Dowd trying to propel Flyers to Stanley Cup
Brick native is in his 17th NHL season
BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI Staff Writer
Ayear ago, the Philadelphia Flyers languished in last place in theNHLEastern Conference and JimDowdwas playing on his second goround with the New Jersey Devils.

But these days the Flyers have staged their biggest turnaround in the league this season, reaching the Eastern finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Dowd has a part in it. The 39-year-old penaltykilling center playing in his 17th season is looking for another Stanley Cup championship- the other for himcamewith theDevils in the 1993-94 season - and help the Flyers end a 30-year dry spell for the coveted titlewith his leadership and experience of playing on 10 different teams in his career.

"It's great," said Dowd. "Everyone knows what happened last year, that this teamwas in last place in the Eastern Conference and this team made somemoves in the offseason, getting guys like [center Danny] Briere and [defenseman] Kimmo Timonen, and signing young guyswith experience helps. Getting [defenseman] Jason Smith was huge."

"Being this far in the playoffs is a great feeling," said Dowd. "The whole year we had our ups and downs, losing 11 in a row at one time [in March] and then going 7-1-1 to finish the season and going into the playoffs on a high note."

The Flyers, who grabbed one of the final playoff spots at the end of the regular season, advanced to the Eastern finals in an exciting series with Montreal that they won in six games, with Dowd scoring a goal early in a loss. It was his ninth playoff goal, the 71st of his 730-game career. He also has two assists thus far in the playoffs, giving him 17 for the postseason, 168 for his career. The series pace picked up considerably in the closing games againstMontreal.

"They're a good skating team, and we are too," said Dowd. The Flyers clinched that series inMontreal, a very tough place to play, as is Pittsburgh.

The Flyers have a solid goaltender in Martin Biron,who had five shutouts and 2.59 goals allowed per game during the regular season. Biron had a .918 save percentage and was one of the catalysts who carried the team through the first two rounds of the playoffs.

But the Flyers find they're pressed coming into this week as they return to Philadelphia down 2-0 in the series after Pittsburghwon both games by 4- 2 scores, the latter one on Sunday night to stretch their home winning streak to 14. They had won their last seven playoff games at home.

What makes it even tougher for the Flyers is playingwithout Timonen,who is outwith a painful blood clot on his ankle, and then playingmost of the game on Sunday without defenseman Braydon Coburn, struck in the face by a puck two minutes into the game that opened a gash and required stitches. It left the Flyerswith five defensemen, and Pittsburgh scored two of its goals on power plays. Coburn should be back for the rest of the series, but Timonen's absence puts more strain on Dowd and the penalty-killers.

"We have to stay away frompenalties and keep the puck moving," said Dowd, since the Flyers flourish in a fast-paced game. The next two games in Philadelphia this week are on Tuesday and Thursday, and if the Flyers bounce back, they head back to Pittsburgh on Sunday for Game 5 in their bid for a showdown in the finals against the Dallas Stars-Detroit RedWings winner.