EASTERN FINALS
GAME DAY PREVIEWS
GAME 7:
#1 PHILADELPHIA FLYERS vs #4 NEW JERSEY DEVILS
Series tied 3-3
Game time: Friday May 26th, 2000 7pm at Philadelphia
A berth in the Stanley Cup Finals will be decided tonight as the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Flyers battle in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Claude Lemieux and Alexander Mogilny scored in the third period and Martin Brodeur came within 30 seconds of a shutout, lifting the Devils to a 2-1 triumph to force a decisive seventh game.
The game marked the return of Philadelphia's former captain, Eric Lindros. The 6-4, 236-pound center made his presence felt on the ice as he pulled the Flyers within the final margin as he scored with 30 seconds left. He also had a goal taken away at the end of the second period when the buzzer sounded before the puck crossed the line.
The role in which Lindros will play in Game 7 would increase after he turned up his play as the game progressed.
"I think as the game went on, I felt more and more comfortable out there," he said. "There's still a lot of things to work on, but things will be better in the second game."
The series returns to Philadelphia, where the Devils have won two of the three games played in this series and five times in seven postseason trips. The Flyers earned the right to have home-ice advantage after they rallied from a 15-point deficit to pass the Devils for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
New Jersey is participating in its first Game Seven since last season's quaterfinal series with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Devils fell, 4-2, as they dropped to 2-5 in the decisive game and departed in the first round for the second consecutive season.
"We've been facing Game 7 since Game 5, so we really just have to keep going, keep thinking the same way," New Jersey coach Larry Robinson said. "They've had tomorrows. Now we're both going back there with no tomorrows. That's how we've got to play."
The Devils are trying to become the 16th team in NHL history to rally from a three games to one deficit, which they have never accomplished in franchise history. No team has come back from such a deficit after the second round since the expansion era began in 1967.
New Jersey is also trying to win an elimination game on the road for just the third time in franchise history, which included Game Five's victory here on Monday. The only other time that happened took place against the Washington Capitals in Game Seven of the 1988 Patrick Division finals.
It has been 11 years in between decisive games for Philadelphia. The last time the Flyers battled in a Game Seven was in 1989 Patrick Division Finals against the Penguins when they earned a 4-1 triumph. The club is 5-4 in Game Seven's, but have not hosted one since 1987 against the New York Islanders.
Philadelphia rookie goaltender Brian Boucher has been spectacular, even while losing the last two games. He has kept the squad in every contest and has made the save of the playoffs when he robbed Patrik Elias as he sprawled and stopped the puck with the back of his glove and his head turned the other way.
However, Boucher is playing in his first-ever Game Seven and has seen the puck in his own end for most of the last two contests as the Devils dominated the offensive chances.
At the other end, Brodeur is in the fourth Game Seven of his brilliant career. He was in goal when the Devils last won a Game Seven, a 2-1 triumph over Buffalo in the 1994 Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
Brodeur has lost his last two Game Seven's including the double-overtime 2-1 setback to the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference finals.
New Jersey will hope to have defensive forward specialist Sergei Nemchinov back in the lineup. He took 40 stitches to the left side of his head after he took a big hit from John Leclair and had his head smack against the partition of the glass on the door to the penalty box.
With the Western Conference final series between the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche also stretched to the limit, it marks the first time since 1964 -- the only other time -- in which both Stanley Cup semifinal series have gone seven games.