NCAAbbs

PLAYOFF SERIES: Eastern Conference quarterfinals; Flyers lead 1-0.
Maybe Robert Esche is the answer to the Philadelphia Flyers' long-standing playoff problems in net.

He was at least for one game.

Esche again looks to stymie the New Jersey Devils and outplay reigning Vezina Trophy winner Martin Brodeur as the Flyers try to grab a 2-0 lead in this Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

``Esche has a lot of pride in himself so we knew he was going to come out and play well,'' Flyers winger Jeremy Roenick said after Esche made 37 saves in Wednesday's 3-2 victory over the Devils.

Despite having talented teams in recent years, Philadelphia hasn't been to the Stanley Cup finals since 1997 and remains without a championship since 1975. It has been widely felt the Flyers' lack of a reliable goaltender has held them back.

Following the likes of Roman Cechmanek, Brian Boucher and Garth Snow -- among others -- Esche was named the team's top goalie for the playoffs despite going 0-3-1 with a 3.80 goals-against average in his final four regular-season starts.

In his first NHL playoff start, the 26-year-old New York native showed he can handle the pressure.

``He's a really competitive guy who wants the ball. We're going to ride it out with him,'' Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said.

Esche made several outstanding stops late in the first while the Devils were on a power play, including a point-blank shot by Jamie Langenbrunner and a backhander by John Madden. Esche stoned Turner Stevenson on a power play early in the second, kicking away a shot while sprawled on the ice.

``I felt fine. I felt great, actually,'' Esche said. ``I knew what I had to do, that was stop the puck.''

Brodeur, meanwhile, was not his usual dominant self, as he gave up three goals on 26 shots.

A 10-year playoff veteran who last season backstopped New Jersey to its third title since 1995, Brodeur suffered his fourth straight loss to the Flyers after losing only once in his previous nine starts against them (6-1-2).

The Devils, however, were not discouraged by the defeat. They refused to quit despite facing a 3-0 deficit early in the third period, with Patrik Elias and Jan Hrdina scoring twice in a 35-second span.

``I'm certainly not disappointed in the way we played,'' Devils coach Pat Burns said. ``I'm satisfied. I thought we pressured pretty well. The chances we got proved that.''

New Jersey won 10 more faceoffs than Philadelphia, outshot the Flyers in every period and allowed only one opportunity to a Flyers' power-play unit which finished second in the league.

``I don't think we'll take it as a bad loss,'' Devils forward Jeff Friesen said. ``It's a tough loss, but we can take some good things from it.''

It remains uncertain when or if All-Star defenseman Scott Stevens will return. Considered the heart of this Devils' franchise, Stevens has been out since early January with post-concussion syndrome, but the team was hopeful he could return for this series.

Game 3 is Saturday night in New Jersey.

HOW THEY GOT HERE: Devils - 100 points; 6th seed. Flyers - 101 points; 3rd seed.

PLAYOFF TEAM LEADERS: Devils - Elias and Hrdina, 1 goal; four with 1 assist; six with 1 point; Scott Niedermayer and Sean Brown, 2 PIM. Flyers - Simon Gagne, Roenick and Keith Primeau, 1 goal; Kim Johnsson, 2 assists; Primeau and Johnsson, 2 points; Sami Kapanen, 4 PIM.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Devils - Power play: 0 percent (0 for 4). Penalty killing: 0 percent (0 for 1). Flyers - Power play: 100 percent (1 for 1). Penalty killing: 100 percent (4 for 4).

GOALTENDERS: Devils - Brodeur (0-1, 3.00 GAA); Scott Clemmensen (no appearances). Flyers - Esche (1-0, 2.00 GAA); Sean Burke (no appearances).

REGULAR SEASON SERIES: Flyers, 3-2-1. The Flyers went winless in their first three meetings with New Jersey (0-2-1) before winning the final three. The last two came in March, with Philadelphia winning 3-1 at New Jersey on March 9 and 2-1 at home four days later. Esche got the best of Brodeur in both games. The Devils outscored the Flyers 9-4 in the first three matchups.

Philadelphia 3, New Jersey 2

By ROB MAADDI, AP Sports Writer
April 10, 2004

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Forget a repeat. The New Jersey Devils might not get past the first round.

Alexei Zhamnov scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the defending Stanley Cup champions 3-2 Saturday night to take a 2-0 series lead.

Game 3 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference matchup is Monday night in New Jersey.

``They kept the home ice. Now, we've got to go back and keep ours,'' Devils center Scott Gomez said. ``Our confidence is still pretty high right now.''

Jan Hrdina and Brian Gionta scored for the Devils, who didn't lead in either game in Philadelphia. Mark Recchi and Mattias Timander had the Flyers' other goals.

New Jersey hasn't come back from a 2-0 series deficit since winning four straight against Boston in the 1994 conference semifinals after losing the first two at home. The Devils rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Flyers in the 2000 conference finals.

``We realize we're going against the Stanley Cup champions, a tremendous team,'' Flyers forward Jeremy Roenick said. ``If we're not poised and composed, they'd walk all over us.''

Robert Esche, making just his second playoff start, again outplayed Martin Brodeur, stopping 24 shots. He had 37 saves in Thursday night's 3-2 victory.

Brodeur, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner who has led New Jersey to three championships in the past nine years, again was ordinary. He allowed three goals on 18 shots.

``They're making good dumps and I can't play the puck at all,'' Brodeur said. ``I felt good. I didn't get beaten on any clean shots. When you lose by one goal, you always hopefully made the big save, but that didn't happen the first two games, so hopefully I've got to be better the rest of the series if we're going to go anywhere.''

Less than three minutes after Hrdina scored the tying goal, Zhamnov stuffed a shot past Brodeur to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead. Tony Amonte set up the goal with a shot from outside the right circle that went around the net to Roenick, who took a shot that was stopped by Brodeur. But Zhamnov took a whack at the puck, slipping it through before Brodeur could control it.

``It was a cookie goal,'' Zhamnov said. ``I think Brodeur lost the puck.''

Timander made it 3-1 midway through the third period with a hard slap shot that sailed past Brodeur. Gionta cut it to 3-2 with 5:25 left, but the Flyers controlled play in the final minutes.

Playing again without All-Star defenseman Scott Stevens, still battling post-concussion syndrome, New Jersey's defense had trouble against Philadelphia's big forwards. John LeClair hit the side of the net on a shot that beat Brodeur in the first, and Sami Kapanen later missed the net on a point-blank shot.

Hrdina tied it at 1 with his second goal in two games early in the second period. Hrdina took a crisp pass from Jamie Langenbrunner, skated in alone and flipped it past Esche.

Recchi gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal in the first period. Recchi completed a tic-tac-toe passing play with Joni Pitkanen and Kim Johnsson by one-timing a shot over Brodeur's glove.

Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock preached discipline to his team after New Jersey had four power plays to Philadelphia's one in the series opener. But the Flyers took two penalties in the first 10 minutes.

First, Keith Primeau was called for interference, even though it appeared Brodeur tripped him. Then Timander had a hooking penalty. The Flyers killed both penalties, and another one in the second period. During the Devils' last power play, Roenick was pulled down by Scott Niedermayer when he came in on a short-handed breakaway, but no penalty was called.

``We knew if we're going to have a chance, no matter what we did on the power play, we'd have to do a good job killing penalties,'' Hitchcock said. ``If we didn't do that, we'd be on edge in other parts of our game.''

The game ended with a scrum in front and behind the Flyers net, and Esche squared off with New Jersey forward Patrik Elias. The two exchanged shoves, but they were kept apart as Esche struggled to get his hands free of his glove and blocker.

``It was a lot more physical than Game 1,'' Primeau said. ``They tried togoad us into penalties, but we maintained our composure.''

Notes

The Devils were 0-for-3 on the power play and are 0-for-7 in the series. ... Recchi got into a heated exchange with referee Mick McGeough in the first period after McGeough argued with Esche over a non-call. ... Flyers D Eric Desjardins, out for the playoffs, will have surgery Monday on the right forearm he re-broke earlier in the week. ... The teams have met twice in the playoffs, with New Jersey winning both times in the conference finals (1995, 2000) and going on to win the Cup. ... After closing the season 1-for-37 on the power play, the Flyers scored on their first two opportunities with the manadvantage.