Devils use balance to rule Flyers

In their Eastern Conference semifinal victory over the Flyers, the New Jersey Devils prided themselves on having strength in numbers.

Despite the presence of proven scorers such as Ilya Kovalchuk, Patrik Elias, and Zach Parise, the Devils' strength has been the involvement of virtually everybody at the offensive end.

In their first seven playoff wins, seven Devils scored the winning goals.

Now that's balance.

The Devils ended the Flyers' season with Tuesday's 3-1 win at the Wells Fargo Center, winning the series four games to one.

"The fact that we had four lines, six defensemen, game-winning goals from seven or eight people, our team game is what has made us successful," Devils coach Peter DeBoer said.

In the clinching win, the Devils' first goal was scored by the most unlikely of players - defenseman Bryce Salvador.

After the Flyers' Max Talbot opened the scoring in the first period, Salvador got the equalizer a little more than two minutes later.

Playing in all 82 regular-season games this season, Salvador had a grand total of zero goals.

Tuesday's goal was his second of the playoffs. The first was an empty-netter in the Devils' 4-1 win in Game 2 against the Flyers.

This was a continuation of unlikely goal-scorers for the Devils in this series. In that Game 2 victory, New Jersey tied the score on a goal by 19-year-old defenseman Adam Larsson, who was playing his first postseason game.

New Jersey's second goal Tuesday came from a much more traditional scorer, but one who has had trouble finding the net in the postseason.

David Clarkson gave the Devils a 2-1 lead, although he received a huge assist from Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. In an attempt to clear the puck, Bryzgalov instead hit Clarkson's stick, and the puck deflected in.

Clarkson had a career-high 30 regular-season goals, but this was only his second in the Devils' 12 postseason games.

"You look around, all our lines and our defense is contributing every night, and you look at a kid like Adam Larsson who hadn't been playing and he did what he did," said Clarkson, who also scored the winning goal in Game 2. "And Marty [Brodeur] standing on his head all playoffs - it's been fun."

Of course, it hasn't been just the unheralded players who boosted the offense. Kovalchuk, despite missing Game 2 with a lower-body injury, had two goals and five assists in four games during this series with a goal and an assist in the clincher.

He extended the Devils' lead to 3-1 on a power-play slapshot in the third period. Kovalchuk also had an assist on Salvador's first-period goal.

"Our special teams were really good and our structure was really good," Kovalchuk said. "We didn't give them many chances in the last four games, and we have to continue to play this way."