Devils 4, Flyers 1


PHILADELPHIA -- The New Jersey Devils kept pushing and pushing -- and finally cracked Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov.

David Clarkson scored off the rebound of a Zach Parise shot at 11:17 of the third period to snap a 1-1 tie and New Jersey took advantage of Philadelphia's nonexistent offense to even the teams' Eastern Conference Semifinal series with a 3-1 win in Game 2 at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night.

The series shifts up the New Jersey Turnpike for Games 3 and 4 at Prudential Center Thursday and Sunday.

Adam Larsson, Travis Zajac and Bryce Salvador also scored for the Devils, who scored four goals in a period for the first time ever in the playoffs. Goalie Martin Brodeur stopped 19 of 20 shots as New Jersey played perhaps its best game of the playoffs despite the absence of star forward Ilya Kovalchuk, who sat with a lower-body injury.

Matt Read scored the Flyers' lone goal.

Bryzgalov played a strong game, making 31 saves, but got no support from an offense that entered averaging a League-best 4.86 goals per game in the playoffs.

The game turned when the Flyers, under pressure from a heavy New Jersey forecheck, couldn't clear the puck. Sean Couturier had the best crack at it but fanned on his attempt. Zach Parise pounced on the puck and fired a shot from the high slot that Bryzgalov stopped, but Clarkson drove to the net to bang in the rebound for his first of the playoffs.

The Flyers took a 1-0 lead just 2:53 into the game on Read's third goal of the playoffs. He took a nice backhand feed from Brayden Schenn and cut through the slot, pulling Brodeur out of position. Read's initial shot hit the bottom of the outside of the net, but the puck went to Schenn behind the net. He found Read in the bottom of the right circle, and the rookie fired a shot from a sharp angle that went past Brodeur's glove.

Bryzgalov made the lead stand up with a strong first period. He stopped all 13 shots the Devils fired at him, making four stops during a pair of Devils power plays and another on a quick turnaround shot by Ryan Carter from the left circle off a turnover.

Bryzgalov had to be just as strong in the second period, as the Flyers managed just two shots on goal. Despite starting the second with a power play, they didn't get their first shot until 1:27 remained in the period. Meanwhile, the Devils put 12 shots on Bryzgalov, including two on a power play midway through the period.

It was similar to the first period of Game 1, when Philadelphia went 10:01 into the period before getting its first shot. At that point, the Devils had 11 shots and a 1-0 lead, but Bryzgalov was responsible for keeping it a one-goal game.

Just like the first game, Bryzgalov was strong in the second when the Flyers needed him. He stopped rookie Adam Henrique from the slot with 11:45 left in the period, and then a minute later slammed the door on Dainius Zubrus from right in front. With the team a man down, he slid across nicely to stop a shot from left circle by Peter Harrold.

The Devils finally broke through on Larsson's goal 3:08 into the third period. The rookie defenseman, playing his first game since the regular-season finale, took a pass from Zubrus and snapped a wrist shot from near the right faceoff dot that went over Bryzgalov's glove.

The goal was the first for Larsson, the fourth pick of the 2011 Entry Draft, since Nov. 26.

Zajac's fifth of the playoffs provided insurance on a night when the Flyers barely could get the puck out of their end. After two cracks from the left post didn't work, he circled behind the net and tucked the puck inside the right post with 4:59 remaining.

Salvador closed the scoring with an empty-net goal. The Flyers pulled Bryzgalov for an extra attacker after a penalty on Zubrus, but on the ensuing power play, Claude Giroux's pass through the Devils' zone was tipped. Salvador jumped on the loose puck and flipped it the length of the ice for his first goal since March 10, 2010 -- he played all 82 games this season without putting the puck in the net.

Contact Adam Kimelman at akimelman@nhl.com. Follow him on  Twitter: @NHLAdamK