Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils made their long awaited return to the Eastern Conference finals after brushing Philadelphia aside 3-1 on Tuesday to complete their second-round series victory.
Smothering the Flyers' dangerous offense as they did for the entire series, the Devils captured the best-of-seven series 4-1 and reached their first East final since 2003.
Brodeur, who helped guide New Jersey to their last Stanley Cup in 2003, made 27 saves as the Devils resembled their glory days at the start of this century when they reached three Stanley Cup finals in four years.
The Flyers were held to just 11 goals over the five games.
Philadelphia, without leading scorer Claude Giroux who was serving a one-game suspension for an illegal check, opened the scoring in the first period through Maxime Talbot but Bryce Salvador and David Clarkson responded to give New Jersey a 2-1 lead midway through the period.
Ilya Kovalchuk then added a third-period goal from a slap shot to seal the scoring and set up an Eastern Conference showdown against the winner of the series between the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals.
