On Sunday, May 6th, the New Jersey Devils hosted the Philadelphia Flyers in game 4 of the NHL playoffs Eastern Conference semifinals. The Flyers entered the game in hopes of evening the series. Philadelphia forward left winger Scott Hartnell opened the scoring with a power play goal at the 11:50 mark of the first period. Star forward Claude Giroux padded the lead with a backhand shorthanded goal just minute and 50 seconds later. The Devils began their comeback at the 15:14 mark with a power play goal by right winger Petr Sýkora. Defenseman Marek Zidlicky tied the game for the Devils with just a minute and 51 seconds left in the first period.
At the 17:47 mark in the second period, Devils forward Dainius Zubrus scored what would turn out to be the game winning goal. At the 19:56 mark in the second, Giroux was given a 2 minute minor penalty for an illegal check to the head of Zubrus.
Down by a goal near the end of the third period, the Flyers pulled their goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to allow six skaters in an effort to tie the game and force overtime. Instead, Zubrus scored an empty net goal for the Devils to add insurance to their lead at the 19:15 mark.
The Devils outshot the Flyers 16-7 in the first period and 16-5 in the second. Bryzgalov made a total of 39 saves on 42 shots on goal in the loss. New Jersey goaltender Marty Brodeur celebrated his 40th birthday with a win making 20 saves on 22 shots. The Devils won the game by a total of 4-2 and now lead the best of seven series three games to one. New Jersey will look to end this series with a win and handshakes on Tuesday in Philadelphia. The Flyers host game 5 at 7 PM Eastern Standard Time.
While the Flyers look to avoid elimination on Tuesday night, they will do so without their star forward and alternate captain, Giroux. He has been suspended one game for his illegal check to the head of Zubrus at the end of the second period in game 4.
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