Phil Sheridan: Playoff contrasts: Kovalchuk and Gagne

Ilya Kovalchuk is frustrated. That is one of the story lines to emerge after three playoff games between the Flyers and the New Jersey Devils.

A scorer by trade, Kovalchuk's frustration has led to ill-advised penalties and a chat with Devils coach Jacques Lemaire. Watch him for a shift and Kovalchuk seems to be playing a different game from teammates used to the discipline of Lemaire's system.

Simon Gagne is frustrated. The Flyers winger has had some terrific scoring opportunities in the first three games. He has been robbed on a couple of occasions by Devils goalie Martin Brodeur. Sunday night, Gagne fired a tracer that Brodeur had no chance to stop. It hit near the meeting point of the post and crossbar.

A scorer by trade, Gagne has channeled his frustration into determined forechecking and sound special teams work. Watch him for a shift, and Gagne could be easily be mistaken for Blair Betts or Ian Laperriere, one of the gritty checking forwards.

If the Flyers do go on to win this series, which they lead two games to one, this will be one of the underrated reasons. Their skill players contribute even when their shots aren't going in, even when the tighter playoff style deprives them of space to operate.

"It's playoff hockey," Gagne said after practice Monday in Voorhees. "You try to do everything. I'm not a physical guy, usually. I'm using my body a little bit more right now. I'm trying to finish my checks. That happened with the first goal on our line, when Richie scored."

Early in the second period of Game 3, Gagne went behind the Devils' net. He met Mark Fraser, the Devils' 6-foot-2, 220-pound defenseman. Gagne checked Fraser, leaving the puck free for Dan Carcillo.

"The guy was off balance," Gagne said. " 'Carbomb' took the puck and made a nice pass to Richie in front of the net. Those types of things, you don't usually see during the season. But it's playoff hockey. You're ready to sacrifice yourself a little bit more. You're ready to do whatever it takes."

Carcillo, of course, wound up scoring the overtime goal that put the Flyers in control of this series. Whenever a guy better known for his fists than for his hands scores a big goal, it draws attention. But it is just as important when skill guys like Gagne, Daniel Briere, and Jeff Carter are willing and able to grind it out when the shots aren't going in.

"Jeff Carter had 10 attempts at the net [Sunday]," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. "[Gagne] had eight, Danny Briere had eight. Gags hit the post. Jeff could have won it in overtime. Those guys are getting opportunities. It's just a matter of time. For me, their game is dialed in. I like the things that they're doing on the ice. I think you trust the process, the way they're playing the game. All three of those guys played a really good game, and I think they'll be rewarded eventually."

Brodeur turned in a vintage performance in Game 3. The Flyers have had success against him all season, but that doesn't mean it's going to get any easier.

"It's going to be hard to score on him," Gagne said. "He's a good goaltender. We have to keep shooting the puck at him. At one point, I'm sure, we'll see one go in."

If the Flyers can get through this round, chances are they would face Washington in the conference semifinal. That would mean Alex Ovechkin, one of the best players in the world. But it would also mean a team that has been taken to overtime twice by eighth-seeded Montreal and that has changed goalies already in this postseason. In other words, if the Flyers can extend their season, they're likely to face a more freewheeling, high-scoring style of hockey.

That's the sort of looking ahead that is more acceptable in the newspaper than in the locker room. As Laviolette said, the Flyers have "a lot more work to do" in order to finish off the Devils. Game 4, set for Tuesday night at the Wachovia Center, figures to be the Devils' make-or-break game. They will throw everything they have at the Flyers in order to avoid the brink of elimination.

"If we come out with anything less than [Sunday], they're going to burn us," Laperriere said.

Right now, the Flyers feel as if their pre-Olympic break hot streak was the true indicator of what kind of team they are. They believe their late-season free fall was the aberration. If they keep playing this way, they'll be right.

It will help if their workers occasionally score. But the real key to beating the Devils and having a chance in the next round is that their scorers always, always work.