodeur’s glove after hitting defenseman Scott Stevens, who went to the ice to block the shot.

“I spent 30 minutes talking about that play, how to pick up the trailer, and everybody went to the guy with the puck,” Lemaire said.

Brind’Amour, whose bad-bounce goal tied Wednesday’s game, scored on a short-handed breakaway 4:43 into the third period, then Desjardins stretched the lead to three goals 7 minutes later.

The Brind’Amour goal was the backbreaker.

“It started slipping away after that,” McKay said. “A 2-1 game is a lot easier to come back from. When they score shorthanded and go ahead 3-1, now you need two good bounces and it gets a little frustrating.”

Peluso closed out the scoring with less than 7 minutes left.

New Jersey played Game 4 without defenseman Bruce Driver, the team’s co-leader in plusminus rating. Driver’s absence wasn’t a surprise. He left practice early Friday and Lemaire said he missed the game with a sore back.

Richer skated in the pre-game warmup but then was scratched. Lemaire said Richer has been bothered by a sore arm the past week.

The status of the two players for today is uncertain.