Battle Of Hudson

Parise in his best moment as a Devil

It’s already been nearly two years since Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals, when one-time Devils captain Zach Parise scored the opening goal in a 2-1 Devils win.  In the twenty-one plus months since Parise’s last game in New Jersey, obviously a lot has happened – between the ‘dream team’ like hookup of Parise and boyhood friend Ryan Suter in Minnesota less than a month after the Finals, another lockout, the Devils’ other superstar winger Ilya Kovalchuk going home to Russia and swimming in rubles, and most likely two straight seasons of missing the playoffs. Make no mistake, if there was any chance of a muted reception towards Parise tonight given all the time that’s elapsed and the relatively non-combative departure of Parise, it’s pretty much evaporated given the Devils’ precarious position.  Five points behind Columbus (with them having a game in hand) and seven behind anyone else for a playoff spot, it seems as if this schedule was timed perfectly to push the Devils off the cliff in the most excruciating week possible, a week full of reunions and rivalries at the Rock.

Obviously on Tuesday one-time fired coach Claude Julien got the best of us yet again, with our PP-aided comeback win in Boston earlier this season and a meaningless Fan Appreciation Day game in 2011 being the only times we’ve beaten the Bruins since the 2009-10 season.  Thankfully I followed through on my promise to boycott the last two games…apparently the team themselves no-showed both as well.  Not only is Parise coming back tonight but Sunday’s game against the Leafs features the return of David Clarkson after he left as a FA last summer.  And oh yes, the Yankee Stadium rematch on Saturday with the final game of the season between the Devils and Rangers.  A home-dominated stretch that at one time looked to be a catapult for a fast finish now looks like the most tortorous way to be eliminated short of losing to the Rangers in the playoffs, or what happened against Carolina in 2009.

With the Devils’ impending elimination and the specter of two lost seasons as a backdrop, Parise comes back as a convenient target for the fans’ venom.  Especially since Kovalchuk won’t be coming back to an NHL rink anytime soon.  Not that Parise doesn’t deserve grief for stringing the Devils along, publicly crying about wanting a long-term extension for eighteen months then not signing one.  As well as the public admission that he and Suter were texting during the season discussing FA while Parise was in the midst of captaining the Devils to a playoff run.  At least he didn’t go to the Flyers or Penguins the way he could have in the summer of ’12 with the Flyers supposedly offering both him and Suter even more money than the Wild did, but apparently Suter didn’t want to come East according to none other than Devils GM Lou Lamoriello – who admitted after Parise left he explored bringing in the ex-Predator defenseman in FA as well.  And to his credit, Parise didn’t publicly throw former ownership under the bus for the money issues the Devils were having at the time.

For his part, Parise has seen Devil fan reactions to various FA departures like Scott Gomez and Paul Martin before, and he admitted he expects to be booed:

“I’m expecting it,” he said. “It’s fine. They’re passionate about their team and it’s understandable. I guess if they wouldn’t even care to acknowledge that I was back, that would be a little different…I’ve said it before: what’s important to me is how good I was treated when I was there.  I understand sports. Fans love their players and their teams and they don’t want to see players leave. But the part I’ll remember most is how good they were to me when I was there, and that’s what matters.”

While it’s true we have booed some guys, Devil fans aren’t entirely without feeling…others like Brian Gionta, John Madden and Brian Rafalski who left as FA’s got cheered every time they came back.  Even Jamie Langenbrunner got polite applause on being introduced in the lineup during his return despite a messy exit in 2010-11.  That said Parise’s going to be firmly in the Gomez/Martin camp as far as fan reaction.  Maybe his departure wasn’t as bloody as it could have been but it was still painful having your captain and a homegrown Devil leave town weeks after the team’s inspiring playoff run that came up just short of the ultimate prize in LA.  Although honestly I’m booing Parise at this point more because he’s a convenient outlet for our failed two seasons – which let’s be honest, was in large part caused by his departure.  Plus Daddy Dearest didn’t thrill me at the time either, as JP made all sorts of inflammatory public comments in the months leading up to Zach’s depature.  Of course you’re free to do what you want in FA…and conversely fans are also free to react how they’re going to react, especially when the player acts one way and then does an about-face when push comes to shove.  At least for all the deserved crap Gomez gets, he never made any bones about the fact he was going to free agency.   It wouldn’t shock me if Suter was booed too, by extension.

It’s true tonight isn’t the first game Parise will be playing against the Devils (a forgettable 4-0 loss up there in November was his first game against his former mates) but make no mistake about it, he won’t just be playing the Devils tonight…he’ll be playing the fans too, although he’ll do his best to block out the inevitable reception he gets.  And dressing within yards of the locker room he called home for years, although this time he’ll be wearing the number eleven dressed in white and green – with Wild captain Mikko Koivu wearing #9, ironically enough.  I’m not even getting into previewing the game itself, sadly tonight’s not about the game although yes it would be nice to stick it to Parise and his team a little bit, they are seven points up on a playoff spot after all while we’re five back of one.  So even playing spoiler is unlikely, win or lose with the Wild likely to make the playoffs for a second straight season since Parise and Suter got there.  If anything tonight’s just about avoiding embarassment in a two-season long stretch of embarassments.  I could easily picture a 3-1 game with Parise sealing it on an empty-netter late as boos rain from the sky.

I figure on the occasion of Petr Sykora announcing his retirement today I’d take a break from lamenting the current state of the team to look back at happier times.  While the Czech sniper who scored over 300 goals in the NHL seemed to be out of the league for good after not catching on with a team last season or this, he only officially announced his retirement from the game today.  Perhaps Sykora’s most impressive stat is the fact he went to six Stanley Cup Finals in his fifteen-year career, and did it with three different teams – us three times, the Penguins twice and with the Ducks once.

It doesn’t seem like it was nearly two decades since Sykora burst onto the scene in the ’95-96 season as a first-round pick (18th overall) and actually put up 42 points in 63 games that season.  However, he spent most of the following season getting further seasoning in Albany and only joined the Devils for good in the latter part of the ’97-98 season when both he and Czech-mate Patrik Elias became regulars in the Devil lineup.  Soon after that with the arrival of big centerman Jason Arnott from Edmonton, the threesome formed the A-line – one of the most successful and revered lines in Devil history.  On that line, Sykora had his three best seasons in terms of point total from 1999-2001 (getting 72, 68 and 81 points respectively) and also set a career high in goals with 35 in 2000-01.  With individual success came team success as the Devils won a division title in ’98-99, the Stanley Cup in ’99-00 and the Prince of Wales trophy in ’00-01.

Somewhat memorably, Sykora cut an inspirational figure in Game 6 of the 2000 Finals when Derian Hatcher knocked him out of the game with a first-period cheap shot.  Even though he wouldn’t be able to celebrate his first Stanley Cup on the ice with his teammates after Arnott’s OT winner, good buddy Elias made sure his presence wasn’t forgotten – bringing his jersey onto the ice and wearing it during the celebration (before coach Larry Robinson put it on himself).  In many ways, the following season was Sykora’s best in the league, with 35 goals, 81 points and a +36 in the regular season as both he and the A-line were in top form.  Although the Devils ultimately dissapointed in the Finals against the Avalanche, Sykora did all he could to try to secure a repeat with ten goals and twenty-two points in 25 playoff games – including the late, dramatic winner in Game 4 that briefly turned the series and is shown on the video above.

Of course things went downhill after that for both Sykora and the team in 2001-02, as he slumped to 48 points during a season where Arnott was traded, Robinson fired and Sykora himself contreversially sat out a crucial first-round game against the Hurricanes with a bruised foot in a series the Devils eventually went down to defeat in six games.  Clearly that stain was a factor in the big offseason trade that summer which sent Sykora to the Ducks for forward Jeff Friesen and defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky.  As if Hollywood was scripting it, next year’s Finals were the Cinderella Ducks going up against the Devils.  Sykora did not have a big playoffs that year as the Ducks eventually lost to the Devils in Game 7 (with ironically Friesen being one of the big heroes of the Devils’ run), but he did score arguably the most memorable goal of his career in Game 1 of the Ducks’ second round series with the top-seeded Stars, sending everyone mercifully home with a goal in the fifth OT of a marathon that eventually helped propel the Ducks past Dallas in six games.

Sykora played another season and a half in Anaheim sandwiched around the lockout of 2004-05, before moving onto the Rangers for the latter half of the ’05-06 season.  Ironically Sykora found himself against his former mates again in the playoffs, but despite some first-rate scoring chances he was held off the scoresheet in a four-game sweep by the Devils.  After a season in Edmonton, Sykora went to Pittsburgh for two seasons and had a final top-shelf offensive season in 2007-08 with 63 points though he’d have to wait one more season before finally winning the Cup again and getting to celebrate on the ice this time as the Penguins beat Detroit in a memorable Game 7 in Hockeytown.  It seemed as if Sykora’s NHL career was over after a forgettable 14-game stint in Minnesota during the 2009-10 season as the little Czech winger eventually went back home to play in the Czech league before a stint in the KHL.

However, Sykora eventually found a happy ending to his career where it all began – back in New Jersey as he parlayed a training camp invite into a roster spot, and for only the third time in his career managed to play all 82 regular season games (as well as 18 of the Devils’ 25 playoff games), putting up a very respectable 21 goals and 23 assists in a complementary role on a team that eventually would go all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals.  Although he wasn’t an every-game player during the playoff run, the shot never deserted him even at the end, as goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov could attest to after Sykora scored on one of his classic wristshots in Game 1 of the Devils’ second round series against the Flyers.  Perhaps the Devils could have used one more season from Sykora last year when they were busy running out the likes of Bobby Butler and Matt D’Agostini trying in vein to pump life into an offense that would finish 29th in the shortened season.  Alas, it wasn’t to be and Sykora quietly retired today after only playing a handful of games in Switzerland last season.

At least he was able to finish his career in style with us two years ago, recapturing some of the good times with Devil fans.  Sykora finished up with 323 goals, 398 assists and 721 points in 1017 regular-season games and 34-33-67 in 133 NHL playoff games, along with two Stanley Cup wins (’99-00 with us and ’08-09 with the Penguins).

I honestly have been sitting here for fifteen minutes wondering how to start this blog.  All I’ve had for that long a time was the title and theme of my post.  I’ve never actually heard this Bon Jovi song until tonight, but the lyrics sure do fit this Devils team don’t they?  We can cycle the goaltenders, change the forwards and bingo-ball the defensemen around.  In the end, no matter who’s in the lineup this team will continue to find ways to blow games and seasons.  Our main constant the last three years has been the coach – Pete DeBoer.  At this point I’m thinking of calling him Lead DeBlower (a moniker I saw on a message board, boy does that fit too).  In practically a must-win game against the lousy Florida Panthers, who have Brian Campbell and a bunch of nobodies left on their team after the latest liquidation deadline sale in Sunrise, this team flat out choked plain and simple.  With a 3-1 lead late in the second, yet again this team of losers could not get the job done AGAIN.  For all the leads we’ve blown in the last three seasons it’s been against DeBoer’s former team that we’ve been the most snakebit, blowing three-goal leads twice in 2012, as well as two-goal leads in the pivotal Games 6 and 7 of the playoffs before winning both in OT.  Last year’s double-disaster in Florida culminated with a blown lead in the final minute against the Panthers that short-circuited that season.  And now this disaster, which may have been the worst of all.

Not only could the Devils have blown a season tonight, but this game could have reprecussions even beyond this year as the golden boy Cory Schnieder continues to spit up the bit since the Olympics.  As well as he played before the break, he’s come a cropper when it mattered most allowing fifteen goals in his last three games, looking bad on a breakaway in the third period that tied the game and then allowing a clunker on goal number four.  Cory certainly hasn’t played well in any of the big showdowns with former teammate Roberto Luongo this season and I can no longer defend his record with a string of performances like tonight.  While Cory is always stand-up in defeat, at this point his admission that he needs to be better isn’t just talk.  He really does need to be better, though at this point he probably won’t get the chance now that Martin Brodeur‘s won back the job with four straight wins since the break – ironic after all the unneccesary drama surrounding him two weeks ago.

Not that this game was on Cory alone by any stretch.  Indeed even during the first period, this team was floating around with their head in the clouds as the Panthers peppered Schnieder with a dozen shots in the game’s first fifteen minutes before a good coaching move by DeBoer calling an early timeout, settling the game down.  For my ripping of DeBoer earlier, that did buy the Devils two periods as they eventually turned it up a notch and pounded home three goals past Luongo including captain Bryce Salvador scoring for the first time in the regular season since 2010, and ageless Jaromir Jagr scoring his 1000th professional goal (including the KHL, Czech League and playoffs).  Patrik Elias beat Luongo with a seeing-eye shot through a screen to make it 3-1 and with the Devils holding Florida without a shot for the majority of the period it seemed as if the game was safe.  I should know better but I had visions of the game against the Isles a couple weeks ago which was a dud early but turned into a runaway late.

Of course when faced with a chance at any real prosperity when the standings tighten up and there’s a shot to move up into a playoff position, this team finds a way to blow it up.  They’ve won three in a row exactly once all season, they blow leads at an alarming pace and make the most mind-boggling mistakes doing it.  It was actually the well-respected vet Elias who had a rookie mistake on his first turnover, a blind pass that set up the Panthers’ opening goal by Campbell.  It was the usually steady Jon Merrill that actually did have a rookie mistake on the Panthers’ second goal, backing off the ghost of a player once known as Scott Gomez to cover a guy who already was covered, allowing Gomez a free shot and pass off the rebound to the immortal Quinten Howden.  It was the normally reliable Jagr who shot a breakaway wide early in the third period that could have iced the game.  And it was the normally steady Mark Fayne whose turnover led to the game-tying breakaway goal by Brad Boyes.  Although even that goal looked bad from Schnieder’s perspective, he beat him clean without a T. J. Oshie type of deke.

I knew right then we were going to lose.  I would have been better off turning the TV off at that point, the way I wanted to do during our dumpster fire of a first period.  Being the glutton for punishment I am, I kept the game on though I wasn’t really watching I did hear the bad lead goal Schnieder allowed, an unscreened shortside shot by Scottie Upshall.  Probably a fitting end to this game, given that this whole season Schnieder’s been like the bad luck charm of the team, doing just enough to lose whether it’s 2-1 or 5-4.  Maybe it’s not fair – and we’ll never know how the furor surrounding Marty at the deadline or the games he got because of it affected Cory and kept him from getting back into a rhythm – but right now the crease is and should be Marty’s.  It seemed from November on this goaltending thing was destined to be a no-win situation for anyone involved.  If Cory took the crease and ran with it, Marty would be miffed and demand a trade (which essentially happened) or leave town at the end of the season to chase win #700 elsewhere.  If Marty kept the job and kept winning, Cory would realize he couldn’t ever make headway replacing a legend and want to leave to get a chance at his own legacy elsewhere.  While I’ll always defend Lou Lamoriello making the trade for Cory, ultimately it looks like it’s not going to work out…call it the right move at the wrong time.

For all the kvetching about the goalies though, they aren’t solely responsible for all these blown leads – after all it was the great Marty who was in net for last year’s twin meltdowns in Florida.  They also aren’t the ones stockpiling slow, mediocre defensemen that block NHL talent like Adam Larsson and Eric Gelinas from playing.  In fact our best stretch came with both in the lineup when we won five of six in November against tough teams, but now Larsson is stuck in Albany while Gelinas is in and out of the doghouse.  And while I’m on a full-blown rant…is Michael Ryder alive?  I know scorers are streaky but when you have zero goals in twenty-two games or whatever it is, then the fact you do literally nothing else right sticks out just a bit more.  As essential as Marek Zidlicky can be adding offensive punch from the blueline (especially with Gelinas back in the doghouse), Gelinas could have had a game like Zidlicky’s tonight – going -4 and committing a crucial, unneccesary late penalty.  But even with our defensive snafus and everything that went wrong, we still outshot this joke of a team 25-9 in the last two periods and somehow still blew the game.  Four goals on nine shots….just think about that for a second.  Right now Cory’s looking like he was a bit overrated playing in front of a good team in Vancouver.  I hate to keep going back to the goalies but I’ve been defending Cory’s play this year and decrying his unjust W/L record until recently.  Maybe I’d be less apt to put this game on goaltending – which truth be told it really wasn’t for the most part – if it wasn’t for the whole fifteen goals allowed in three games thing.

At least right now the Marty hero-worshippers and Cory-haters can get their wish.  I can’t see any way barring injury where Cory gets more than one, maybe two starts the rest of the month.  Whatever, maybe we can make an illusory run towards a playoff berth with Marty but in the end this team will still find a way to blow it no matter who’s in net.  Even if by some miracle this team somehow makes the playoffs, what makes anyone think they can go on any kind of a run?  Between a spotty offense, slow team speed, questionable defense and so-so goaltending, those are the hallmarks of a mediocre team, not a title contender.  Especially as they continually find ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.