Melrose's storylines for the East finals
By Barry Melrose
Special to ESPN.com
It's time for the conference finals, and two Atlantic Division rivals are the last teams left in the East.
|  | | Chris Therien, upper left, put the body on Jaromir Jagr in the last series. |
Philadelphia built its squad on the principle of Eric Lindros and Keith Primeau being a force against the big East teams. Within six weeks, they went from having two 6-foot-4 centers to having Daymond Langkow and Kent Manderville. So, instead of Scott Stevens having to face Lindros and Primeau shift after shift, he can now focus on John LeClair, who has been Philly's best player. I love that matchup.
Here are a few other storylines to watch for.
Goaltending: Brian Boucher has been unbelievable. There has been no crack in his armor. Now, he's going against Martin Brodeur, a goalie who has won the Stanley Cup. Lindros, Primeau and Andy Delmore have taken some of the headlines away from Boucher, but this kid has ice water in his veins. He outplayed Ron Tugnutt in two overtime games.
Brodeur's numbers are fabulous. With New Jersey's style of play, he doesn't have to stop 35 to 40 shots per game. But each game, he has to make a few big stops when the game is close. And he always has done that for his team.
Stopping Devils' top line: The Flyers did a great job against Jaromir Jagr late in the last series. Jason Arnott, Patrik Elias and Petr Sykora play a similar style, moving side to side and getting the puck to the net. Arnott will be there to crash. It will be interesting to see if this line will continue to score or, perhaps, if Philly can shut them down.
Defenseman Chris Therien played against Jagr in the Pittsburgh series. I bet you'll see him against Elias, who is New Jersey's best offensive player. Elias is just a great player -- he has speed and courage. That line has some magic together; Arnott is big, and the other two are fast and brave. Watch them and see if Philly can keep up.
How will Philly score? The next thing to watch is where the Flyers will get their goals from. If Stevens and Brian Rafalski can shut down Mark Recchi and LeClair, I don't know where the Flyers offense will come from. Recchi and LeClair figured in on almost all of Philly's goals the last two games against Pittsburgh.
New Jersey's penalty-killing unit has been unbelievable, giving up just one goal. Guys like Simon Gagne need to step up. The Primeau injury could hurt the second line, and Rick Tocchet is another guy who needs to play well in this series.
Barry Melrose, a former NHL player and coach, serves as an analyst for ESPN and ABC. |
Ken Daneyko sees it being an intense, emotional series.
