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Bryzgalov shuts out Devils, ties Flyers record

After being serenaded with "Bryz, Bryz, Byz" chants in the final minute, revived goalie Ilya Bryzgalov equaled a franchise record with his third consecutive shutout Tuesday night as the Flyers defeated the New Jersey Devils, 3-0, at the sold-out Wells Fargo Center.

Ilya Bryzgalov recorded his third consecutive shutout on Tuesday night against the Devils. (Ron Cortes/Staff Photographer)
Ilya Bryzgalov recorded his third consecutive shutout on Tuesday night against the Devils. (Ron Cortes/Staff Photographer)Read more

Ilya Bryzgalov tied a franchise record with his third straight shutout as the Flyers solidified their hold on fifth place in the Eastern Conference with a 3-0 victory over the Devils at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers are now two points ahead of New Jersey and two points behind the Penguins in the Eastern Conference standings. Pittsburgh visits the Flyers on Sunday.

Danny Briere also ended his 24-game streak without a goal, scoring an empty-net goal late in the third period.

Bryzgalov will carry an impressive shutout streak of 196 minutes, 13 seconds into Thursday's game on Long Island, just 31:28 away from John Vanbiesbrouck's club record. Vanbiesbrouck had been the only goaltender in Flyers history to pitch three consecutive shutouts, having done it twice in 1999.

After the game, he was Bryzness as usual - as has been his modus operandi recently - refusing to talk about himself.

"We played an unbelievable game," Bryzgalov said. "They are a very good skating team. We were very physical. We were hungry around the net. We were blocking the shots. Just watching the game, how the guys played, they enjoyed the game."

It was Bryzgalov's fifth shutout of the season and his fourth in his last five starts.

The Flyers held New Jersey to 17 shots, one off their best defensive performance of this year.

Coach Peter Laviolette called it "one of our most complete games of the season."

On Briere's goal, which ended 66 days of frustration, he broke out of the Flyers zone and could tell from the reaction by the 19,724 fans that something was happening.

Martin Brodeur had just skated to the New Jersey bench, an aggressive pull by coach Peter DeBoer with a shade over five minutes remaining, to give the Devils a man advantage.

Crossing the blue line, Briere handled a selfless Jakub Voracek pass and got jittery. He had a chance to end his 24-game scoring drought with an empty net in front of him, but he shot it into the shin pads of Devils defenseman Marek Zidlicky.

Somehow, the puck landed back on Briere's stick, and $6.5 million players don't miss two empty nets.

Briere and Sean Couturier both snapped goalless streaks dating back to January.

Briere had last scored when he netted a hat trick against Ottawa on Jan. 7. Couturier's goal was his first non-empty netter since Jan. 17. Tuesday night also marked the first time since March 1 - a span of six games - that the Devils allowed more than one goal.

"I knew both of us were in a little bit of a funk, but I didn't know how long it was for him," Briere said. "It's going to be a big relief in the household. Hopefully now I can relax a bit and score a few more goals. It's been frustrating lately."

Briere, who chalked up his performance to a lengthy chat with Laviolette after a team meeting.

"I have to give him a lot of credit for the way he made me feel coming into tonight's game," Briere said. "Peter and me had a pretty good talk. It gave me a lot of confidence. He told me to stay with it, that good things would happen."

Laviolette said he would "rather not" go into detail about his conversation with Briere, but said his confidence in one of his top playoff performers never wavered.

Now, if Briere can get on a roll, his reemergence could be the equivalent of acquiring another lethal threat for the league's top offense.