Battle Of Hudson

In case you missed it, Chico Resch stopped by the official Devil site the other day and chatted with fans about the team’s great play that has them on top of the East. Through exactly half the season, the Devils own a 30-10-1 mark for 61 points- three better than the Sabres and five ahead of the Capitals. Only the West’s Blackhawks and Sharks have more points with each at 63 pacing the league.

New Jersey has gotten outstanding play from Zach Parise, Patrik Elias, Nicklas Bergfors, Andy Greene and new shutout record holder Martin Brodeur, who recorded No.106 the other night. Travis Zajac and Team USA selection Jamie Langenbrunner have been a big part of it as has rejuvenated Brian Rolston, who’s playing much better under familiar coach Jacques Lemaire. In typical fashion for a team that has been injury plagued with top D Paul Martin still out and David Clarkson reinjured, the Devs have gotten contributions from everyone, including unsung heroes Rob Niedermayer, Dean McAmmond, Jay Pandolfo, Colin White and Bryce Salvador, who’s been instrumental in leading a stingy defense.

Read what Chico has to say on the Devils, his career and of course his favorite foods. Our thanks to Michael Hayes.

Devils Chat Archive with Chico Resch

Bravo Team USA on dethroning Canada in an electrifying WJC gold medal game with Cap D prospect John Carlson winning it in overtime 6-5. Congratulations to our best team since 2004 when they also captured the world championship by stunning their North American rivals in Saskatoon.

It’s a great victory for USA Hockey that should be celebrated by everyone. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see it as I had to attend a close friend’s wake for their grandmother. Condolences. On such an emotional night for our boys to shine through was great. I knew they had it in them but to actually do it in enemy territory after blowing a two-goal lead speaks to the character of this championship team. That Ranger prospect Derek Stepan led them to such a huge triumph is extremely gratifying for a fanbase that hasn’t had much to get excited for. The USA captain paced everyone in the tournament with 15 points (5-10-15), tallying a goal and helper in the third en route to getting named with Carlson to the All-Tournament Team. Canada’s Jordan Eberle, whose eight goals tied for the tourney lead, took MVP honors. Very deserving since he scored both of Canada’s goals to force sudden death. He was dominant.

A lot more can be said about how special a tournament it was for Team USA, reestablishing themselves. We’ll review it in better detail later.

1. Martin Brodeur (28 saves, SHO)
2. Patrik Elias (two goals, +2)
3. Travis Zajac (goal, assist, +1 with 22:29 TOI)

For more than 50 minutes, they’d outplayed the Bruins and were leading by two. Rare in itself. But if you’ve followed this team, you know nothing ever comes easy. So, when a sleepwalking Boston club struck for two in 86 seconds tying it with just over four minutes left, it shouldn’t have been a great shock. Neither was the fact Matt Hunwick’s shorthanded tally started the comeback with our guys standing around and still dazed enough to let the B’s tie.

The more stunning aspect was who scored to rescue the Rangers to an actual regulation win on home ice. Oh. And they scored three without Marian Gaborik on the score sheet. The winner actually came off the stick of Chris Higgins, who finally got off the schneid for his first goal in an eternity. Also his first on home ice. Maybe they can now have a freeze frame MSG Chris Higgins profile as a Ranger.Couldn’t resist. In all seriousness, he has been busting his ass for the past two months. So, it was nice to see him finally get rewarded off if I may say some nice work by the captain Chris Drury and constant Ryan Callahan.

“We played a strong game,” the hero said after ending an 11-goal drought. “We just let up a little bit. … We let them back into the game. But we were confident we were going to win, even when they tied it up.”

It allowed them to win a game at MSG and actually jump into a tie with idle Montreal for seventh. They both have 45 points but Les Habitants have played two more games. So technically, we’re ahead even though the Habs are playing much better. How bad is the East? Do you even have to ask? The good news if you can actually call it that is that our flawed team is in playoff position. The bad is that if they somehow make it, they’ll be easy pickings for the Devils, Caps or Sabres. I fail to see what another gate does for this franchise other than hook up our greedy owner who will screw the fans more than Bret Hart got screwed by Vince McMahon. And that would also mean Slats stays put and again, we’re stuck.

All that said, they played solid earning their 20th win in 42 games. Seriously. That’s less than half and we’re sitting in seventh. For some reason, Boston tried everything to hand us the game, taking four undisciplined minor penalties in a row, including a five-on-three our team blew. But a miracle of sorts took place when there was an Ally Kota-leak sighting. Off a broken play started by Callahan, Dubinsky slid the puck across to Kotalik who blasted a one-timer past Tuukka Rask for his first goal in 22 games. Right away, Versus captured our $3 million mess looking skyward thanking the heavens. Three years. Nine mill with a no-trade.

Up one, the Blueshirts got another man-advantage because Ally’s PPG came on a delayed call. In typical fashion, they couldn’t build off it allowing the Bruins to win every battle that included a couple of shorthanded bids. Kotalik was also involved in a sloppy change that led to a bench minor for Boston’s only PP of the period. The PK did a nice job but Henrik Lundqvist was called upon to make a couple of big saves to keep our team ahead after one.

In the second, a great Mike Del Zotto seam pass found Dubinsky, who one touched it to a cutting Erik Christensen, who broke in from the right side and slipped a one-handed backhand thru Rask’s waffle for a two-goal lead at 7:34. Amazingly, the waiver wire pickup has all four of his points over the last three since being moved up by John Tortorella to the top line. Same guy who was getting mysteriously scratched in favor of Brian Boyle. Boyle was in the lineup as was $1.4 M waste of space Donald Brashear, who replaced Aaron Voros for some reason on the fourth line. Boyle actually had a chance but predictably took a weak backhand off a three-on-two that Rask easily ate up. He later did nice PK work on another Bruin power play with Gabby in the box for a bizarre high toss that went into the stands for delay of game.The Blueshirts played really well in front of Lundqvist, allowing him to see all 11 offerings while they sent 17 on Rask and made it more difficult.

“We played really well in all facets of the game,” a pleased Tortorella emphasized of an effort that saw his club block 24 shots, register 11 takeaways and 35 hits.

Distracted by the wrestling chaos, I didn’t see a ton of the third but didn’t miss much. The B’s were still dead when Zdeno Chara went off for interference with under seven minutes to go. They only got five total shots. Unfortunately, the Ranger PP struck the wrong way, allowing the Bruins some life when Gaborik turned it over on the boards, leading to Hunwick’s SHG. David Krejci outhustled our guys behind the net and worked it to Blake Wheeler, who then found Hunwick in the slot with his backhand whistling past a screened Lundqvist. Suddenly awaken, the B’s took it to us. Even still 5-on-4, the doom and gloom could be felt through the TV. Eventually, Wheeler got the puck and blew one upstairs, stunning only the blatant homers. Somehow, they tied without point leader Patrice Bergeron, who left early in the second after taking a shot off his hand.

Nothing surprises me anymore. So, I didn’t have any reaction and figured they’d lose. Only to my startling discovery when I flipped back, I saw Higgins actually smiling as the bench celebrated his first goal as a Ranger on Garden ice. The one time he scores, I miss it. Versus showed the replay after and he wrong footed Rask, who thought pass on a play Higgins snuck a backhand past the gifted Finnish rookie. Drury and Callahan assisted on the late goal with 89 seconds remaining. Claude Julien pulled Rask for an extra but it was obvious that the Rangers wouldn’t allow them to tie doing a noble job defensively to earn the two points.

3rd Star-Blake Wheeler, Bos (goal/assist, 2 SOG, +2 in 16:33)
2nd Star-Brandon Dubinsky, NYR (2 assists, game best 5 SOG, 4 hits, takeaway, 2 blocked shots, 6-7 draws in 24:16)
1st Star-Christopher Higgins, NYR (GW w/1:29 left-1st goal on home ice, 3 SOG, takeaway/blocked shot, +1 in 16:34)

Tonight, a hot Bruins team visits MSG where our Rangers can’t win. It would help if they could put the puck in the net. Right, Chris Higgins? Have you ever seen a guy work as hard and have worse luck than the guy we got just to rid Scott Gomez’ contract? Even when Slats does something right, it’s like he drank with the Devil, which btw is a good Jack Higgins novel. Oh wait. He does already. Dolan.

You know it’s sad when our sad sack team is 5-1-2 in its last eight and still somehow sitting in eighth with 43 points with half a dozen right behind, not playing well enough. Why can’t our team tank? Getting a high pick would be the best thing for this roster. At least Gabby and Henrik would get help. Well, Derek Stepan is going to be a good one and Chris Kreider isn’t Hugh Specimen. So, there’s that. If I sound so unexcited about this game on Versus, it’s cause I won’t be watching much. Well, I’ll see the first and a little of the other two. See. There’s actually a reason to watch wrestling with Bret “Hitman” Hart returning to WWE and Hulk Hogan on TNA going head to head. As my brother notes, wrestling sucks. But still, we got rid of our tix to see this. That’s when you know your team sucks. I’m sure it will be a “sellout.”

Just how pumped am I? A tweet which amused some of the masses who live and die with this team:

@BattleOfNewYork hey #NYR fans remember what it was like to look forward to our games…

Well, there’s always next year. Sixteen years and counting.

Maybe someone forgot to tell Team USA that they were supposed to roll over at the sight of a more experienced Swedish team that was expected to challenge Canada for the gold. Playing for a second consecutive day against a rested and favored Sweden, USA took their best punch to string the upset- coming back to win the second 2010 WJC semifinal 5-2.

By scoring four unanswered and eliminating a very good team, it allowed the Americans to advance to a rematch with Canada. They played the best game of the tournament on New Year’s Eve with the hosts digging out of a 4-2 hole to win 5-4 in a shootout. That time, it just determined who won Group A. Tomorrow night, the stakes are a lot higher with the two North American rivals vowing for a gold medal in Saskatoon. For Team USA, it’s the first time they’ll be vying for the WJC championship since 2004 when they came back from a 3-1 deficit to stun Canada 4-3. The infamous game where Marc-Andre Fleury misplayed a puck off teammate Braydon Coburn and in for the decider. Now, a new chapter will be written.

It sure wasn’t easy getting to this point for Dean Blais’s scrappy bunch who were decidedly outplayed in a flat second period that saw Sweden use their superlative skill to go in front. Consecutive goals by Anton Lander eight minutes apart off rebounds erased an early USA one-goal lead. Only 84 seconds in, Tyler Johnson took full advantage of a forced turnover by teammate Kyle Palmeiri to bury the chance. In a period they started strong in holding an 11-8 shots edge, they allowed Sweden to mount a good attack for the second half, leading to a few chances which steady netminder Mike Lee stopped in their tracks. Oddly enough, he became the story over last year’s top goalie Jacob Markstrom. He didn’t make as many saves as his counterpart but when called upon, Lee was cool finishing with 27 stops.

Sweden came close to tying it but a shot rang off the far post. They were just getting started. Using their speed and skill, last year’s runner-up came in waves at a shaky USA who had problems dealing with the Swede’s attack. Eventually, Lander got it tied when he rebounded home an Anton Rodin shot at 4:17 of the second. Peter Andersson started the rush and fed Rodin, who took a tricky low shot on Lee that caromed right to Lander for the gimme. With renewed confidence, Sweden killed off back-to-back American power plays, even using their aggressiveness to generated shorthanded chances. Superb work done by Magnus Paarjavi Svensson, Marcus Kruger and Jacob Josefson.

Unable to rebuild momentum from special teams, Team USA continued to be a couple of steps behind. Only some last second backchecks, blocked shots and Lee saves kept it tied. However, they couldn’t hold off Sweden for long with Lander again striking for his second off a similar play. This time, Jakub Silfverberg forced Derek Stepan into a turnover, allowing Rodin to come out with the puck. He outmuscled Stepan releasing another low shot which Lee kicked out. But nobody took Lander, who deposited the garbage for a 2-1 Swedish lead.

At that point, it seemed like Sweden would prevail. Then Blais sent out Luke Walker for a momentum turning shift. During a scrum, the gritty Walker got into it with Martin Lundberg. Each received matching roughing minors. The unsigned kid who impressed in Ranger camp, seemed to envigorate his teammates. On the very next shift, they tied it 64 seconds later when Jeff D’Amigo finished off a two-on-one with John Carlson for the first of two on the night. A smart defensive read by Jake Gardiner behind his net got it started, feeding Carlson who then dished off for a streaking D’Amigo in the neutral zone. He then undressed David Runblad before beating Markstrom thru the pads for a huge goal with less than five minutes left.

“This is a great opportunity for us to show that we’re a good team and we’re here to win gold,” explained the hero who was tabbed as his team’s top star for his two goal performance.

Team USA hung tough after Stepan took an undisciplined minor for delay of game, relying on solid penalty killing and timely Lee saves to keep it all knotted with one period left in regulation. As the game developed, it became chippy with players from both sides mixing it up, including captain Stepan who tried to lead by example following a hard shift. Perhaps that bothered their opponent because just 39 seconds into the third, captain Marcus Johansson received a major and game misconduct for hitting a player from behind. The Swedes lost one of their best players but still managed to kill off the major. Draft eligible defenseman Cam Fowler came close a couple of times but couldn’t beat Markstrom, who also got help on a point blank opportunity from his D. A Fowler slash gave the Swedes a man-advantage but they couldn’t capitalize either.

With the game still tied, something changed. Suddenly, Sweden stopped attacking. Part of it was due to the US team defense with everyone coming back. Svensson used his skating to generate a couple of quality chances including a backhand wrap try Lee snuffed out. But his team just didn’t come as hard. Mattias Tedenby was invisible finishing with no shots and a minus-three rating.

Instead, it was Team USA who were more poised, finally using some grunt work to surge ahead when Carlson connected from the right point with 7:26 remaining. It started with Jeremy Morin winning a battle in the corner to keep the play alive, eventually getting the puck to a vacated Carlson. He patiently waited before firing an innocent wrister which fooled Markstrom due in large part to Chris Kreider, who was in the vicinity screening. A goal Markstrom should’ve had instead gave the Americans a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Ryan Bourque, who had an inspired PK shift earlier in the stanza, took a delay of game minor- giving the Swedes one more chance. All tournament, Stepan has been dangerous shorthanded. On the next shift, he nearly scored before setting up D’Amigo for the nail in the coffin.

After coming close, an active stick by Stepan intercepted a pass at the point for a two-on-one. As the Ranger 2008 second rounder came down the right wing, his eyes went to Markstrom as if he were going to shoot. Instead, he made a no look pass to D’Amigo, who went upstairs for the backbreaking shorthanded goal that gave a pumped up USA a 4-2 lead with 4:28 left. The play drew praise from the NHL Network color analyst, who went out of his way to talk up our three American prospects (Kreider, Bourque). It was pretty cool. If only they could get here now instead of 2-3 years down the road.

“For us, we set a goal in Lake Placid this summer and in North Dakota where we had our tryout camp and our goal was to come out with a medal and the other was to win that gold medal,” Stepan pointed out.

Desperate, Sweden pulled Markstrom with over two minutes left for an extra attacker. However, they couldn’t make it interesting. Thanks in large part to some yeoman work from our players who wouldn’t allow the Swedes a sniff, A.J. Jenks sealed it when he one-timed a Morin feed into the vacated net with 55 ticks to go, ensuring a USA/Canada rematch for all the marbles.

“Nobody really expects us to win because Canada has won five years in a row, so you have to tip your hats to them,”draft eligible forward Jason Zucker added. “We’re going to go out there and give it our best and hopefully win a gold medal.”

They’ll get their shot at redemption.

3rd Star-Mike Lee, USA (27 saves incl.10/10 in 3rd) 
2nd Star-Anton Lander, SWE (2 goals, 4 SOG, +1)
1st Star-Jeff D’Amigo, USA (2 goals incl.GT and SHG, 3 SOG, +1)

At the top of the hour, we’ll be keeping an eye on the 2010 WJC second semifinal between Team USA and Sweden with the winner playing five-time defending champion Canada for all the marbles. Not surprisingly, the Canadians were too much for a cinderella Swiss team that stunned Russia yesterday, pulling off a 3-2 upset in overtime thanks to Nino Niederreiter’s game-tying and sudden death winner. Benjamin Conz– who we praised earlier this tournament for his work between the pipes- was brilliant making 50 saves in the huge upset. Despite giving up six on 44 shots to Canada earlier today, he’ll likely be named the tourney’s top goaltender. Switzerland can finish no worse than fourth and will draw the loser for the bronze medal.

For Canada, Jordan Eberle scored and hotshot Taylor Hall lit the lamp twice. We’ll try to update the condition of Islander prospect D Travis Hamonic, who left with a shoulder injury due to a hit from behind. The second Islander blueliner to be hurt on Canada. Calvin de Haan returned after missing two games but played sparingly. He’ll likely see an increased role if Hamonic isn’t back. Colten Teubert anchors the back end while Ryan Ellis and Alex Pietrangelo run the point on a power play that’s only converted once in their last 11. That could be bad news for tonight’s winner.

Team USA enters on the heels of a 6-2 quarterfinal triumph over Finland. Jordan Schroeder tallied three assists, shattering Jeremy Roenick’s American WJC record 25 points. The Vancouver Canucks ’09 first round pick (22nd overall) has totaled 26 points (6-20-26). Great stuff. We’ll see if he can hike the total and help lead the Americans to an upset over a talented Sweden team that features Devil duo Mattias Tedenby and Jacob Josefson along with Magnus Paajarvi Svensson, Andre Petterson, Oliver Ekman Larsson, Tim Erixon and Jacob Markstrom.

Our side has gotten inspired performances from many including team captain Derek Stepan (3-8-11) and Chris Kreider (5-1-6). Two Ranger properties along with Ryan Bourque (2 A). Keep an eye on Danny Kristo and Jerry D Amigo as each has had a strong showing. It all starts now. We’ll also look in on Hasan’s Jets to see if they get it done. At last check, Gang Green was leading the Bengals 7-0 at the end of one. Good luck bud. 🙂

I haven’t forgotten ya. Will try to get the interview up sometime later. Thanks again to Andrew for agreeing to answer some of my long winded questions about hockey and the Czech. I’m sorry for the delay. It was a fun chat and much more entertaining than that awful Flyer game. A shame that was your first NHL game. Ah. The patheticness of our Rangers knows no boundaries.

Thanks for Jagr!