Game 78 and Hell Week Game 4: Flyers at Devils

Philadelphia Flyers: 39-28-10, 88 points
New Jersey Devils: 42-27-7, 91 points

Martin Biron v. Martin Brodeur

The Flyers have won their last four games, and they look to continue their hot streak against divisional opponents tonight against the Devils. After last night's almost disastrous scoreboard watching, here's where they stand. The Flyers are tied in points for the 7th seed with Boston, but they've had a lot of success against us this year, so they hold the tiebreaker. These two teams are three points behind New Jersey and New York, tied for the 5th-6th spots. Those two are one point behind Ottawa, who has played one more game than everyone else. At 86 points, Washington is still on everyone's tail.

Martin Biron will get a somewhat surprising start tonight. I know Stevens said it's likely he plays every game, but the Flyers are playing back to back, and if he was going to rest Biron, now would be the time considering how well he plays against the Islanders.

It's time to end the funk in and against New Jersey in general. The Flyers are 1-5-0 against them this year, and they haven't even been close games. For whatever reason, besides the year Philadelphia went to the Eastern Conference Finals, they just cannot beat the Devils. This goes back for years. No matter the players, captains, coaches, arenas, whatever, they just can't beat them. The only constant is Martin Brodeur.

Randy Jones says he'll be back tonight, and that'll help the defense. It would be great if Stevens would take Modry out of the lineup, but it's likely going to be Lasse Kukkonen, again. Kukkonen has been pretty good since the awful game against Pittsburgh, and against the Rangers, he showed toughness around the net and was hitting aggressively. Modry has been brutal since the trade, and there's absolutely no reason he should be in the lineup.

Here's Bill Meltzer, and apparently Ryan Parent is out of the lineup. Whatever.