Battle Of Hudson

There are few times where the saying ‘deja vu all over again’ applied more than in the first two games of the 2011-12 Stanley Cup Finals. After losing two straight 2-1 OT decisions, the Devils are on the brink of becoming just another prop in the Kings’ story of their first-ever Stanley Cup. In what’s already been a bizarre NHL playoffs, the Kings’ 10-0 road record (tying the number of road wins we had in 1995 and 2000, though with a better record since they don’t have any losses yet) and the fact they might just win a Cup without being seriously challenged in any series might be the most unfathomable thing of all. Who would have thought an eighth seed would have a roll through the playoffs as dominant as the ’80’s Oilers?

Do I think this series is over? From the standpoint that I still believe the Devils have win(s) up their sleeve, no. It wouldn’t shock me if the Devils won multiple games in LA. Problem being, I actually give us a better chance of getting two wins in LA than winning the two potential remaining games here. Let’s face it, our home-ice advantage of the first three rounds is kaput. After eight games where we went 6-2 and started out mostly every game with a two or three-goal blitz, the Kings have come out exactly the way they wanted in the first period of each game. Get an early goal, take the crowd out of it and throw the team off kilter.

At least last night, the Devils got it going quicker and managed to pressure Johnathan Quick more than in Game 1, but for the second straight game our top offensive players all but dissapeared. Even changing around the lines in the third period and reuniting Zach Parise with Ilya Kovalchuk did little to spark the top nine. Amazingly, it was the golden fourth line that got our only goal last night when Ryan Carter scored off a perfect deflection from a Marek Zidlicky shot 2:59 into the third to tie up Game 2. For the rest of the period, the Devils tried but couldn’t turn their snowball of momentum into an avalanche. Even when two straight minor penalties were called late in the third period giving the Devils a power play in the final minute, that only led to more frustration when Kovalchuk got a wide open chance in the slot with just under twenty seconds remaining…and banged it off the crossbar.

Right there, I got a sickening feeling our best chance had passed. Even more so in the OT when Danius Zubrus had an open net and all he had to do was deflect the puck home. He did deflect the puck…and it died inches in front of him, another frustrating near-miss. Unlike our best players though, their best players have been taking advantage of their opportunities. Drew Doughty scored a highlight-reel goal in the first period, deking out three Devils and firing a low (possibly screened) wrister past Martin Brodeur and once again putting us being the eight-ball just minutes into the game. And after Anze Kopitar won Game 1 with a breakaway, former Flyer Jeff Carter would get the winner in Game 2 – beating Andy Greene down low and getting a rebound off his own shot past Brodeur at 13:42 of OT, continuing his playoff torment of the Devils from his Flyer days.

While the Devils have done some good things in the series and you could say the series should be 1-1 based on how play went in the first two games, there were moments where we were lucky not to be down more than one goal. Brodeur’s been on his game the first two nights, making some highlight-reel saves in the second period to keep us within one. Maybe Chico Resch wasn’t so goofy when he said nobody protects a deficit like Brodeur. Still, it wasn’t enough. Plain and simple, we need more than Brodeur to win this series, especially when Quick hasn’t given up a clean goal yet. After Anton Volcheknov‘s magic bullet goal in Game 1 came Carter’s perfect deflection last night.

Just look at the goal-scorers for this series though…Carter, Kopitar and Doughty have three of their four goals and a fourth-liner and third-pairing defenseman have ours. Whatever tricks Pete DeBoer has up his sleeve to get the top three lines going, he’d better use it now. Yes, the team looked a lot better territorially in Game 2 but let’s face it, Kovy looks again like the guy who was carrying around an elephant late in the first round and early in the second round, with only two even-strength goals in the entire postseason. Clarkson’s reverted back to his former self, Elias has been unfathomably bad in the last three rounds and Zach Parise‘s all but dissapeared with a goalie in net. It could just be that some of the above are spent, injured, whatever. A lot of people are this time of year, though I’m sure it’s helped the Kings in the respect they have four and five-game series with plenty of time to rest up in between. We’ve had two wars and another intense (if short) series with the Flyers.

Whatever you want to attribute our 2-0 series deficit to, let’s face it…this series has been exactly the same tone the Kings set in the first three series. Win the first two games away, get the hammer down quick. Maybe we should have requested the NHL start the series in LA? Make no mistake, the Kings have talent and underachieved offensively for most of the season, but since acquiring Carter they’ve been nothing short of a machine. Maybe this is the year an eight seed completely throws away the book and wins four stress-free rounds on their way to a Cup. I still can’t fathom such a thing could happen, with anyone. Even the ’95 Devils who went 16-4 had moments where they were tested…behind 1-0 and tied late in Game 2 at Pittsburgh, 2-2 against the Flyers and tied late in Philly in Game 5 chief among them. This Devils team needs to find some way, any way to avoid the Kings again holding to script and getting a 3-0 lead for the fourth straight series on Monday.

All throughout the weekend and early this week, the five-day layoff between the end of the Devils’ Eastern Conference Final triumph and puck drop of last night’s Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals didn’t feel all that long, at least to me. With all the time I spent re-living the Ranger game (watching highlights and postgame I could see at the game), and then soaking in the hype of this series before Game 1 by reading and listening to stuff online as well as watching a lot of the NHL Network coverage, the five days actually flew by. I can’t speak for everyone else, certainly not King fans who probably took a week’s vacation in Malibu between series…but that was my mindset going into Game 1.

Conversely, after the Devils lost 2-1 in OT last night and me and my friend got lost around Newark for over a half hour, Game 2 can’t come soon enough now. Of course, the NHL being what it is, both teams will now get nearly another three days off before Saturday night – giving us more time to sit and stew over a sloppy Game 1. Although the Kings were the better team, really Game 1 was sloppy from both ends, with each team managing single-digit shot totals in the first two periods (the Kings outshooting us 14-9 after forty minutes is ridiculous). Perhaps the fans paid the price for the NHL trying to max out on pre-series hype AND ensure two Saturday games. Considering the Devils’ five days off and the Kings’ eight before Game 1, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that neither team looked particularly sharp.

If one thing did annoy me about last night, it’s the fact that the Kings’ fourth line – previously next to useless in the playoffs – chipped in their first goal when Colin Fraser scored off a one-timer in the first period. Despite the Kings controlling play for much of the first two periods, the Devils had their chances – particularly David Clarkson, who missed two wide-open looks at the net. Finally, they broke through on Johnathan Quick off a fluke goal late in the second period, when an Anton Volchenkov shot bounced off a couple of Kings players and into the net for another (as Derek would put it) ‘magic bullet’ goal. Honestly, there wasn’t much in the way of entertainment in this game though.

It wasn’t for lack of trying, but at times both teams’ forecheck nulified each other. On the rare occasions when it didn’t, both teams got glorious chances in the third period but Martin Brodeur snuffed out a Drew Doughty mini-breakaway, then later in the period Mark Fayne missed a layup open net from mere feet away when a puck hopped over his stick. It looked as if Zach Parise did score at one point, but the goal was correctly ruled out due to a ‘handball’ by Zach, reminiscent of Scott Gomez‘s clear kick in Game 6 of 2001 that was a crticial momentum-changer in that series. Even in the OT, both teams tried to get going but chances were few and far between. One promising chance from Ilya Kovalchuk, he inexplicably fired wide when he could have easily either gotten it on net, or toned down the velocity on the shot to make it more deflectable, with a Devil stick lurking in front.

Amazingly, a bad line change led to an overtime breakaway against – for the Kings’ best player in Anze Kopitar. And Kopitar would not miss this glorious chance, deking out Brodeur with a forehand to give Devil fans a cold towel after five days of anticipation and celebration. Now, after looking at anything and everything before Game 1 in terms of analysis and team interviews I’m not all that interested in listening to all the between-games hype, the telecast I taped or even looking over a boxscore to do a more in-depth recap of this game. I just want to focus on other things and count down the hours till Saturday night.

I do want to talk a little about the in-game experience though. Having been to three SCF games in 2003, I was anxious to see how it would look in Newark. Seeing the two giant Stanley Cup banners hanging by the jumbotron and the logo painted into the ice drove home the point that this is a big deal. Not to mention the fact section 226 in the upper level was turned into another press area to accomodate some of the approximately 1100+ credentialed reporters covering this series. I didn’t realize this ever happened, clearly I wasn’t that observant in 2003 since ostensibly seats do get taken out of public use all the time to accomodate the media. Furthermore, the NHL intermission crew set up shop down below near section 15, where the Devils Dancers usually are. And unbeknownst to me until after the game when I saw them outside, the NHL Network crew – including Barry Melrose (booed to the high heavens any time the jumbotron showed the NHL Network’s insta-analysis during the game) and Kevin Weekes – were doing their own show outside the arena at Championship Plaza. Amazing how much changes from one series to the next in the postseason.

Before Game 2 I do intend to take in some more of the outside stuff, seeing as me and my friend had to arrive just before the intro video started last night due to a prior commitment. Another little change I noticed in the arena, at least compared to the last SCF was the official Stanley Cup program. In 2003, it was just an extension of the normal Devils’ program, only marked up higher price-wise. This year however, it’s a huge hardcover program chock-full of info and articles on both teams, only the same price as that program was though ($10). I definitely intend to get one of these babies before the series ends at least, whether this series ends well for the Devils or not. Whether you’re an optomist or a pessimist, last night gave you more ammo for either category…but the bottom line is this, the Devils need to win on Saturday. Yes, they can certainly win two games in LA, but would they win two more games here? When the Kings would have a 10-0 road record in the playoffs by then and even more confidence in their road invincibility?

Eventually you would think the Kings finally have to stare down some real adversity before they can win a Stanley Cup. No matter how good a team you are, each team usually has one critical moment in every postseason…but maybe it won’t play out that way. This could be just one of those years where nothing goes to form, it hasn’t so far after all. What does worry me is last night makes three games in a row the Devils didn’t play very well in, other than the first five minutes of Game 5 against the Rangers and the first period of Game 6. Maybe this team is just gassed, given the age and all the injuries throughout the lineup. That’s another reason Game 2 is so important. We have the confidence of coming from one down to beat the Flyers and Rangers, but coming from two down against a good team like the Kings is hard, especially with potentially three games in California.

After basking in the glow of one of the Devils’ most memorable triumphs ever, beating out the hated Rangers to win the Eastern Conference Finals in overtime of Game 6 at the Prudential Center, I’m finally ready to look ahead to what will be a Cinderella Finals. Make no mistake about it, both teams are better than their #6 and #8 seeds respectively, even if one of them will become the lowest seed ever to win a title. In our case, we had a 102-point season and finished fourth in a brutal Atlantic Division, yet wound up beating our two biggest division rivals to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals (after splitting with each during the regular season). With the Kings, they’ve been strong defensively in net all year with Johnathan Quick having a Vezina-caliber season, but an underachieving offense had them on the playoff bubble until mid-season coaching replacement Darryl Sutter calmed the waters and late-season acquisition Jeff Carter fortified the offense. I don’t remember the exact record, but the Kings are something like 25-9-3 since acquiring the one-time Flyer star close to the deadline, including an insane 12-2 playoff record – with the Kings’ only two defeats coming after they’d taken a 3-0 lead against Vancouver and Phoenix.

Through the playoffs, the Kings have an insane goals-against average of 1.57 in fourteen games, while the Devils come in at a reasonable 2.33. Offensively the Kings have scored 41 goals in 14 games, while the Devils have put home 51 in 18, as both offenses have pushed the pace during the postseason. Special teams have been a lot better for LA in the postseason than us, despite having a sub-10% power play (8.1%), the Kings’ PK is operating at over 90% efficiency (91.2%) with a handful of shorthanded goals, to boot. Our power play is at a respectable 18.2% but we’ve killed off just 74.2% of penalties in the postseason, with none of the shorthanded goals that made our regular-season PK such a menace. And while we navigated a tough road to get to the Finals with our share of turbulence, the Kings rolled through President’s Trophy winner Vancouver, second-seed St. Louis and third-seed Phoenix with ease.

In goal, once again you have a hungry goalie looking to make his mark among the elite of the league in Quick, and the old warhorse in Martin Brodeur – who put up his best playoff series in seven years turning aside one of the two leading Vezina candidates in Henrik Lundqvist …and will now have to outduel the other one in this round to win his fourth Stanley Cup. Unlike Lundqvist however, Quick is more of a reflex goalie, giving us a different kind of a challenge in this round. Plus, we were more familiar with Lundqvist having played him six or more times every season for the last several years, as opposed to Quick who we’ve only seen once this year – way back in the third game of the season where the Devils beat the Kings 3-2 in a shootout. We did play the Kings again in October but backups Johan Hedberg and Johnathan Bernier were both in net for an impressive 3-0 Devils win out in LA. We’ll have to succeed where three teams have already failed, finding a way to put goals past the Conn Smythe favorite.

Offensively the Kings have two deadly lines with the best player that nobody pays attention to in pivot Anze Kopitar, hard-nosed captain Dustin Brown and Cup-winning vet Justin Williams (from the Canes in ’06) on one line, and former Flyer buddies and leaders Carter and Mike Richards heading up their other big line with Dustin Penner – finally living up to his talent in this postseason. Admittedly, I know very little about the Kings’ other two lines other than the fact they have ex-Oiler Jarret Stoll and faceoff specialist Brad Richardson giving LA depth down the middle, and rookie Dwight King‘s also given them some big goals in the postseason. Ironically, Devils coach Pete DeBoer scratched our own rookie pivot Adam Henrique and told him to watch Richardson play when we were in LA for that early-season matchup. LA may also get another former Flyer – injury-prone Simon Gagne – back for this series, which would help them but I’ll believe it when I see it.

While most of the Kings’ offense has come from the top six and King, the Devils have exhibited amazing depth in this postseason, getting multiple goals from eleven forwards (and defenseman Bryce Salvador). Yes, top-line forwards Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise and Travis Zajac all have seven goals, tied for the team lead in the postseason. However, role players like Henrique – and his two series-clinching goals – and David Clarkson are right behind them in points. All-time Devils leading scorer Patrik Elias has had a down postseason after a couple of early goals against Florida, but with a five-day break between the Conference Finals and Game 1, hopefully he finds his second wind against LA. And you can’t overstate Danius Zubrus‘s contribution despite the fact he only has three goals in the postseason, he’s set up several with his outstanding board work, and two of the three goals came in a pivotal Game 4 win against the Flyers.

Not to mention our revelation of a fourth line with Ryan Carter, Steve Bernier and Steven Gionta. After an entire regular season where our fourth line was hard-pressed to even get one goal, putting those three together has been like winning the lottery. Carter has four goals in the postseason, with three big ones against the Rangers, Gionta has three and Bernier has two. Yet, their nine goals don’t tell the whole story as this trio plays in all situations and has been able to take up some valuable minutes. They’ve been our best fourth line easily since the fabled crash line of the mid ’90’s (Bobby Holik, Randy McKay and Mike Peluso). Holik and McKay would eventually graduate from fourth-line duty and make bigger contributions in years to come, but the Carter-Gionta-Bernier line has literally come out of nowhere. Gionta was an AHL nobody, other than being Brian’s little brother, Bernier was a high-pick washout and Carter was waived by the Panthers earlier this season. Yet, here they are playing a pivotal role on a Stanley Cup Finalist.

Defensively, LA has the most talented player among the top twelve of both teams’ defensive cores in Drew Doughty, who has ten points in fourteen postseason games and averages almost twenty-six minutes per game playing in all situations. He and vet Willie Mitchell combine for a formidable top-defensive pairing. In another lifetime, Mitchell was a failed Devils prospect but he’s carved out a solid career as a stay-at-home type. Rob Scuderi and Matt Greene also provide the Kings with vet leadership in their defensive core. Young defensemen Alex Martinez and Slava Voynov round out the defensive core, with Voynov stepping in to fill the void of the traded Jack Johnson (dealt as part of the Carter trade). They make it tough just to get good opportunities on Quick, but won’t really scare you offensively, other than Doughty. Voynov mans the point on the second power play, a unit that’s struggled in the postseason.

While the Kings have Doughty to lead their offensive attack from the blueline, we have…Salvador. Yes, the career 35-year old stay-at-home defenseman is our leading point-getter from the blueline in the playoffs with three goals and eleven points, to go along with a team-leading +10 in 22:36 of icetime per game. Trade-deadline acquisition Marek Zidlicky was supposed to be the guy who led the attack from the blueline, but he struggled against the Rangers after being injured late in the Flyer series. He still has eight points and a team-leading 24:08 of icetime per game but is another guy that will probably benefit from the Devils’ break. Young Mark Fayne – only his second full season – and vet Andy Greene form a solid second pairing that have been shutting down teams’ top lines at even strength all postseason. Amazingly, our highest-paid defenseman (Anton Volchenkov) plays on the third pairing and has struggled at times in the playoffs, with our second highest-paid (Henrik Tallinder) having been sidelined since the All-Star break with a blood clot in his leg. Former LA castoff Peter Harrold rounds out the top six with prized rookie Adam Larsson also ready to step in should someone get hurt or falter, the way he did in the second round when he scored a huge goal in Game 2 against Philly to turn that series around.

Coachingwise, DeBoer is in his first full season with the Devils and has pushed all the right buttons in leading this team to the Stanley Cup Finals in his first postseason ever, after three non-playoff seasons in Florida. Kings coach Sutter hasn’t even been there that long, taking over in midseason and proving once again he’s a much better coach than GM (after he succeeded as a coach and failed spectacularly as a GM in Calgary). Interestingly there’s a bit of a subplot there as Sutter, in his previous role as Flames GM played a part in the departure of then-Devils coach Brent Sutter three offseasons ago. Even more coincidentally, DeBoer and Sutter – Brent, not brother Darryl – are good friends, but thankfully things worked out better for us over time than they did for the Sutters in Calgary.

Although the GM’s play no part in this final series, it is interesting to note that Devils GM Lou Lamoriello went out of his way to help current Kings GM Dean Lombardi out when Lombardi was starting his career in the late ’90’s with a rebuilding Sharks team, and Lombardi repeatedly goes out of his way to mention Lou’s generosity. In another spectacular coincidence, both found themselves in the crosshairs of the Kovalchuk contreversy two summers ago when each made a big push to try to sign the star Russian winger. Eventually it was the Devils who would retain the services of Kovy, at considerable cost but one that has been worth it to this point. Of course the fans in LA have let Kovy hear their displeasure in our two trips there since that wild summer and I’m sure it’ll be rabid again for Games 3, 4 and possibly 6 there.

Given the fact the teams haven’t played each other since October and there’ve been many changes since then – the Devils have gotten Zajac back from injury and added Zidlicky, forward Alexei Ponikarovsky and the entire fourth line to their roster this season, while the Kings have added Carter, promoted Voynov and changed coaches – makes it extremely hard to forecast this series. In addition, Quick only played one game against us, while Brodeur played one period, injuring his shoulder diving for a shot in the teams’ first game against each other and missing the final two periods of that game and a couple of weeks after that. While you have to give the Kings respect for their talent and the way they’ve rolled to the Finals, as a Devil fan I can’t really pick against us at this point after doubting them throughout the postseason.

I know the Kings can win, I wouldn’t be crushed if they did at this point after all the Devils have accomplished in this postseason – more than anyone could have dreamed of before the playoffs started. Despite being the lower seed, the Kings are the betting favorite after the way they’ve dominated the postseason to this point. That said, at this point I have the confidence that’s rare among fans who should know better and I believe the Devils can do almost anything. Why wouldn’t I, after winning a tightrope first series against Florida, crushing the Flyers in four straight after a Game 1 loss in Round 2 and then finally staring down the ghost of playoffs past and beating a tough Ranger team to get this far? That, plus our superior depth I believe will have us finish off our most meaningful triumph yet, in the full seven games as Brodeur caps a storybook finish by taking home the Conn Smythe with the Cup this time.

For years, Devils fans have had to be reminded about the greatness of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals, a series the Devils lost in seven games with the Rangers winning in double OT of a seventh game at MSG on their way to a Stanley Cup. With the Devils and Rangers meeting in the ECF for the first time since then this year, the media drubbed the comparisons home to an insane level, especially when the Devils took a 3-2 series lead with Game 6 being in Jersey, just like ’94 – on the exact same day of Game 6 1994. And just like ’94, the Devils jumped out to a 2-0 lead in Game 6 last night only to see it dissapear. Game 6 2012 went to sudden-death OT last night and there were fifteen nervous minutes during the intermission in the stands. My legs almost felt too empty to stand up when the Devils came out for the start of sudden-death.

What happened just sixty-three seconds later was indescribable in so many ways.

After an initial point shot by Ilya Kovalchuk, Alexei Ponikarovsky corraled the rebound and put it on net. Seemingly an endless netmouth scramble followed with several Devils and Rangers converging around Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Kovalchuk, Ponikarovsky and Adam Henrique all had attempts on goal as the Ranger top defensive pair of Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonaugh, as well as Brad Richards‘ line desperately tried to keep it out. During those several seconds (minutes it seemed to me), I was just praying the whistle didn’t blow to stop play. Finally, the puck trickled loose in the crease past Richards who was on one knee, and from 120 I had a beautiful view of Henrique poking it home to begin mass celebration in Newark as the Devils won a dramatic 3-2 OT decision and the Prince of Wales trophy – at last burying the ghost of ’94 once and for all – and closing out a resilient Ranger team four games to two.

Perhaps it just had to happen this way, this exact way. Staring down the ghost of 1994 in the most haunting way possible, with another blown two-goal lead in Game 6 at home this team had to either come through or relive history, there was just no other way. However, this Devil team has been burying ghost after ghost in these playoffs, starting in the first round when they stared down their recent first-round bugaboo (particularly a ghastly 2009 loss to Carolina late in Game 7) by beating a determined Panther team in double OT of Game 7 after blowing another late Game 7 lead – with interestingly, Calder candidate Henrique getting that series-clinching goal as well. Next, came the Flyers who punted the Devils out of the playoffs easily in 2010 at the Prudential Center. This year, we returned the favor by punting them out in five on their home ice.

Finally, they stared down the Rangers with not only the ghost of 1994 haunting the fans, but there was also 1992, 1997 and 2008 – other playoff series wins that gave the franchise and goalie Martin Brodeur perhaps an undeserved stigma. Even the one time we finally crushed them in the first round of 2006, the thrill was short-lived as the Devils lost in five games of the second round of the playoffs. Just two years later, the Rangers gained revenge for that series with Lundqvist taking a victory lap at the Rock after Game 5, cheered on by the half of the arena decked out in Ranger blue and white. Not only did the Devils respond this year, but the fans also responded, as the stands for these three home games was as filled with red and white as I’ve ever seen for Devil-Ranger games in Newark or the several I was at in East Rutherford.

Not only had the Rangers had playoff success against us for the most part, but for the last five years since 2008, Lundqvist has had Brodeur’s number head-to-head with insane numbers against the Devils in the thirty plus games the teams have played since then. And this year, Lundqvist dominated everyone the way he has the Devils, at thirty years old he was at the height of his power, while Marty at forty looked alternately past his prime in between flashes of the old Marty. This was going to be a challenge, on and off the ice. Anyone bringing up Lundqvist’s overall playoff win-lost record is a joke, this guy was at worst the second best goalie in hockey this year and it was close between him and Kings goalie Johnathan Quick, plus he carried the Rangers through the first two rounds and to a lead after three games of this series.

Enough about the past though, last night stood on its own merits as a classic game, even without everything else around it – the rivalry, the history and what was at stake. Certainly what was at stake ramped up the nervousness and intensity that much more though. Since the Devils’ last Stanley Cup in 2003, they hadn’t even been out of the second round of the playoffs but now they stood on the brink, one game away from their fifth Stanley Cup Finals. Everyone knew what a loss meant, a Game 7 back at MSG on Sunday night, where the Rangers had won their previous two series in Game 7. While I wouldn’t have put it past the Devils to lose last night and win Game 7 after everything that’s happened in this postseason, this was a game the Devils needed to win and not mess around with the Rangers’ Rocky tendencies in a coinflip scenario.

I had an interesting trip into Newark last night, hopping on the train at the South Orange station at 6:15, I figured I’d have enough time to walk to the arena from Broad Street (about twenty minutes), then make it with plenty of time to spare for the pregame skate and to see my arena buddies before the game. However, a downed power line slowed up traffic and being on the Hoboken train didn’t help, as the NY-traveling trains were seemingly given priority to pass us on the left track, as well as the trains going back from NY on what proved to be almost an hour delay. After some stops and starts reminiscent of the wait you get on an aircraft before takeoff, finally we arrived into Newark at 7:20. With sunlight still out, I was determined to get my walk in and it just so happened I had a nice younger couple sitting behind me who’d never been to the Prudential Center before, so I showed them the easy walk up Broad Street towards the arena and basically played tour guide on the way up. I probably wouldn’t have even bothered to start talking to them if we didn’t have so many delays, so I guess something productive came out of the backup at least.

With my friend who usually comes with me during the playoffs and several times during the regular season at a concert, I promised I’d text her updates at the end of every period or when the Devils scored. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, I’ll take great precautions to sell any extra tickets to Devils-Ranger games to Devil fans on message boards (usually HF), but once the Devils went up 3-2 I figured the arena would be chock-full of Devil fans anyway and if some Ranger fan wanted to spend a crapload of money to come by himself to either see us win the Eastern Conference, or at worst tie up the series, then c’est la vie. Once again though, the arena was filled with red and white as Devil fans were hungry to see us win this game against this team. And lo and behold, the seat next to me was bought up by a Devil fan…I cleared basically three times sth face value for the seat so I was a little embarassed at first when the guy started asking me if it was one of my season tickets – clearly he was perceptive – finally, I told him it was and he genuinely appreciated me selling the ticket. Nice guy, but clearly another one that didn’t go to many games, and kept bringing up the good view of the Devils Dancers from my section…but you get those types during the playoffs.

At least my two current STH buddies were there on my right-hand side, as usual…though unbeknownst to me, one of them had to leave midway through the third because he had to go to work (as a police officer) so unfortunately only Rudy – the one next to me – got to see the incredible finish. As the start neared, I felt the goosebumps a lot more during this game than throughout the rest of the playoffs. Everything that the game meant dawned on me during the rocking pre-game intro. As usual, Arlette sang the anthem with the lower bowl moving a giant flag around the left side of the lower bowl, though she added a different twist with her and her daughter waving the rally towels when it was over. Finally, the puck dropped and the greatest reality TV out there – a big sports contest – was underway.

Things started out hairy early, with a Bryce Salvador high-sticking penalty giving the Rangers an early power play just three minutes in, but the PK’ers were on their game last night and killed that off, as well as two later penalties in the game. Midway through the period, our incredible fourth line came up with another big goal, after Steve Bernier caused a turnover and moved around ill-fated Michael Del Zotto, and finding Steven Gionta on the resulting two-on-one. Lundqvist stopped Gionta on the initial shot, but Ryan Carter was johnny on the spot trailing the play and knocked home the rebound for his fourth goal of the postseason (each seemingly bigger than the last) to get the wall of red rocking at 10:05 of the first period. After a Ruslan Fedotenko tripping penalty just a couple minutes later, the Devils’ PP went to work and would capitalize after some beautiful passing, with David Clarkson whipping it to Danius Zubrus along the boards, and Zubrus proceeded to find a wide-open Ilya Kovalchuk, sneaking in through the backdoor at 13:56 to fire home his seventh goal of the postseason and increase the Devils’ lead to two.

Despite a high-tempo first period where each team had fourteen shots on net (around what both teams managed in an entire game at MSG earlier in the regular season), the score remained at 2-0 after twenty minutes to the roar of the crowd. As exciting as the 2-0 lead was, I felt things had to calm down for us to maintain the lead but for the second straight game of the series, falling behind proved to be almost a good thing for the Rangers, who gave us problems with their forechecking in Game 5 and last night, once they finally came out of the shell they played the first four games of the series. The team in blue had the better of play in the second period, outshooting us 13-7, and Fedotenko broke the ice for them with a tap-in goal at 9:47 off a beautiful feed from McDonaugh that somehow eluded the sticks of Brodeur and both defensemen in the area. Seemingly after the soft goal Brodeur allowed to him in Game 4, Fedotenko picked up his game in the last two of the series, looking more like the playoff hero of seasons past than the invisible man he was through the postseason this year. Less than four minutes later, deja vu struck, as a Girardi point shot hit Ryan Callahan, who scored a goal off his leg for the second straight game, tying Game 6 at 13:41 of the 2nd period.

From there, the game just had the feeling of next goal wins. And through a tense rest of the second and third periods, it looked increasingly likely the Rangers would get that next goal. After the second intermission though, something nice happened. Walking around the concourse, I heard multiple Devil fans encouraging each other to hang in there. The atmosphere really has gotten more communal this postseason, between Devil fans making sure other Devil fans got in the building in the last two rounds to an increasingly positive atmosphere – even as this postseason has threatened to drive me to the loony bin. When I ran into my former seatmate in 208 around the concourse, I said in exacerbation, ‘how many times can they blow a multi-goal lead and get away with it?’. He said simply, ‘just get one goal’ with a measure of grim determination and confidence.

Things didn’t look much better on the ice in the third though, as the Rangers again outshot us 8-5, and got the only power play chance of the period after a meh interference call on Carter. Our best penalty killer though, and the most poised of anyone on the ice last night was Brodeur. For the second time in the postseason, he came up huge when the team absolutely needed it the most (the other time being in Game 7 against Florida after the tide turned in the third period)…the mark of not only a great player, but a true leader as well. Among his thirty-three saves in regulation came a couple of tough chances in the third period, on a rebound shot by Marian Gaborik where he stacked the pads, then poke-checking a breakaway off the stick of Artem Anismov after Marek Zidlicky nearly sent me to the loony bin for good giving up the breakaway with some ‘interesting’ defending. Even in the OT, the Rangers had the first chance on the first shift but Brodeur poked away a dangerous pass to end a good scoring opportunity.

Then finally, came the wild Henrique winner and mass chaos afterward. I was screaming ‘YES, YES, YES!!!’ over and over again, and when I was trying to text my friend to give her the final result someone jumped out of nowhere and hugged me, causing me to drop my phone into the next row. It took me the next minute or so to retrieve it from the four empty seats in front of me (usually they’ve been occupied by opposition fans throughout the last two rounds, so it was even more of a relief to see them empty tonight) while the mayhem was going on. Finally I was able to get it back, and finish the text as well as get pictures of the handshake line and the celebration. Zach Parise handled the presentation perfectly imo, while he didn’t touch the Prince of Wales trophy – at one point, after asking Brodeur if he should, Marty said no – he did gather up the rest of the team for a lovely picture with it.

After sticking with Rudy and the rest of section 120 during the postgame celebration I was walking out…then it occured to me that I should wander by 208 (which I hadn’t been able to bring myself to go to all season) and see if Zach – my former seatmate who I’d seen in the second intermission – and the few other people I knew in that section were still there. Much to my delight, they were, and I hugged him too, as well as slapping fans with a couple of the other guys I knew and sat with for years before circumstances beyond anyone’s control caused me to move this year. I left quickly, wanting to make the last light rail out and see my other train buddies as well. Despite all the emotion at the arena, the only moment where I really came close to ‘losing it’ was the first time I heard Doc Emrick‘s call of the Henrique goal after I got home. It sounded so perfect, especially given that in the first season since he reluctantly left us to just do network games, we finally got deep enough in the playoffs again to hear him call multiple Devil games. Even the third and fourth time hearing ‘THEY SCORE! HENRIQUE! IT’S OVER!!!’ gives me chills. He was professional the whole series, but you could tell his allegiance slipped through just a little bit in his voice on that goal, and as a Devil fan it was a perfect touch.

With almost five days between now and the Stanley Cup Finals at this point I’m not even in the mood to think about the Kings. Yet I have no doubt coach Pete DeBoer will be able to refocus his team on the final task remaining, especially with so much time between games. I haven’t had a chance to listen to the postgame stuff yet, but I did hear a little of DeBoer’s press conference and once again he hit the right note, mentioning guys like Danius Zubrus who’ve played in the league fifteen years and only had one crack at the Finals as a young pup in Philly before finally getting back now. While it would be sweet for Marty to have a Cinderella finish to the end of his career, the fact is most of this roster hasn’t been a part of anything like this. Among players on the ice only Marty, Carter, Patrik Elias and Anton Volchenkov have even taken part in the Finals before with the first three being the only prior Cup winners (Carter with the Ducks a couple years back).

There will be plenty of time to preview that series, thankfully the focus can be just about hockey and winning now instead of having the deathly fear of losing that I had in the first three rounds – round one because of our recent playoff history in the first round, and the last two rounds up going up against our biggest rivals. As Derek put it yesterday, no matter how well your team did all season and how much heart they show, it still puts a damper on everything when you lose to a rival. I’m sure Derek’s feeling that now, even though he has nothing to be ashamed of with his club. They played like Rocky all year, up until the final seconds of the final game. Fortunately for us, the ending of the movie was like the initial Rocky movie when he loses on points and both him and Apollo wind up in a clinch with Apollo shouting ‘I don’t want no rematch’. That was how we were going to have to beat the Rangers, by outlasting them in a war of attrition and on points, not by knocking them out.

After all of the ups and downs, and the tenseness of this postseason, it still feels surreal to think of the Devils being in the Stanley Cup Finals. Before the season, we were predicted to finish 10th or 11th in the conference, as Steve Cangelosi accurately pointed out last night. At the All-Star break more than halfway through the season, the Devils were still on the playoff bubble before finally getting some seperation from the pack in February. Even when getting to the postseason, the Devils were under the radar as a sixth seed who finished fourth in their own division. If you’d told me the Devils would be at this point after the ghastly events of Game 3 against Florida, I’d have had you committed. Yet, here we are…our fifth and most unlikely trip to the Finals ever, in a series where the lowest seed ever is guaranteed to win a Cup – with the previous low being the ’95 Devils, who won as a fifth seed. The last time we were in the Finals, I wasn’t even a season ticket holder, I was just getting single game seats any way I could during the last two rounds of the playoffs. 2003 really isn’t a long time ago from a sports perspective but it’s a long time from a life perspective.

Playoff hockey in June, gotta love it!