One by one, the Flyers came to the podium and finished their pressers with the same mantra.
Were still alive.
Albeit, barely.
Thats something the Devils want to take advantage of Tuesday with the chance to send the Flyers packing for the summer if they win Game 5.
New Jersey leads this Eastern Conference Semifinal series, 3-1.
Ideally, wed love to go there and end the series, but again we expect them to play very well, so we have to keep playing the same way we are and even better, said Zach Parise, who has been a formidable foe at both ends of the ice against the Flyers.
Im sure in their minds theyre not saying theyre out of it. Theyre saying they want to win one game and then seen what happens. So, every little play is going to be important next game and for the rest of the series.
NHL
Parise has been impossible to take the puck away from in the series. Hes been perhaps the Devils best forechecker and their best defender against the forecheck, as well. The Flyers have had virtually no sustained forecheck for nearly three games now.
Theres going to be times like that, Parise said. Theyve got really good forwards and really good players, so thats going to happen.
Weve been breaking out pretty cleanly and our D are doing a good job where were not spending a lot of time in our zone and I think a pretty big part of the series is how well weve been able to get out of the zone.
While the scores would indicate this is a close series, competitively, the Devils have owned the Flyers in this series.
We like to say we play as five-man units up and down the ice, Devils defenseman Andy Greene said. Its not one person in the offensive zone or defensive zone or the neutral zone.
We do it as a group and weve been controlling the offensive zone a little bit, so thats been taking away a lot of their offensive chances. If we have the puck in their zone, its tough for them to play offense.
If the Flyers are going to get a sustained forecheck, they need to place the puck better on dump-ins away from goalie Marty Brodeur, who has had an easy time getting them and beating the Flyers wingers coming in with a transition outlet pass.
The more we keep the puck in their zone, the more were taking shots on them, the less theyre going to have an opportunity against us, Brodeur said, emphasizing the Devils forecheck as opposed to defending against the same from the Flyers.
But when they do, we have a lot of good back pressure from our forwards just because were working hard. Were gambling sometimes offensively, but were coming back five guys together and putting a lot of pressure on them to make good plays to beat us and its been working out good.
For the Flyers to win Game 5 and have any chance to come back into this series, it all has to change tonight at Wells Fargo Center.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net