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Ageless Brodeur Still a Threat |
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Marty Brodeur will turn 40 in this playoff series against the Flyers.
Yet to see him perform in Game 7 against Florida, you'd have to admit, he certainly doesn't look like a 40-year-old or a guy who is washed up.
Last we checked, Brodeur and Jaromir Jagr are the only two active players in the NHL from the 1990 draft. Ex-Flyer Petr Nedved is still active in the Czech league. Tough guy Chris Simon is playing in the KHL. Paul DiPietro remains active in the Swiss league.
"It's going to be special, that's for sure," Jagr said. "He's going to turn 40 and I'm already 40."
“He’s a good goaltender,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “You look at his numbers in the series right now, he’s a good goalie.
"He’s been a good goalie his whole career. You’ve got to give the guy a tremendous amount of credit. He’s one of the greats of the game, so we’ve got our work cut out for us. It’s going to be difficult generating offense.”
For so many year, Brodeur tortured the Flyers. Several of his personal milestones as a goalie were actually set in games against the Flyers which is not unusual considering how many times they met over the years as division rivals.
The Devils' comeback from a 3-1 deficit to the Flyers in the 2000 Eastern Conference finals stands out as a personal achievement as they won the Stanley Cup that season.
Weird thing is, this spring has a strange fee to it as if anyone team - even New Jersey _ can win the Cup if they get a break here and there. The top=heavy, scoring machine known as the Penguins are out. So are Detroit and Vancouver.
LA continues to surprise and who would think that Phoenix would stun Nashville right off the puck drop. Any teams can win the Cup this year and that is usually when Brodeur is at his best.
In recent years, the Flyers seemed to have solved Brodeur. That remains to be seen in this series and alot depends on how well Ilya Bryzgalov performs for the Flyers at the other end.
Danny Briere almost idolizes Brodeur when he speaks about him.
“Probably if not the best goalie that's ever played, in my mind, him and Patrick Roy are right up there,” Briere said.
“Everything he's done, all the records he's broken, it's pretty impressive. At the same time, we're there to move on. We can't stop with them.”
Make no mistake, the Devils will present a different yet still difficult challenge to the FLyers in this series.
"They’re a great team," Max Talbot said. "They finished a couple points behind us. Everybody forgot about that. They had a great season, a really solid season every day.
"They have an elite goaltender for sure in Marty. He still got his experience as one of the best goalies in the league. They play a team game. They might not be as flashy as the Penguins, but they are dangerous all through the lineup."
As the Flyers already know.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger • 
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