Dowd in the thick of NHL playoffs

Jim Dowd, a Brick Township native, is not thinking about possibly ending his 19-year NHL career with the Philadelphia Flyers, where he has scored five goals and had five assists in 73 games played this season coming into this week's action.

Instead, the 39-year-old veteran is concentrating on playing on another Stanley Cup championship teamas a defensive center and penalty killer.

"I'm not thinking about that now. I'mjust worried about today and the playoffs," said Dowd. "Things are great and I couldn't be happier. It's a great group of guys and a pretty interesting season.

That's for sure when looking at the stark contrast of their first two games in the playoffs. The Flyers on Sunday evened their opening round playoff serieswith theWashington Capitals, 2-0, after losing the opener, 5-4, when NHL scoring leader Alex Ovechkin scored the winning goal with five minutes left.

"The thing is we played three full periods this time," saidDowd afterward. "In the first game, we played two periods and then stopped and they took it to us. We got off to a great start and kept it going."

Dowd said the team did nothing different except to be a little more aware of Ovechkin, who had 65 goals and 45 assists in his third NHL season.

"He carried the teamon his back into the playoffs and in that first game and we wanted to make sure this time he didn't have the space," said Dowd.

Keeping up the intensity is vital, said Dowd.

"The key for the playoffs is that we can't let up at all for one shift. We're not that type of team," said Dowd, apparently thinking about how the team has allowed almost as many goals (259) as it scored a(267) during the regular season. "We have to get to pucks deep and cut down on turnovers."

And also, cut down on penalties that haunted the Flyers, especially in the late stages of the regular season.

"Penalties are always a big thing," said Dowd. "You battle through it. Special teams are huge."

And that's where Dowd has come in. His value in his career that spans 728 games with 71 goals (seven game-winners) and 168 assists extends beyond the tangibles and statistics. It is his intensity and leadership and the savvy of his experience that the Flyers look to for help in getting through the tough times.

That includes nearly coming to blows with teammate R.J. Umberger during a practice in mid-March in which they were involved in a heavy collision behind the net and both got into each others' faces immediately after. Fights between teammates in the NHL are not uncommon and the Flyers' reaction was the hope this would be a necessary spark and show of emotion, as they were sorely lacking that passion in a stretch of losses at that time.

"The funny thing about it is that we had gotten together for dinner a week before that," said Dowd. "Things happen.We were going through a slump and you're not happy when you're losing."

The team, in fact, picked up its intensity and continued a late surge from struggling for a playoff spot to finishing in fifth place in the Eastern Conference.

"We went into the playoffs on a good note and we want to keep up our confidence. We can't lose that," Dowd said.

Dowd, who scored four goals in his second go-round with the Devils last season, including his first multi-goal game, wound up with the Flyers when he announced after a second-round playoff loss to the Ottawa Senators that General Manager Lou Lamoriello and the Devils were uninterested in offering him another one-year contract for the 2007- 2008 season. He then mentioned that he would attend the Philadelphia Flyers training camp to try and make the Flyers and was signed, scoring his first goal with the Flyers, ironically, against the Devils.

Dowd became the first New Jersey native to play for the New Jersey Devils when he made his NHL debut during the 1991-1992 season and also played on theDevils'Stanley Cup championship teamin the 1994-95 season. He notched the game-winning goalwith 1:24 left that gave the Devils a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup finals that the Devils went on to sweep against the Detroit Red Wings that season.

It's a long road but Dowd is playing hard for that opportunity for another Stanley Cup.

"The weather starts getting nice and that's when you know it's playoff time," said Dowd. "It's just a great time of the year."

And when the season is over, he'll begin making plans for the Shoot for the Stars Foundation that stages a Monmouth vs. Ocean high school All-Star hockey game at Ocean Ice Palace for a needy cause. He is looking for a mid-July time for this year's 11th annual game.

Dowd currently resides in Point Pleasant Beach.