Newark -- While I was riding home on New Jersey transit last night I couldn’t help notice how empty the train was. Why? Because a good number of Devils fans took the earlier train home. Their fans bailed out on their team with just over five minutes to go while their team trailed 3-0 in the game, down 3-1 in the series.

I was thankful since the only passengers that were out of control this week were Devils fans. Philadelphia fans can sometimes get a bad rap nationwide, and sometimes it’s earned, but you can’t paint an entire city with a broad brush. Flyers fans were there to watch their team clinch and they were pretty well mannered.

The Flyers won this series because they blocked shots, they did the little things, they wanted it more and they played Peter Laviolette’s system to perfection including goaltender Brian Boucher who stopped all 28 shots.

“Without guys paying the price like that (Carter out with foot, Gagne toe, Laperriere face, Betts bruised hand) it's the ultimate sacrifice they can make for their team is blocking shots. It's the only reason we are moving on to the second round," Boucher stated. "I hope Lappy is ok, the guy is an absolute warrior. He takes so much pride in killing penalties and blocking shots. Without him we wouldn't be going to the second round, same with a guy like Blair Betts, Without these guys we'd be dead right now.”

Ian Laperriere will start to wear a visor and that’s a good thing since he almost lost vision in his eye when he blocked a shot in this game. He has paid the price all season long.

Ilya Kovalchuk is a great player. It’s too early in his career to say that he’s not a winner. To blame this entire playoff debacle on him is wrong and it’s not fair. Where was the captain Jamie Langenbrunner? He was taking bad penalties in his own end while on the power play. Where was Paul Martin (no points and very little offensive push from the blueline)? Where was Rob Niedermayer (no points and a -1). You get the idea. Wait, where was Jay Pandolfo? He was a scratch every night. Once upon a time he as a great shutdown forward.

When the season began I wondered if Jacques Lemaire had the horses to run his “system” and the Devils proved me wrong in the regular season but they proved me right in the playoffs.

With Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne on the shelf Claude Giroux got more playing time and he shined once again. His first point helped Danny Briere score on a nice backhand in the first period and that goal made the home crowd gasp. The youngster made a slick turnaround pass that made the play.

“The thing I liked about it is we didn’t sit back. It would have been easy for us to go on the ice and let them dictate and see what happened. We didn’t do that and we attacked them right away. We got that first goal,” said Briere.

Giroux's first goal came at 11:48 of the second period when he blasted the puck up high under the crossbar while Marin Brodeur (stopped 18 shots) was down in the splits! After a video replay that was ruled a goal. After that goal stuck the crowd sunk deeper into their seats and chants of the visitor goalie “Boosh” could be heard. That was the beginning of the end for the Devils.

Shortly after the goal the Devils took a high-sticking penalty that gave the Flyers a four-minute power play.

Just like that the Flyers went up 3-0 when Giroux got his second goal of the game sitting all alone in the slot. That was the way the Devils were playing. They couldn’t score on the power play and they took dumb penalties.

“We obviously wanted to finish this tonight and not give them a chance to come back in the series,” Giroux said with a smile.

The Devils were frustrated and when Langenbrunner was being asked about their performance after the game he was a bit short.

“It’s not good…Three years in a row, being a higher seed, it’s not good,” he said, and then he had his own comeback.

“You’re asking a lot of questions that are pretty obvious answers.”

The Flyers were the first team to advance and now they can wait until next Thursday at the earliest to see who their next opponent is.