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The Devils–Flyers rivalry is a rivalry between two teams in the NHL's Metropolitan Division. This rivalry has become quite intense in New Jersey itself, sometimes referred to as the "Battle of the Jersey Turnpike", with the northern part of the state being the Devils fanbase, while the southern part of the state is overwhelmingly Flyers fans due to South Jersey's close proximity to Philadelphia. The Flyers practice in Voorhees Township, New Jersey, and since their Stanley Cup days of and , many members of the Cup teams (as well as other Flyers alumni) have lived in South Jersey. From the time the conferences were realigned and renamed prior to the season up until the next realignment at the end of the season, the two teams won the two highest numbers of division titles, the Devils 9, the Flyers 6. Together, the two teams' 15 division championships account for almost all of the 19 titles from the original Atlantic Division . ==Early history== The first meeting between the two franchises was in the 1977–78 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and had no geographic significance. The Devils were then known as the Colorado Rockies. The Flyers took the best-of-three Preliminary Round series 2-0. It was the only playoff series the team would play in during their six seasons in Denver, and the only one they would play in during their first 13 seasons of play, until 1987–88. Although these two teams faced each other on a regular basis since the Devils' relocation from Denver in 1982, the rivalry between the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils took off with their first playoff meeting in the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season, when the Devils eliminated the Flyers in six games in the 1995 Eastern Conference Finals en route to winning the Stanley Cup. The turning point of the series came in Game 5, when Claude Lemieux scored from 65 feet out, sending a wobbly puck past Flyers goalie Ron Hextall, with 44 seconds left in regulation of a tie game. The series was considered an upset, as the Devils were the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, while the Flyers had made a dramatic improvement to end their five-year playoff drought by winning the division and the 2nd seed in the East,〔 and were led by eventual Hart Memorial Trophy winner, captain Eric Lindros. Lindros and Devils captain Scott Stevens were afterwards known for their on-ice feuds.〔 During the regular season, the Devils were leading in both the Eastern Conference and the Atlantic Division, but their 10-game slump near the end of the season resulted the Flyers overtaking them for both the division title and the #1 seed in the East. They would meet once again in the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals; this time, the Flyers blew a 3-1 series lead over the Devils, including losing 3 of the 4 games played in Philadelphia. Game 7 of this series was the final game for Eric Lindros as a Flyer, suffering a concussion at the hands of Stevens, whose controversial hit was viewed by some as the key moment of the Devils' playoff run. The Devils would go on to win the Cup by beating the defending champion Dallas Stars in 6 games. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Devils–Flyers rivalry」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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