Devils ready for Flyers' skill and strength

NEWARK, N.J. -- So which team holds the advantage?

The Philadelphia Flyers have been idle since beating the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the playoffs on April 22. The Devils won 3-2 in double overtime triumph at Florida in Game 7 in a game that extended into early Friday morning.

Would you rather be on the team coming off a week's rest or the one coming off an emotional one-game showdown for all the marbles?

"I guess we'll find out [at] 3:20 tomorrow afternoon," Devils coach Pete DeBoer said Saturday. "You hope they're a little stale and hope that we're game ready and refreshed enough to pick up where we left off in overtime in Florida … but I don't know those things."

Patrik Elias doesn't see and advantage one way or another.

"Every series is always a new beginning," Elias said after his team's practice in Newark on Saturday.

"If you had a couple of weeks or 10 days to rest, maybe that would help, but they had a physical six-game series [with Pittsburgh] … it's not like they swept a team," Elias continued. "It's always nice to get some time off and rest the body before a physical series."

Speaking of a physical series, do the Devils anticipate having to match the Flyers' physicality from the outset -- particularly at the Wells Fargo Center, where fans enjoy spirited, hard-hitting play?

"I don't think we'll have any problem matching them physically, but you just have to do it whistle to whistle," DeBoer said. "You can't get into the stuff away from the puck and away from the whistle. We know the game they want to play but you can't fall into that trap. Pittsburgh did and they're at home watching."

Elias admitted this is a different Philadelphia team than the Devils have faced in playoffs past.

"They like to play a physical style of hockey, but they're a lot more skilled then in the past," Elias said. "They have a great mix of players there. They have role players, physical guys and plenty of skill up front."

Devils captain Zach Parise agreed.

"They put up a lot of goals against Pittsburgh and we'll have to make sure we're sharper with the puck," Parise said. "I was looking at their lineup [Saturday] morning and they have a lot of depth, so we're going to need everyone to be on top of their game.

"I'm sure it'll be physical since that's the style of hockey they want to play and that's what they're good at, so we're expecting that and know it will come."

The Devils and Flyers split their six regular-season games, with the road team winning twice in each building. The teams have met in the playoffs four times, with the Flyers taking the last two confrontations via five-game, first-round knockouts in 2004 and '10.

Here were the line combinations on Saturday:

Ilya Kovalchuk - Travis Zajac - Alexei Ponikarovsky

Zach Parise - Patrik Elias - Dainius Zubrus

David Clarkson - Adam Henrique - Petr Sykora

Ryan Carter - Stephen Gionta - Steve Bernier

Andy Greene - Mark Fayne

Bryce Salvador - Marek Zidlicky

Anton Volchenkov - Peter Harrold/Adam Larsson

Martin Brodeur

Johan Hedberg

Follow Mike Morreale on Twitter at: @mike_morreale