Cory Schneider gets game’s first star in 2-1 win over Caps

In sports you always want to head into big games playing well.  While the Devils’ 2-1 win last night over an Alex Ovechkin-less Caps team wasn’t artistic by any stretch, it did put a bow on the Devils’ recent 5-1-2 surge heading into tomorrow afternoon’s matinee at Yankee Stadium against the Rangers.  Whether it was looking ahead to the Sunday game, looking past a Caps team without its marquee player, or just a general letdown after their seven-goal outburst on Tuesday, the Devils were certainly sloppy and unopportunistic at times.  However, goaltending proved to be the difference as Cory Schneider was a rock in net, making 31 saves and only allowing Jason Chimera‘s third-period deflection to get past him – while at the other end Michael Neuvirth allowed Stephen Gionta‘s slapshot to squirt through him at 4:57 in the first period. Neuvirth settled in after that, but that one bad goal ultimately proved decisive in a matchup between two of the East’s ten bubble teams currently bunched within seven points of each other for the final five playoff spots.

In fairness to Neuvirth, coach Adam Oates hasn’t settled on one goalie for most of the season, using minor league callup Phillip Grubauer as his number one for a solid month while Braden Holtby struggled and Neuvirth was hurt earlier in the season.  Ironically it seems while the Caps’ goaltending is getting more unsettled, the Devils’ is becoming more stabilized with Schnieder continuing his recent roll during an eight-game stretch with a GAA of 1.09 and a save percentage of .961.  Coach Pete DeBoer admitted a certain level of conflict over who gets tomorrow’s key start.  Most signs still point to Martin Brodeur getting the game for what he’s meant to the Devils over the last two decades but from a purely unsentimental perspective you could understand if DeBoer chooses to go the other way considering the Devils are still on the outside looking in of the bubble at the moment.  A regulation win tomorrow would put them above the Rangers on percentage points though (since the Devils have played a game less but would have the same number of points), so clearly this game’s much bigger even than two rivals playing an outdoor game in front of the country on NBC.  For his part, Schnieder understands the dilemma:

It’s a special game and Marty has been a big part of this franchise. He’s gotten a lot of wins for us this year. Whether he (DeBoer) picks him or me, I don’t think it changes the way we feel about it. We both trust each other and respect the way we’re playing. If he chooses me, it’s great, but this is a game that would probably mean a lot to Marty, having never played an outdoor game in his career.

As much as I want to see Cory continue to get a chance to take the puck and run with it for the rest of the season, I still wouldn’t want to see anyone other than Marty lead the team out tomorrow.  I’d understand it if DeBoer took the purely macro point of view that we need the game so play Cory while he’s hot, but sometimes there are reasons for exceptions.  While it’s not the biggest regular season game the Devils have ever played from a purely hockey-related perspective (that honor will probably always go to John MacLean‘s OT winner in 1988 that put the Devils in the playoffs for the first time), it most certainly is going to be the regular season game that gets the most attention.  And while the Rangers will have played three outdoor games as a franchise by the end of next week, this will probably be the Devils’ only chance at an outdoor game for a long time.  Or at least I’ve been telling myself that to prod myself into going tomorrow, despite the forecasts that seem to be getting colder by the day as Schnieder himself wryly observed in his on-ice interview last night after getting the game’s first star.

It’s probably not an accident that our lineup is also getting more stabilized during this stretch too with the joint returns from injury by Patrik Elias and Damien Brunner, though the Devils did finally send Reid Boucher down and promoted leading Albany scorer Joe Whitney to the parent club for the first time.  Whitney wasn’t really noticeable in his nine minutes, which isn’t a good thing when you’re trying to make an impression.  Well okay he was noticeable considering he makes the Giontas look tall, but that’s about it.  For better or worse our defensive core seems to have stabilized too with a resurgent Eric Gelinas re-claiming the sixth defense spot from Jon Merrill, now a healthy scratch the last two games.  Adam Larsson it appears is stuck in Albany until after the Olympic break and presumably after GM Lou Lamoriello can make a move to unclog the logjam of defensemen, soon to include a recovering Peter Harrold as well. Predicting what the Devils will do in terms of roster moves is usually an exercise in futility but probably when Harrold is fully healthy, Merrill will be sent down to play over the break which would be the right thing for him and the team.  He didn’t look terribly out of place during his time but he certainly wasn’t a finished product either (the same could be said of Boucher up front).

Our special teams have certainly been much better then last year.  Restoring Gelinas to the lineup’s helped our power play maintain a top ten ranking though putting Brunner on the point has been an underrated move the last few games as well.  Brunner, as it turns out played the point a lot in Detroit and Switzerland so unlike most of our forwards, he’s comfortable there.  Yet it was the other power play unit who excelled early in the second period last night, creating our second goal at 1:45 with a nice tic-tac-toe play from Travis Zajac and Jaromir Jagr to Adam Henrique, a play that must have made former Devils assistant Oates wince, since after all we have returned to a read and react playmaking style similar to his own power play which he ran here for two seasons.  Despite some hairy moments – particularly in the second period where we allowed a two-on-none (no that’s not a misprint) and another breakaway, Schnieder stood tall only allowing Devil-killer Chimera’s goal in the third period which put the noose around our neck the rest of the night with a one-goal lead.  Fortunately the Caps couldn’t kick out the platform and we got a stay of execution in spite of a tense final minute where both teams used their timeouts but it was the Devils who prevailed despite Ryane Clowe hitting the post on an empty-net chance.

I don’t really want to look back on last night’s game anyway.  Now that it’s here I’m starting to look forward to tomorrow, especially since MSG’s broadcasting the outdoor practice at noon as an appetizer before tomorrow’s main course.  In fact I’m looking forward to the NHL’s three outdoor games over the next week as a whole though tonight’s Ducks-Kings showdown in Dodger Stadium will be more of a odd curiosity than anything else to see how they can keep the ice cold considering the 80 degree weather in LA.  Part of me wishes we could have THAT kind of outdoor game lol…but last night was just as cold as Sunday will supposedly be and I didn’t really feel cold walking to the car except for my face and my hands, the latter of which will be rectified by my winter gloves tomorrow, the former I’ll have to try and get out to buy a ski mask today assuming it doesn’t snow too bad later.

You hope from a purely TV perspective the game tomorrow gets some of the viewership the NFL would normally get on Sundays considering this is the only weekend since September there isn’t any real football to watch, though it’s having trouble selling out – part of the reason I’m sure we’re not getting another game – although this isn’t all the Devils’ fault despite calling it a sellout prematurely and holding back too many tickets to the winter game trying to entice people to buy season seats (in the meantime people who wanted to go just jumped the gun and bought on the secondary market and now there’s nobody making plans to go at this late date), or Devil fans’ fault, since it’s not like our fanbase is anywhere near the Bronx anyway.  It normally takes me forty minutes to drive to and from Newark, it’ll take like two hours to get to and from Yankee Stadium via mass transit.  Plus Ranger fans get two of these games in a week and already had their Winter Classic in Philly a couple years ago as well, so the demand isn’t there from their perspective either.

Clearly the NHL overdid it this year trying to keep all the local teams happy, though personally it probably would have been cool to have this initial game at Yankee Stadium followed by Rangers/Isles at Citi Field, since there’s no way the Wednesday night game’s coming anywhere close to a sellout in the 50000+ seat cathedral anyway plus at least you’re tapping into the Isles’ fanbase more in Queens.  At least from the other side of it, they were able to give an outdoor game to a lot of teams that probably wouldn’t get it under ‘normal’ circumstances, although curiously Minnesota’s still waiting for its outdoor classic.

What makes tomorrow more fun besides the rivalry itself is the meaning it has for both teams.  A month and a half ago it looked as if this might be a Knicks-Nets type matchup of two bad teams who probably aren’t going to make the playoffs but at least the local hockey teams have all surged since then, making the outdoor games themselves more meaningful.  Really, that’s what these games are about in the end when you take away the freezing cold, the novelty (though it’ll be nice) and attention, in the end what matters most is it’s a big four-point game that could swing the playoff race.  Either fanbase could well look back on tomorrow’s game as the one that kept its team out of the playoffs – though Devil fans will probably look back more on the 0-8 shootout record, but I digress.  With the Rangers having lost two in a row and the Devils facing a tough three-game in four night midwest/south trip, the two points are imperative.  Especially if you can keep the other team from gaining one, making it a four-point swing instead of a two-point swing.