Devils get just desserts in shootout loss to Rangers

Posted on March 26, 2010 by Derek

If you have sunny-side view of things as a Devils fan, after last night you’ll point out that we’re back in first place, that the Devils were the better team last night and could easily have put five or six past Henrik Lundqvist again and that even if a mere formality, the Devils officially clinched a playoff berth with the Thrashers’ OT loss in Toronto.
Reality paints a harsher picture, though.

See, none of that matters when you blow nine hundred scoring chances, three different leads (again!) with the final blown lead coming inside the final twenty seconds of regulation and your coach is a cross between a mad scientist and just plain mad. Last night it was definitely the latter with a series of bizarre decisions that didn’t help at all and unless these issues get sorted out it’s not going to matter whether the Devils win the division or the Rangers miss the playoffs, since we’ll be joining them golfing in late April.

Admittedly I had a bad feeling about this game from the start. I don’t think it was Jacques Lemaire‘s decision to bench both Pierre Luc-Letourneau Leblond and Rod Pelley in favor of Andrew Peters and Jay Pandolfo but it didn’t help. You bench two kids playing well for two players that aren’t in a rivalry game at home? Why are we getting cute with the lineup after putting in six goals? It’s just like how Lemaire couldn’t resist changing around the lines after back-to-back multi-goal performances in wins over the Penguins and Rangers earlier this month, it’s just mind-boggling.

I think the real source of my pre-game consternation was the fact I knew Lundqvist wasn’t having two bad games in a row against the Devils, not to mention my 2-9 soon to be 2-10 record going to Devil-Ranger games since the move to Prudential Center (one of the wins being that meaningless last regular season game a couple years ago, the other the crazy 8-5 game with Scott Clemmensen in net). A hideously bad power play in the first few minutes only added to my impending feeling of doom, it was a wake-up call back to reality after our three power play goals Tuesday night as we couldn’t even gain the zone against an excellent PK.

Fortunately the Devils did come out well in the first period, holding the Rangers to just four shots on net and taking the lead when a Brian Rolston slapper rebounded right to Ilya Kovalchuk in front, and he put home the rebound for his 38th of the year at 5:21. Kovalchuk was flying in the first period and after his four-point night on Tuesday I thought okay, this is the game we finally see the real Kovalchuk. Despite six shots on net and about twenty-three minutes of icetime however, it never really materialized.
Too bad, because the frustration started shortly after Kovy scored, with Jamie Langenbrunner missing two glorious chances in the first, a number that would baloon to about six or seven before the night was over, Patrik Elias putting a shorthanded breakaway attempt right into Lundqvist’s pads early in the second and Zach Parise having a goal waved off for directing the puck into the net with his arm later in that period.

When you monopolize scoring chances and don’t come through, eventually the roof’s going to fall in and the refs were no help after the first period either, ignoring about seven or eight obvious Ranger penalties and not giving us the benefit of the doubt on anything including a contreversial icing near the end of the game that proved decisive. More on that later though, on the Rangers’ first power play they showed us how it was done with the man advantage when Brandon Dubinsky scored at 7:32 to tie the game – the first time.

After a leaky second period where they allowed fourteen shots on net and took almost back-to-back penaties maybe we were fortunate to still be tied, but we were getting our chances and finally Elias would rifle in a one-timer off a nice David Clarkson pass at 3:53 to break the tie early in the third. Danius Zubrus also got an assist on the goal, which is interesting because I barely remember him being on the ice last night at all and sure enough his TOI was a mere 10:32 last night.

Granted, when Lemaire did allow him to play he had a few nice shifts but for some reason known only to him, Lemaire’s put Zubrus in the doghouse the last several games after he’d started playing by far his best hockey as a Devil. It’s not just a matter of playing coach’s pet Rolston over him which is bad enough, Zubrus didn’t even get time on a rare Devils power play where one of our fourth-liners (can’t remember who but think it was Dean McAmmond) was playing RW over him and I was beside myself, where the **** is Zubrus?!

That wouldn’t be my last ounce of frustration with Lemaire on the night but for now my main concern was the leaky defense, which allowed the Rangers’ fourth line to tie the game at 9:40 when Artem Ansimov scored a Marian Gaborik-like goal and both Ranger enforcers Brandon Prust and Jody Shelley (who did lose to Peters in the obligatory first-period fight) got assists. Perhaps that explains Shelley’s bizarre presence on the ice in the final couple minutes after the Rangers fell behind again when Langenbrunner finally – finally! – put a slapshot past Lundqvist for his seventeenth goal of the year at 12:37 off assists from Elias and Andy Greene.

While I can’t say I ever thought the game was over I was comfortable with the way the Devils played from in front, trying (not recklessly but still trying) to get the fourth goal instead of sitting back and it worked – until the final minute when the Parise-Elias-Langenbrunner line went to crap on a shift and eventually took an icing with less than thirty seconds left that later some, including Ken Daneyko on the postgame, thought shouldn’t have been called.

Be that as it may, not managing the final minutes to have at least one of your rare halfway decent faceoff men on the ice (either Travis Zajac or Rob Niedermayer) to go against Chris Drury was just not thinking ahead. Having Elias and Langenbrunner as your main faceoff options is just asking for trouble and sure enough Drury wins the faceoff and eventually scored the back-breaking goal with seventeen seconds left off a rebound in front. Another consequence of the icing was it kept our slow and slower defensive pair of Colin White and Mike Mottau on the ice as well, so once again as the Devils blow a late lead – see Game 7 last year – Paul Martin‘s somehow left on the bench.

After that goal and seeing the Bruins’ loss to a lousy Tampa Bay team on the scoreboard the result seemed clear, it was just a matter of how the Rangers would win it. Enter the skills competition when Erik Christensen (a scrub before this season who’s turned into an All-Star against the Devils) scored a nifty goal off both posts and the crossbar that was at first waved off but I knew we weren’t lucky enough to have that one miss going in. That would be all the Rangers needed as Lundqvist stopped Parise, Elias and Zajac in succession and we got our deserved defeat.

Of course in the postgame all people wanted to know was why Kovalchuk didn’t take the shot. Have any of these second-guessers actually watched the Devils since the Olympics? Really? Kovalchuk’s god-awful in the skills competition and was an epic fail on a penalty shot against the Penguins just two weeks ago. Why doesn’t John Tortorella get questioned on not having Gaborik as one of his three shooters, couldn’t be because they won anyway could it? I guess one coach wasn’t right to bench his star in the skills competition but the other was.

Besides there are more than enough things to criticize Lemaire for without defaulting to that silly one. Every player we put out has had some success in the shootout, they didn’t last night including Parise having about the easiest shot I’ve ever seen another goaltender have to make a save on from his stick. Bottom line, we blew three leads for the second straight game against the Rangers and could have easily put the game away before finally blowing it at the end of regulation, overtime point or not we deserved that humiliation in front of a crowd that was actually as pro-Devils as I’ve ever seen at the Rock for any Devil-Ranger game. Pity.

BoNY Three Stars:

  1. Henrik Lundqvist (35/38 saves)
  2. Patrik Elias (goal, assist, +1 and 6 SOG in 24:28)
  3. Chris Drury (goal, +1 in 23:27)
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Man bites dog: Devils’ PP the difference in 6-3 win

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Derek

After the Devils’ latest frustrating loss to a non-playoff team on Saturday night came a mini-contreversy when Zach Parise criticized the fans for booing a power play that has been struggling for months. A cynic might say that actually did help the players after last night, for the Devils managed to score not one, not two but three power play goals in a 6-3 win over the Blue Jackets last night. I hope we didn’t use up two months’ supply in one game! Seriously though, maybe the booing did help in an odd way for instead of overthinking the power play the Devils came out angry and determined to do something about it.

Parise himself led the way, as he usually does – scoring off a rebound from a Jamie Langenbrunner shot at 13:01 for his 34th of the season. Far too often this season I’ve been on the Devils for not going to the net with the man advantage but it wasn’t a problem on their first goal last night as both Parise and the captain crashed the net. After an otherwise bleh first period, the Devils led 1-0 going into the second, and would score their second power play goal very quickly when a Patrik Elias shot rebounded right to Paul Martin, who put the puck into an open net just 74 seconds into the second period for Martin’s second goal of the season. Both of Martin’s goals have come in the week’s time since the defenseman’s return to the lineup and Elias also got his second point of the night after an assist on the first goal.

Despite Elias and Langenbrunner’s contribution on the first two goals, both would be made to look silly at 3:40 of the period when Kristian Huselius stickhandled his way around both forwards and then slid a pass to a wide-open Antoine Vermette who fired one past Martin Brodeur to cut the lead in half. Later in the period the game would hang in the balance when Dean McAmmond looked like he was having a roid rage moment jumping Mike Blunden, but actually looking at a replay he was justified to do so after Blunden hit him up high along the boards plus after telling McAmmond he was willing to fight Blunden didn’t drop the gloves, a Sean Avery-like cheap shnooker.

Amazingly we got the extra penalty out of all that (a double-minor at that!), and just over a minute later Rob Niedermayer‘s penalty gave the Jackets an extended five-on-three. Fortunately Brodeur and the remaining PK’ers killed off 43 seconds of that before a Huselius penalty canceled out the rest of the four on three and most of the double-minor remaining to McAmmond, who also got a ten minute misconduct penalty. Hockey justice was served as on the brief Devils power play that followed, Parise dished off to Kovalchuk on the side of the net and instead of firing a one-timer he waited for a couple of seconds and somehow slipped a wrist shot past Steve Mason shortside at 12:32 for his 37th goal of the year and second point of the night after a secondary assist on Martin’s goal. Mike Mottau also got an assist on Kovy’s sixth goal as a Devil.

Kovalchuk’s goal seemed to loosen him up, as he’d actually not been having a very good game up to that point, passing when he should have shot (not to mention stickhandling, then losing the puck when Rick Nash lost his stick on one of the power plays) and missing the net when he did shoot although watching a replay to his credit he did make a good play backchecking on a breakaway early in the second, lifting the stick of R.J.Umberger before he could get a good shot off. It wouldn’t take long for Kovalchuk to have his next positive impact on the scoresheet, getting open in the slot for a turnaround shot and rifling one that deflected off Travis Zajac and in at 15:40, giving the Devils a 4-1 lead for Zajac’s 22nd of the year. Martin continued his strong game with an assist for his second point of the night, and played a team-leading 22:20 showing that he is indeed back in form now.

Zajac’s puckluck continued when a Mike Mottau shot from the point bounced off his glove with just 53 seconds left in the second period for his second goal of the night, neither with the aid of a stick. Kovalchuk also added another assist for his fourth point of the game, which is kind of scary (for everyone else) to think about considering he had a shaky first thirty minutes and still put up four points. Still, even with a 5-1 lead the Devils gave me some anxious moments, starting with a spectacular defensive breakdown 33 seconds after Zajac’s goal when four Devils got caught in the offensive zone – three on one side of the boards and Andy Greene got turned around on the ensuing two-on-one which saw Derick Brassard‘s feed find Jakob Voracek for a goal which took away some of the momentum from an otherwise great four-goal period.

While our 11-4 edge in shots during the third period suggested we took control from then on, it felt anything like that at the time, especially when Huselius scored in close six minutes into the third to make it 5-3 and really get me worried. Fortunately Parise wasn’t finished with his highlight reel for the night either, executing a 180 degree spin in front of the net and roofing a pretty shot past Mason for a spectacular second of the night, making it 6-3 at 12:52 and effectively finishing the game. Elias and Langenbrunner got the assists on the goal but that was all #9’s skill. Seconds from the end of the game Parise came oh so close to the hat trick on a late power play but it wasn’t to be.

Almost lost in the shuffle of my recap was another impressive fight from sudden fan favorite Pierre Luc-Letourneau Leblond during the second period with Columbus scrapper Jared Boll. Three nights after the marathon bout with Cam Janssen, Leblond held his own with another proven fighter – this after Boll had challenged him earlier in the period during a scrap but Leblond apparently was smart enough to realize that because of McAmmond’s ‘fight’ which had already taken place both would get thrown out if they dropped the gloves. So they waited, and eventually dropped them seconds after Kovalchuk’s goal. Leblond lost his helmet during the fight but not his nerve and now seems to have carved out a fairly solid place in the lineup.

More importantly last night’s win put the Devils back into first place by percentage points and gave Brodeur the eighth 40-win season of his career. With a showdown against the fading Rangers tomorrow, it would behoove the Devils to keep up the hot streak if they want the division since the Penguins’ schedule softens up considerably the last couple weeks of the season aside from a couple of matchups with a Caps team that’s on Indianpolis Colt-like cruise control after lapping the field for first in the East.

BoNY Three Stars:

  1. Ilya Kovalchuk (goal, three assists, +2 in 21:47)
  2. Travis Zajac (two goals, +1)
  3. Zach Parise (two goals, assist, -1 and 8 SOG)
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3D Vision Suckage

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Derek

As most of you know by now considering all the Garden propaganda that naturally focuses on anything else but tomorrow’s meaningless showdown between the Islanders and Rangers, Wednesday March 24 is the first ever 3D televised hockey game. With nothing else to talk about, MSG has milked this for all its worth, inviting fans who aren’t disgraced to purchase tickets for 20 a pop at the “Exclusive” Viewing Party in WAMU Theater.

Much like the gates which don’t open at 6 due to lame security losers who like to bust our balls (no joke), it’s scheduled to open at the same time where they probably won’t act like douches because that only seems to apply to us loyal suckers inside the World’s Most Mediocre Arena. Be that as it may, it does sound like an ultra cool concept for interested puckers to see our sucky team battle the only true rival for draft position. Tonight’s Bruins’ 4-0 dethroning of Atlanta pretty much guarantees our first playoff miss post-lockout, returning us to the Dark Ages. I’ve already gone on record as guaranteeing no postseason for next year as well because I fail to see how it can be fixed enough to compete. Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider and the rest of our prospects better pan out or we’re looking at another lengthy stay on the golf course.

None of this will stop talking heads like Al Rotwig, John Giannone and Joe Micheletti from going on and on about how “totally awesome” the Rangers and Islanders look in 3D. Unless you attend the Viewing Party which will as usual celebrate our past with special guests Mark Messier, Adam Graves, Ron Greschner, Ron Duguay, Nick Fotiu and poor Dark Ages victim Dan Blackburn, you’ll likely get shutout. According to the official team site, the only other way to catch this Garden exclusive is to already own 3D TV sets. Cablevision subscribers will be allowed to view it on a separate MSG channel. Not really sure what that entails but my guess is you’ll find out somehow.

As for us, we’ll be in our normal 411 seats bagging on this latest sham that covers up how embarrassing the season has been. To not make the playoffs in such a pathetic conference speaks for itself. With any luck depending on my schizo pc which seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown (haha), I’ll have the recap of another sleepless night. Likely one of my last in the building with the April Flyer game probably the end of a 14-year run. Well, counting my first ever hockey game which was a 2-1 overtime win over the Red Wings on my birthday thanks to Brian Leetch setting up Pat Verbeek, it’s 14 and a half years.

If this is really it, I will miss the enthusiasm from our section along with some of the greatest fans the sport has who live and die with this team. I’m biased but 411 has the best hockey fan who I’ll put up against anybody. If he were running our team, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. It’s the regulars who have made it such an enjoyable experience. Even if there haven’t been a lot of huge moments sans Michal Rozsival’s triple overtime Game 3 winner and the five-game revenge on Marty, it’s always been a blast. I can’t thank the people around us enough. I’ll also miss warm-ups, greeting opposing broadcasters, John Amirante and of course viewing the game from all the way at the top because there’s nothing like taking it in live while watching plays develop. You can’t get that as much sitting up close nor the energy the true diehards bring. I’ll also miss the ushers who do their best and usually with a smile unlike the loser Dolan security who think they own the place, doing so by emulating Scrooge. Yeah. Anyone who’s seen those two ugly dirtbags knows who I’m referring to.

Regardless, a special thank you to my Dad for making it all possible. You have always been there for me and Justin. Even when times got tough, you’ve always understood and gotten it. For that, I can never repay you. For Jazzy Jim, tomorrow may be about 3D Vision Suckage but for us, it’s about being able to watch/enjoy the game in your company along with Just’s pal Mike.

Happy Birthday Dad! Don’t forget to make a wish and blow out the candles when we get home. 🙂

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Sid is just a Kid

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Derek

All-Star. Hart Trophy. Stanley Cup. Gold Medal Olympic Hero. Golden Boy. Nobody can deny the special talent of Sidney Crosby. At 22 years of age, the Penguin leader has accomplished plenty already, silencing cynics like us that can’t stomach him along with co-bloggers Hasan and Brian.

While the ever popular “Crosby Sucks” spreads to every arena outside Mellon Arena who hear no evil see no evil from their hockey God, frustration mounts at what he’s allowed to get away with daily. In between all the goals, assists and points, Sid The Kid shows off his bad side getting underneath opponents’ skin, which usually involves using his stick illegally. Most would agree that’s putting putting it mildly. It doesn’t seem to matter who he faces. The league co-leading finisher loves to chop opponents while programmed referees turn their backs. Fans in the metro area who rarely get along can at least agree one this sore subject. Crosby sucks. The missed slashes and repeated hacks that are just as reckless and disrespectful as an Ovechkin shove from behind are ignored.

Nobody will ever accuse Sidney of being a dirty player. However, such antics like he childishly displayed at the conclusion of tonight’s nationally televised Versus game in a Cup rematch at Detroit show a different side than the lovey dovey character we get shoved down our throats. While it’s true his success benefits the NHL and NBC which most feel stands for Nothing But Crosby, would it kill the powers to be to take a closer look at the wonder boy following another stick incident? His team lost 3-1 to Henrik Zetterberg, who flat out dominated finishing with two goals and an assist while shutting down Sid. It’s easy to talk Crosby-Ovie 24/7, but it’s this writer’s opinion that Zetterberg and Red Wing teammate Pavel Datsyuk are better overall players. This isn’t a knock on the super-hyped rivalry. Just an objective take that the guys who wear the Winged Wheel along with ageless wonder Nicklas Lidstrom don’t take a back seat.

Apparently, Sid vehemently disagrees. How else to explain the latest cheap shot, repeatedly shoving his stick into a furious Zetterberg as the buzzer sounded at The Joe, signaling the latest big win for a Detroit outfit who refuse to go away. Perhaps their inspired play which saw a heroic Zett backhand rifled past Roberto Luongo with 0.3 left to spare in Vancouver has intimidated San Jose and Chicago, who’ve eerily lost enough allowing the miracle Coyotes to catch up. As for the Pens’ captain, maybe he was just taking out his frustration following a no point, minus-two game against one of the best two-way players we’ve ever seen. After being stifled by Calder front runner Jimmy Howard seconds earlier, his latest tantrum didn’t sit well with the rookie netminder who defended his teammate by challenging Crosby, who typically backed off.

“I knew it was him without turning around,” Zetterberg pointed out while Sid retorted, “I don’t think that’s where he [Howard] should be. “I don’t know what he was doing over there.” The same thing even Henrik Lundqvist did following your continued lack of respect for your peers.

Pittsburgh roughing – 2 min 20:00, S. Crosby
Detroit roughing – 2 min 20:00, J. Howard
Detroit roughing – 2 min 20:00, H. Zetterberg

So, what do you think happened? All ref tandem Tim Peel and Brian Pochmara saw fit to do was handout matching roughs to Zetterberg and the guilty party who got away with crosschecks while also giving Howard two as well. You guessed it. Somehow, the Red Wings wound up with two extra minutes. Even if it was only a matter of book keeping, it summed up the serious double standard that few have the gall to write about. When will Gary Bettman and Colin Campbell finally take action against their guy? Is it going to take one of those unnecessary whacks which finally injures another to penalize the face of the league?

Between you, me and the lamppost, that day probably will never come. In a game that’s pushing radical changes to prevent head shots like the one Crosby’s teammate Matt Cooke delivered and got away with on poor Marc Savard, they refuse to notice what Sid does after whistles. No discipline. Not even a warning. Makes plenty of sense given how it’s run.

If you didn’t know any better, you’d swear Bettman and Campbell are the real life version of Lloyd and Harry. Who knew? Dumb & Dumber truly do exist. No wonder their kid runs a muck.

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On Road To B’ruin

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Derek

If one were to grade the Rangers’ performance in a must win versus a mediocre Bruin team that’s hanging on, it would be an F. Once again, they flunked out this time by a score of 2-1 in Beantown. Once, this Original 6 match-up was great with plenty of fanfare. Not anymore. After 20 sloppy minutes, NBC execs had to be shaking their heads in disgust. It had about as much appeal as watching paint dry.

What does it say about this league when this is what you get for the final spot? At least Boston has an excuse. What’s the Rangers? Don’t answer that. Credit the Bruins for doing what they had to in getting a badly needed win even if it was only their second at TD Northbank since the Winter Classic. Coming off a disgraceful performance in the Matt Cooke game which even drew the ire of Cam Neely, the B’s were hungrier winning every battle. They finished every check and forced our Hostess Twinkies lineup into more turnovers than at the bakery I just ordered my Dad’s birthday cake from.

Miserable and lifeless would be a good way to describe our heroes, who did their best Invisible Man act in what Garden shill Don LaGreca described as the “biggest game in over 10 years.” Apparently, the so-called ESPN 1050 pregame host must’ve conveniently forgotten Game Five EC Semis at Buffalo 2007. Embarrassing. How much can you insult our intelligence? The Jagr Era at least produced two exciting first round wins, including the five-game revenge that drove the Devils and Marty into early tee times. Say what you will about Tom Renney but those teams cared. The Post No.68 Error has been a disaster. We’re not advocating bringing him back as it would probably turn into Messier II. The day Savior cut ties with JJ, that was the end. Back to the Dark Ages of teasing the Garden Faithful.

How hard has it been? Watching this team has turned into a chore. Just like it used to be. A sad tale that’s been rearing its ugly head from the ashes as this season’s gone on. As we’ve openly stated in this space, more and more fans aren’t opposed to seeing this team go in the tank for a better draft pick. If only Jazzy Jim gave a damn instead of pushing this bogus 3D M$G Extravaganza Wednesday against the Islanders, charging 20 more dollars to con more suckers. Anything to screw over a way too loyal fanbase that will continue to shrink next Fall as more season tix aren’t renewed.

Updating my situation, unless something drastically changes this summer, I’m not returning. I’ve had enough. I’ll save my family money and myself some as well since I always donate to the cause. A lost one. I don’t see it getting any better next year. Mark it down. 3/21/10 at 6:36 ET. Derek Felix of Battle Of New York guarantees the Rangers miss the playoffs again, finishing even lower. The worst aspect is nothing will even change. Business will go on as usual as if everything’s right. M-E-D-I-O-C-R-I-T-Y. Dolan Vision.

While many guys wearing our colors didn’t bother to show- a list which is too long for me to bother with- Henrik Lundqvist did everything possible to give his teammates a chance. He made plenty of strong stops keeping it scoreless for more than half the contest, including stoning Daniel Paille’s penalty shot following an undisciplined Artem Anisimov wrap job. I’ve been one of his defenders all year because it’s unrealistic to expect him to light it up in Year 1. But there’s too many instances where he struggles. The skill is there for the lanky 21 year-old Russian but he needs to seriously bulk up so that he has more of a role next go round.

The Rangers had opportunities thanks to a few ill advised Boston penalties, including an unnecessary Zdeno Chara hi-sticking double minor. Four minutes with their best player off the ice. Leave it to the Booshirts to botch the entire thing, not even registering a shot on Tuukka Rask. I’ve echoed it many times but you just can’t make this stuff up.

When the Bruins stayed out of the box, they were the aggressor banging bodies and generating more off the attack, forcing Lundqvist to be really good. It remained scoreless until another sad reality took place where our boys actually turned immortal Andrew Ference into Bobby Orr– allowing him to set up washed up Miro Satan for the game’s first goal with 3:47 left in the second. In a pathetic display, they all went to Ference, who was on a bad angle along the left wall with both Marc Staal and Michal Rozsival forgetting completely about Satan, who snuck in for the easiest goal he’s ever scored and relevancy. Unbelievable. That same player who Pierre McGuire trashed accidentally banged into one of our guys for a lazy interference minor with 26.5 seconds left.

Leave it to Olli Jokinen to take a selfish rough before the buzzer, ending a power play in which they wouldn’t have scored anyway. Speaking of the Jokester, he is garbage. He has been invisible in these games and hasn’t scored since 2/12. Ser—ious—ly. To think I actually thought he’d be important to Calgary this year. What an absolute waste. He took one shot and was in the box three different times. Great job! No wonder the Flames took Chris Higgins and Ally.

Trailing by one, the Rangers had maybe one or two chances to draw even with Rask stifling Marian Gaborik and Sean Avery ringing one off the post. They just didn’t create much. Losing Ryan Callahan for the third didn’t help. On one shift late in the second, he out-hustled Chara to negate an icing but took a hit, skating off awkwardly. It’s being termed a “lower body” injury.

During first intermission, McGuire and Mike Milbury alluded to how much pressure’s on Lundqvist to be perfect. He finally succumbed to the pressure permitting Dennis Wideman’s backhand from the slot that made it 2-0 with less than 10 minutes left. On the play, the aforementioned Jokinen over skated leaving Wideman vacated where he took a Vladimir Sobotka pass and fooled Henrik for his fourth. Milan Lucic added a helper. Game. Set. Match. So what if Mike Del Zotto got his eighth when his point shot deflected off Lucic to foil Rask’s shutout bid with 3:04 to go. The Rangers weren’t coming back because they’re incapable.

“Sure, this was a team that we’re chasing and we needed those points,” a dejected Vinny Prospal said. “It’s a big loss for us, but, on the other hand, we can’t just say it’s over.”

I’ll say it for you. Season over. On the road to B’ruin.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Dennis Wideman, Bos (GW w/9:40 left in 3rd, 3 SOG, +1 in 17:24)
2nd Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (29 saves, falls to 28-26-8 w/2.46 GAA, .918 Save .Pct)
1st Star-Tuukka Rask, Bos (23 saves for 17th win in rookie year)

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Did someone say important?

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Derek

FIFTEEN. That’s the total number of shots the Rangers have gotten on Tuukka Rask through two periods in the “biggest game of the season versus Boston. In a game they trail 1-zip after turning immortal Andrew Ference into Gretzky, that included a four-minute power play that had Zdeno Chara off for an errant stick on countryman Marian Gaborik. How many shots do you think they got? Zero.

Embarrassing. Humiliating. Disgraceful. Lackluster. Passionless. Pointless. That’s how to describe the joke Ranger hockey has become. Olli Jokinen. You were acquired to boost our offense. Not to demonstrate why you’re on your fourth team in less than two years. That penalty was exactly what Pierre McGuire termed, “Selfish.” At least Chris Higgins tried.

In a game where Henrik Lundqvist has given you every chance stoning Daniel Paille on a penalty shot, they’ve come up with nothing. Why is it going to change in the third? This is what they are.

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Devils leave points on the table yet again

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Derek

Despite the Devils’ perfect record against the Penguins, they haven’t been able to stay on top of the Atlantic for very long post-Olympics. For every win over Pittsburgh, there’s been at least one bad loss to follow it, and in a nutshell the Penguins are just playing much better against the rest of the league than we are. New Jersey’s had their opportunities to regain control of the division but when you lose to crappy teams like the Islanders twice, the Leafs twice, Edmonton and last night another non-playoff team in the Blues – well you get your just desserts.

Everything was right there for the Devils last night after the Canes’ overtime win against Pittsburgh. With two games in hand, all the Devils needed was a win at home to get back atop the division. Over the last few months, the Prudential Center has been very beneficial to the Devils, but last night that didn’t matter. Neither did the inspired fight between Pierre Luc-Letourneau Leblond and fan favorite ex-Devil Cam Janssen. It’s sad when a first period fight that’s an even draw turns out to be the most inspired moment all night for the home team, but that’s not to take away from the bout between those two. It was one of the best hockey fights I’ve seen in quite some time, with both guys landing shots, not giving an inch and it lasted over two and a half minutes, finally ending when Janssen got his helmet knocked off.

Still, emotion was lacking for the Devils once again at the start of the game and the one and only goal last night was evidence of this as a bad (and idiotic) line change with under twenty seconds left in the first period led to a two-on-one opportunity and Alex Steen roofed an unscreneed slapshot that quite honestly I felt Martin Brodeur should have had. As Jacques Lemaire said after the game though, you don’t really deserve breaks when you don’t work hard.

You have to work all the time. If you work all the time, you’ll get the bounces.
As soon as we started to work, we didn’t get the bounces and the guys got
frustrated…It’s the excitement to play, the life that we don’t see. You want
to finish first. You want to finish as high as possible. You get a chance to win
a game here. Just play hard. Get excited to play. And we didn’t see that.

Quite frankly I’m at the point where I’m tired of excuses too. Seventh game in eleven nights, playing a team that’s more desperate yadda yadda yadda. I don’t want to hear it, not when we’ve given away so many points against the dregs of the league. When you beat your main competitior in the division six straight times you should be leading the way no problem, instead the Devils are fortunate they’ve been so dominant head-to-head, otherwise the division would be long gone and we’d be fighting just to get home-ice. Especially when you consider every one of the Penguins’ 90 points came against teams other than the Devils while New Jersey only has 74 in non-Penguin games, so clearly they’ve played much better against the rest of the league than we have.

It’s not entirely a coincidence that the team’s struggles started when the power play blew up. For the first half of the season the Devils actually had one of the better power plays in the league (haha) and were a machine at that point. Since then, the team’s floundered and having the worst power play in the league is a main reason why. Things have gotten so bad that last night Zach Parise of all people criticized the sellout crowd for booing the power play. Now personally I find it hard to boo lack of execution but when you don’t shoot the puck at all then yeah, I get as frustrated as anyone. You can’t score if you don’t shoot after all, though by most accounts – I only got to see about half this game – the power play was actually better last night at taking and creating chances which is all you can ask at this point.

And yeah, Blues backup Ty Conklin made some good saves but come on now. Ilya Kovalchuk had yet another maddening near miss when he got stoned on the doorstep of an open net by St. Louis forward Brad Boyes. Travis Zajac also hit a post, among other opportunities the Devils almost converted on but the bottom line is if you can’t do any better than one goal in two games against the lousy Leafs and Blues defenses and you think you’re going to do anything in the playoffs, well guess again. You can’t play the Penguins every round after all.

In fact, the Devils’ first-round opponent right now would be the Flyers, who they’re 1-3-1 against this season. Goaltending issues or not, they’ve played very well against us this year and as the last three nights have shown you don’t need a great goalie to stop a below-average offense and horrendous power play. What gnaws at me about this team is we should be better offensively, there’s no two ways about it. With Kovalchuk, Parise, Zajac and Patrik Elias, among others, there’s no reason at all we should still be struggling to score goals against bad teams and have to fumigate the arena after every power play.

Next up for the team is Tuesday’s home matchup against Columbus, and there will be no schedule excuses after two days off at home. I would say we have to lay the lumber to the Blue Jackets, except quite honestly we don’t blow any team out – at all. Most of the Pittsburgh games came closest to being laughers but really two and three-goal games aren’t usually routs. Even our 6-1 win over the Islanders in November couldn’t be classified as a laugher since it was 2-1 with ten minutes left.

With only eleven games left now before the tournament, it’s about time to show some consistency and shape up around here.

BoNY Three Stars:

  1. Ty Conklin (29 saves)
  2. Alexander Steen (goal, +1)
  3. Pierre Luc-Letourneau Leblond (fight, 4:35 TOI)
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Islanders blanked by Quick

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Derek

If they fall short in their bid for a postseason, the Islanders will look back on the past 24 hours in California. A night removed from a heartbreaking 5-4 overtime defeat to Saku Koivu and Anaheim, the Long Island club was blanked by Los Angeles 1-zip at Staples Center. Jon Quick turned aside all 26 in backstopping the Kings past Scott Gordon’s club- dealing them a second consecutive tough loss.

Unlike Friday when the roof caved in with the team blowing a 4-2 third period lead before Koivu won it 14 seconds into OT, the Islanders never led against another desperate club attempting to qualify for their first postseason since 2001-02. Terry Murray’s bunch entered with 85 points- four better than Calgary and Detroit, who pulled off another magic rabbit out of the hat in a thriller against Vancouver courtesy of Henrik Zetterberg. With Nashville also pulling out a 1-0 OT decision in Columbus, the pressure was on LA to hold serve. Thanks to Brad Richardson’s tally midway through the first period, Quick was able to make it stand up, moving the Kings past the Preds into fifth out West with 87 points. One better than idle Colorado, who fell to seventh with the Wings three back and ninth Calgary five out.

While that was good news for their opponent, it sure did nothing for the Islanders who remained at 68 points tied with red hot Carolina, who came back to beat Pittsburgh courtesy of Jamie McBain’s OT winner with under a second left moving them into a three-way 11th place tie with the Lightning (3-1 loss to Caps) and Isles. Technically, Gordon’s club ranks 13th by virtue of one more game played (72-71). Trailing eighth Boston by six with only 10 left, they’ll actually have to root for the Rangers later today in the NBC Of The Week. They’ll need the enemy to win in regulation. Go figure. While March Madness is taking place in another sport, there’s plenty of madness going on in the NHL where you had Calgary fans rooting for the Canucks tonight to no avail.

No doubt these are desperate times for a young Islander team led by rookie John Tavares, whose five-point game in a win over those Nucks a few nights ago gave them life in this wacky race. If only they’d held onto that two-goal lead a night before, which ultimately saw a furious Gordon walk out of a press conference following the dreaded third period question. Sure. They got a point but at this pressure packed time of year, you need every single one. Especially with the wins tiebreaker. Their 29 victories are two less than Boston, the Rangers and Atlanta, who go Niclas Bergfors’ 20th (7th as a Thrasher) in a 5-2 home triumph over Philadelphia to pull within a point of the Bruins.

The odds are stacked against them but stranger things have happened. Aside from Carolina, nobody’s playing well. If the Isles can put together one more good stretch, who knows? They don’t play again until Wednesday’s Garden 3D clash against the Rangers before returning home for a tough back-to-back against Calgary. They’ll then visit Columbus before seeing the Blueshirts once more on March 30. In other words, those games will have even more significance. Of a possible 20 points that could take them to a max of 88, they’ll likely need to go 8-1-1 to give themselves a realistic chance. Not bad for a team written off before the season in Year 1 Of JT91. Believe it or not, 85 could do it for that final spot. In ’02-03, under the guidance of Peter Laviolette, the Islanders squeezed out 83 to hold off the Rangers.

Can a similar miracle take place? While they’ll need plenty of help, the Islanders will need to play their best hockey. One point will no longer do. And zero like they got Saturday are a no no. Sure. They competed hard against a solid team who also want to steal some of the spotlight from Kobe’s Lakers. But despite coming close with Tavares setting up Kyle Okposo on the doorstep with nine seconds left, it wasn’t enough.

Unfortunately, Richardson’s lone tally stood up. The only goal was set up by Wayne Simmonds, who dug out a loose puck and found his teammate in the slot for a wrister which beat Dwayne Roloson at 13:35 of the first. The Isles did get chances but weren’t able to solve Quick, who also got help from his best friend the goalpost on a Tavares shot early in the second. Late in the stanza, the rookie had another glorious chance denied when his backhand was shutdown by the sprawling Kings’ netminder. It was that kind of night.

“We had some glorious opportunities, but they got the best of us,”a disappointed former King and leading Islander finisher Matt Moulson expressed. “One big mistake cost us the game.”

Roloson, who played a stellar game himself turning aside 25 of 26, thwarted Jarrett Stoll’s shorthanded bid to keep it a one-goal deficit with under 16 minutes remaining. It wasn’t a good night for the Islander power play which fired blanks in four chances against a hot PK that’s now killed 24 straight.

“The penalty kill is just really about work and execution,” LA captain Dustin Brown said. “We’ve kind of gotten into a groove with short shifts.”

For New York, it would come down to the wire with Gordon pulling Roloson for an extra skater with over a minute to go. The Kings killed most of it with stellar work in the neutral zone. However, finally a Mark Streit dump with under 35 ticks left gave his teammates a chance to recover the puck along the right wall. A great hustle play by Richard Park kept it alive where Tavares got the biscuit behind the net and quickly threaded a no-look backhand feed to Okposo. But Friday’s multi-goal scorer couldn’t beat Quick, who was in perfect position to snuff out the dangerous opportunity.

Needing to win the draw for one last shot, the Isles couldn’t as LA won the puck and cleared the zone as time wound down- dealing them another hard defeat. Now, they become spectators and will have to hope for help from the Rangers until they meet Wednesday. Insanity.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Brad Richardson, LA (game-winner-11th of season, 0 goals in ’09-10)
2nd Star-Dwayne Roloson, NYI (25 saves in 45th start of season)
1st Star-Jon Quick, LA (26 saves for 4th SHO of season-8th career)

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Devils lose shootout, division lead in Toronto

Posted on March 19, 2010 by Derek

As Yogi Berra would say, last night in Toronto was deja vu all over again. Coming off a big win over the Penguins at home, just as they had last Friday the Devils had to play a road game the next night. And just as the Devils did on Long Island, they started Yann Danis in goal, incredibly giving the backup netminder two starts in three games (maybe now after how badly Martin Brodeur stunk for two months starting every game we’re finally conceding that he shouldn’t play 19 out of every 20 games in a compressed schedule?). Even though Danis played well in regulation and overtime, the Devils still came out on the short end in the shootout, dropping one point which put them behind the Penguins again after Pittsburgh’s rebound win in Boston.

Although last night’s game was competitive for sure, unlike the previous night there weren’t too many fireworks. Especially in a drab first period which saw the Leafs outshoot New Jersey 9-5 and score the period’s only goal when Phil Kessel put in a rebound at 18:54. Toronto’s late first period goal looked as if it might hold up with Jean-Sebastian Giguere in net. Though Giguere isn’t the monster he was in 2003 or even the solid goalie who won a Cup a few years later, he still finds a way to beat the Devils everywhere but New Jersey (and he hasn’t showed his face or overstuffed pads there once since our beatdown of him in the four Finals games at the Continental Airlines Arena).
In his first game for the Leafs in fact, he shut us out earlier in the year and looked as if he was on his way to doing it again until an unlikely pair combined to put the Devils on the board. Pierre Luc-Letourneau Leblond fed David Clarkson in front for a one-timer, giving Clarkie his ninth goal of the year at 15:46 and the pugilistic Leblond his first point of the season. Leblond was getting a rare shift on the third line because both he and Andrew Peters were in the lineup, a somewhat contreversial decision by Jacques Lemaire meant to try to keep Colton Orr and Dion Phaneuf in check. Clearly Vladimir Zharkov is in purgatory (if he’s not going to play, which I’m fine with then can we send him down already?), perhaps Jay Pandolfo was being rested after a decent game Wednesday and Brian Rolston had a mysterious injury that caused him to be dropped to the fourth line two nights ago and a scratch last night. I’m surprised the Devils didn’t just term this ‘body maintenance’ instead of hiding the fact he was hurt at all.
In terms of the rough stuff, Peters did fight Orr early in the second, and Clarkson attempted to drop them with Phaneuf but he didn’t bite and Clarkson got tagged with a harsh instigator penalty. I didn’t see Clarkson drop his gloves so I don’t know why he got nailed, but hey it’s the ‘new NHL’ after all! There were few fireworks after that however, especially on the scoreboard though both teams had their chances in the third period to break the tie. Of course, the Devils power play proved perplexing (say that three times fast!) once again, going 0-4. It’s just inconceivable how bad we’ve been on the man advantage in the second half of the season, especially after lighting it up the first half. Hopefully we get this straightened out before the playoffs because this can’t continue, especially with the star players we have offensively.
Then again the stars had an off night in general, Lemaire even going so far as to say Ilya Kovalchuk didn’t play well but skated hard. Travis Zajac had a golden opportunity to score in the second period on a two-on-one after a pass from Zach Parise but was stopped by Giguere. On the plus side, at least defense wasn’t really an issue last night though there were too many quality chances on Danis that the young goaltender did well to stop. Still, the icetime distribution was encouraging. Among defensemen, Mike Mottau led the team with 22:19 and Bryce Salvador was sixth with 16:44, a relatively even split you don’t often see…especially on a team that was playing Mottau and Andy Greene 28-30 minutes a night not too long ago. Of course, last night was the team’s fifth game in seven days so that distribution was even more neccesary.
After the game ground to a halt in overtime following late power play chances for each team in regulation, it went to the skills competition. Without Brodeur, the Devils proved very vulnerable as Danis was overmatched, being beaten on all three shots. To their credit, Kessel and John Mitchell both had slick moves though you had to figure if Brodeur had been in there he would have poke-checked at least one away. Nikolai Kulemin‘s middle goal however, was pretty bad even by breakaway standards. Kulemin basically just threw one on net with next to no movement that went in, which I suppose was a changeup after Kessel’s 99 moves on the previous shot but still. Parise’s leadoff goal was every bit as nice as Kessel’s but Patrik Elias was stopped and the Devils lost the shootout.
So while the Devils’ road struggles continue at least they got a point and played okay, much better than the 3-0 whitewashing in the other Air Canada Centre game this year. With the next three games at home against non-playoff teams in St. Louis, Columbus and the Rangers, the Devils have to make hay if they want to stay in front for the division lead. At least it seems now that no matter what the Devils do they will have home-ice for the first round, being nine points ahead of a fifth-seeded Ottawa team that’s been struggling since the Olympics. Still, it would be nice to get the division and ensure home-ice for two rounds, with our home/road split since October.
BoNY Three Stars:
  1. Phil Kessel (goal in regulation and SO, 21:08 TOI)
  2. Jean-Sebastian Giguere (24/25 saves)
  3. David Clarkson (goal, +1)
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The MSG Blues

Posted on March 19, 2010 by Derek

Another opportunity wasted. Yet again, the Rangers couldn’t take advantage of good fortune. With the hapless Bruins losing in the Matt Cooke Revenge game, our heroes failed by falling to the Blues 4-3 at MSG. Their home record is now 15-23. I don’t count OT or gimmick losses. Besides, our team’s stunk it up in those instances anyway, further damaging their chances of a fifth consecutive postseason.

How does a team contending for the playoffs have a losing record on home ice? Absolutely brutal. If you check history, the post-lockout Rangers always were reliable at The Garden. Now, we’re back to the Dark Ages and it shows. If you can’t win at one of the better venues with great support, what does it say about your franchise? There are an awful lot of adjectives I can’t use to express my bitter disappointment. Thank God we sold this game and weren’t there for another classic tease. A game in which the weakest link Wade Redden actually contributed by tying it. And then in the next breath, one of our better players Ryan Callahan lost his check on Paul Kariya, allowing the vet to score his 400th- further crushing Ranger hopes.

Home Ice Disadvantage: A Closer Look At NYR Post-Lockout

Year         Record at MSG    Without OT/SO Losses
’05-06      25-10-6                25-16
’06-07      21-15-5                21-20
’07-08      25-13-3                25-16

’08-09      26-11-4                26-15 
’09-10      15-17-6                15-23

The last time the Blueshirts were this inept at home, they were finishing up a 69-point season in ’03-04. In fact, they won only 13 times back when ties still existed along with the dreaded four column Bettman Era Error. That team went 13-21-3-4 or in more conventional terms, 13-25-3. Coincidence?

In many ways, the way this season’s winding up, it eerily reminds us of ’02-03 when the Islanders gave the Rangers plenty of chances to comeback and steal the eighth spot. Instead, our hapless team ‘led’ by Bobby Holik finished five points behind the Isles, whose 83 were enough to lose in the first round to Ottawa. Fast forward seven years later and history is repeating itself with Boston clinging onto the final spot with 74 points. Three better than both the Blueshirts and Thrashers, who doubled up slumping Ottawa to pull into a tie for ninth. Both Beantown and Hotlanta have 12 left to our 11, underlying just how important Sunday’s NBC tilt is at TD Northbank.

If only it were that simple. Tampa, who lost tonight is 11th with 68 while the Islanders, who’ve reeled off three in a row are tied for 12th with the Panthers just six out. Even the Hurricanes, who pulled out an overtime home win over conference leader Washington are at 66 still hanging around. Given how poorly the injury riddled Bruins and Rangers are playing, anything’s possible.

That brings us to the latest bad loss for the club that resides on 33rd and 7th. They wasted an inspired effort from Marian Gaborik, who snapped out of it with his club-leading 37th goal while setting up the other two Ranger tallies. Talking head John Tortorella came to his senses and put Erik Christensen back with the Great Gabby while finally demoting lifeless Olli Jokinen to the third line. While the change netted positive results, the team still found a way to lose despite out-shooting St. Louis 29-16.

Unfortunately, Henrik Lundqvist wasn’t at the top of his game, permitting a couple he’d like back, including the mystifying unscreened Erik Johnson shot from the right point that left the normally affable 28 year-old Swede waving his arms in disgust. Even if you want to get on Chris Drury for not clearing the puck, it was still inexplicable. Four goals on 16 shots is inexcusable for one of the game’s better netminders. He struggled in spurts, letting out bad rebounds off routine shots. This is one of my pet peeves. I can’t classify Henrik as elite because he still has areas which need fixing, starting with positioning. He plays too far back. A more aggressive goalie cuts off the angles. Aside from that, the conservative approach makes him vulnerable on breakaways. Something we’ve seen this season. Everyone knows you can pick high glove. It’s the other areas he should focus on with Benoit Allaire during the offseason.

It’s not Lundqvist’s fault the team is so poorly constructed. Speaking of which, did Matt Gilroy (8:52 TOI) see the ice in the third period? Here we are in Game 70 and the coach doesn’t even have enough confidence to play the Hobey winner. What’s that thing again about Hobey jinxes? Never mind. Where they lost this one was during the first three critical minutes, failing miserably on an extended five-on-three. So out of sync were they that even blatant homer Joe Micheletti critiqued it by basically saying, ‘This is the worst 5-on-3 I’ve seen.’ You know it’s bad when such a rare moment happens on Jazzy Jim’s Don’t Worry Be Happy Network.

Despite not converting with neither point men Gaborik or the Jokester even considering a shot, the Rangers managed to get it tied when an even rarer sight took place in the form of a Redden goal. The play was made possible by Gaborik and Brandon Dubinsky, who Tort stuck out. In this stretch, Dubi’s played the best hockey of his career. He won the board battle, freeing the puck to Gabby with the puck eventually coming back to an open Redden, who blasted home his second of the season to loud cheers- snapping a 57-game drought. Hell. He even helped set up Gaborik’s 37th back in the first. So, on a night they got three points from their superstar and two from the worst player, they still invented a new way to lose.

One thing we’ve seen too much of is that this team can’t sustain it. How many times have they tied a game just to see an opponent come right back, breaking our hearts? Same losing characteristics the pre-lockout teams had. And coached by the self-proclaimed genius who walks on water and never is accountable. At least Tom Renney always took the blame. The Blues’ winner came 73 seconds later with Kariya finishing off a nice play that David Backes and T.J. Oshie combined on. With Jody Shelley making a poor change, Kariya took him off the puck and then made a bee line for the net escaping Callahan while Oshie set him up for the milestone. Congrats to a classy player who would’ve been a Hall Of Fame lock if not for injuries.

Can anyone please explain to me how it’s possible that Shelley overstayed his shift? What was he even doing out there?!?!?!?!?! Hey. This is the same coach who had the audacity to stick out two-thirds of the fourth line in the final shift after Dubinsky tied the Buffalo game, which they predictably lost in overtime 2-1 on 3/7. You gotta be kidding me.

To their credit, the Blueshirts tried everything to get this one tied but couldn’t beat backup Ty Conklin. Ser—ious–ly. They couldn’t beat the freaking second string goalie, who made 26 saves. In a heated playoff race that’s there for the taking, swept by the Blues. There are no words.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Paul Kariya, Stl (game-winner with 11:36 left-400th career goal)
2nd Star-Erik Johnson, Stl (PPG, 4 PIM, SOG, 2 hits in 17:35)
1st Star-Marian Gaborik, NYR (club-leading 37th plus 2 assists, 3 SOG, +1 in 24:09)

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