Thursday, April 15, 2004
Esche gives Flyers chance to advance (phillyBurbs.com)
Esche gives Flyers chance to advance
EAST RUTHERFORD - Maybe without meaning to, Martin Brodeur had thrown a challenge in Robert Esche's face. Get me three goals, Brodeur had told his Devils teammates before Game 3, and I'll get you a victory. Get me three goals, and I'll get us back in these Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Flyers, and maybe that one win will start this series on the slippery slope to another dramatic Devils comeback.
Brodeur delivered on his promise, his teammates putting four past Esche in a season-saving win, and the assumption running through Brodeur's words was easy to pick up on: We can score three goals on Esche. We should score three goals on Esche. We can win this series now.
Except they can't.
The Flyers are one win away from dispatching the Devils now, and after his 3-0 shutout in Game 4 last night, Robert Esche is the real reason. He made 35 saves in crushing every assumption underlying what Brodeur had said, and lo, the Flyers at last are winning playoff games in the way they have lost them for so long. Their goaltender is winning those games for them, just as Brodeur has done for the Devils.
"He's a great goalie," Esche said last night. "I understand his thought process. He got his team going. He got his three goals, and they got the win. I didn't read much about it, but I'm sure a guy like him can make those claims."
Even if Esche never read Brodeur's comments - he said last night he hadn't - he played as if he had. Understand: The Flyers are now up 3-1 in this series, and Esche has unquestionably outplayed Brodeur twice now - in Game 1's 3-2 Flyers' win and Game 4.
It might seem strange to say, but this is the best scenario for the Flyers' prospects in this post-season. For too long, the Flyers have been without a goaltender capable of stealing them victories in the playoffs. They couldn't afford to have a sluggish period for fear that Ron Hextall or Garth Snow or Roman Cechmanek would fold. Dominik Hasek, Ed Belfour, Patrick Roy - some of those victories that lifted their teams to the Stanley Cup Finals were all on them, all on the goaltender. Brodeur had always done the same for the Devils, but for five games now, Esche has been better. Finally, a Flyers goaltender has been better.
"I don't know if I've outplayed him," Esche said. "He's made some great saves, and he's kept his team in it."
Brodeur did that in the third period of Monday's Game 3, stopping Simon Gagne and Keith Primeau on a pair of breakaways, holding the Flyers scoreless for the final 37 minutes of a 4-2 Devils victory. But as fine as Brodeur was then, Esche was better in the second period last night, when the Devils fired 12 shots at him and he kicked out Scott Gomez's one-timer in the slot and back-to-back backhanders by Brian Gionta and Patrick Elias and a wrap-around by Turner Stevenson.
"It's safe to say you can call that Eschey's period," Mark Recchi said. "They really came at us with everything. They were the better team in the second - no question. Eschey was huge for us. ...
"He's a competitive guy, and we trust him, just as the Devils trust Marty. The only thing is, Eschey is inexperienced. But he's a very competitive guy."
It is his calm that is most reassuring. The Devils have not rattled Esche, and his composure is a refreshing change from the combustible Cechmanek, who always teetered on the edge of a Chernobyl moment.
"They scored four goals the last time, but I wasn't worried about it," Esche said. "There were a couple of broken plays that ended up in the net."
Those same plays didn't last night. Three times, the Flyers carelessly handed scoring chances to the Devils, Gagne, Mattias Timander and Donald Brashear turning the puck over, and once, twice, thrice, Esche turned the Devils back - first Jiri Bicek, then Stevenson, then Bicek twice more.
There's so much history between these teams, so much karma that seems to go the Devils way, and you can't help but remember the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals, when a 3-1 Flyers lead in the series meant nothing. But this feels different. No, the Devils aren't dead yet, but Esche has to have you believing they're close.
"We're not really concerned about [2000]," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We have a chance to beat the defending Stanley Cup champions."
Finally, they do. Finally, because of their goaltender, the Flyers can see their way into the second round, past the Devils, over the biggest hurdle of their recent history. Martin Brodeur didn't need three goals last night. He needed four. And he wasn't getting them. Not from Robert Esche. There was no way he was getting even one.
Esche gives Flyers chance to advance
EAST RUTHERFORD - Maybe without meaning to, Martin Brodeur had thrown a challenge in Robert Esche's face. Get me three goals, Brodeur had told his Devils teammates before Game 3, and I'll get you a victory. Get me three goals, and I'll get us back in these Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Flyers, and maybe that one win will start this series on the slippery slope to another dramatic Devils comeback.
Brodeur delivered on his promise, his teammates putting four past Esche in a season-saving win, and the assumption running through Brodeur's words was easy to pick up on: We can score three goals on Esche. We should score three goals on Esche. We can win this series now.
Except they can't.
The Flyers are one win away from dispatching the Devils now, and after his 3-0 shutout in Game 4 last night, Robert Esche is the real reason. He made 35 saves in crushing every assumption underlying what Brodeur had said, and lo, the Flyers at last are winning playoff games in the way they have lost them for so long. Their goaltender is winning those games for them, just as Brodeur has done for the Devils.
"He's a great goalie," Esche said last night. "I understand his thought process. He got his team going. He got his three goals, and they got the win. I didn't read much about it, but I'm sure a guy like him can make those claims."
Even if Esche never read Brodeur's comments - he said last night he hadn't - he played as if he had. Understand: The Flyers are now up 3-1 in this series, and Esche has unquestionably outplayed Brodeur twice now - in Game 1's 3-2 Flyers' win and Game 4.
It might seem strange to say, but this is the best scenario for the Flyers' prospects in this post-season. For too long, the Flyers have been without a goaltender capable of stealing them victories in the playoffs. They couldn't afford to have a sluggish period for fear that Ron Hextall or Garth Snow or Roman Cechmanek would fold. Dominik Hasek, Ed Belfour, Patrick Roy - some of those victories that lifted their teams to the Stanley Cup Finals were all on them, all on the goaltender. Brodeur had always done the same for the Devils, but for five games now, Esche has been better. Finally, a Flyers goaltender has been better.
"I don't know if I've outplayed him," Esche said. "He's made some great saves, and he's kept his team in it."
Brodeur did that in the third period of Monday's Game 3, stopping Simon Gagne and Keith Primeau on a pair of breakaways, holding the Flyers scoreless for the final 37 minutes of a 4-2 Devils victory. But as fine as Brodeur was then, Esche was better in the second period last night, when the Devils fired 12 shots at him and he kicked out Scott Gomez's one-timer in the slot and back-to-back backhanders by Brian Gionta and Patrick Elias and a wrap-around by Turner Stevenson.
"It's safe to say you can call that Eschey's period," Mark Recchi said. "They really came at us with everything. They were the better team in the second - no question. Eschey was huge for us. ...
"He's a competitive guy, and we trust him, just as the Devils trust Marty. The only thing is, Eschey is inexperienced. But he's a very competitive guy."
It is his calm that is most reassuring. The Devils have not rattled Esche, and his composure is a refreshing change from the combustible Cechmanek, who always teetered on the edge of a Chernobyl moment.
"They scored four goals the last time, but I wasn't worried about it," Esche said. "There were a couple of broken plays that ended up in the net."
Those same plays didn't last night. Three times, the Flyers carelessly handed scoring chances to the Devils, Gagne, Mattias Timander and Donald Brashear turning the puck over, and once, twice, thrice, Esche turned the Devils back - first Jiri Bicek, then Stevenson, then Bicek twice more.
There's so much history between these teams, so much karma that seems to go the Devils way, and you can't help but remember the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals, when a 3-1 Flyers lead in the series meant nothing. But this feels different. No, the Devils aren't dead yet, but Esche has to have you believing they're close.
"We're not really concerned about [2000]," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We have a chance to beat the defending Stanley Cup champions."
Finally, they do. Finally, because of their goaltender, the Flyers can see their way into the second round, past the Devils, over the biggest hurdle of their recent history. Martin Brodeur didn't need three goals last night. He needed four. And he wasn't getting them. Not from Robert Esche. There was no way he was getting even one.
