Battle Of Hudson

You decide. The Devils got the 3-0 shutout but it was hardly impressive. When you can’t muster much offense while your opponent controls most of the action, can you really feel great about your team?

Martin Brodeur can because he did his job tonight picking up the shutout. The three-time Cup winner was much sharper. But even he would admit to getting some lucky breaks as the Lightning misfired on wide open shots a bunch of times and rang at least two posts. This easily could’ve been headed to OT. But instead, Brodeur’s strong play along with the shotblocking of Richard Matvichuk allowed them to escape.

So is this series over? Find out what we think at 10 PM!

Meanwhile in Buffalo, speaking of lucky, the Sabres held on for dear life to win 4-3 over a gutsy Isles team who gave it all they had. They got it down to one and had several point blank chances to tie it. But it wasn’t meant to be. And so Buffalo is marching on. But something tells me they are a really susceptible team. I want them in the second round! Make it happen Devils. I can’t believe I said that. LOL

That’s right. Over at Hard Hits, we’ll be analyzing what took place in tonight’s big Game 5’s. Who won? Who lost? Why?

Find out at 10 PM!

1. Marty, Marty, Marty. If you stop the puck tonight, we will win. I promise. Just stay cautious on the deflections in front, and no stupid goals like Eric Perrin’s on Wednesday.

2. David Clarkson? He’s listed on the Devil roster tonight, could we see him on the ice? And in place of whom? Dowd? Rupp? Rasmussen? Sarge???

3. St. Louis and Lecavalier. Listen, this is Game 5 of a best-of-seven, we are quickly finding out that there aren’t too many keys to the game at this point.

4. Score first. Devils are 2-0 when scoring first, 0-2 when they don’t in this series.

Enjoy folks, and as Snoop Dogg said at the Ducks game last night, “Yabba Dabba Dizzle”!

I was sick yesterday, but back and ready for Game 5 tonight!

Bill Clement on Joe and Even today:

http://www.wfan.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=651718

Doc’s weekly “Emrick’s Angle”:

http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nhl/mike_emrick/20070419_20k.wax

As I get ready to leave for tonight’s Game 4 between the Thrashers and Rangers, here are two with interest which have already impacted two match-ups:

Welcome back, Mr. Richards

“It kind of snowballed. I’m not stupid. I know I didn’t play 82 perfect games, but I think I’m a better player than I was this time last year. That’s what is frustrating when you hear some of the comments that are being made.”

Avery upping the misery quotient for Thrashers

There really isn’t much more to say. It was so awesome to be there last night! I am still trying to convince myself of what I saw. Wow!

I’m not going to post too much about this game because I already put too much into it over at my Hitting Back site. Here’s a little excerpt with the full post over at HB if you want to check it out:

For a long time, many diehard Blueshirt fans including my Dad, brother, myself and buddy have been waiting for something like this to materialize over the past decade. That moment came Tuesday night in a chaotic atmosphere which ate it all up about as much as the Rangers ate up their mismatched opponents.

From the time you could barely hear the national anthem singer about midway through (an old tradition) to the game’s signature shift (yes it really was) which set the tone when Jaromir Jagr, who was brilliant all night setup Michael Nylander for the first of a playoff hat trick just 32 seconds in, the Garden was alive and rocking like it hasn’t in years.

However, there was a quote from Henrik Lundqvist which summed up his first playoff shutout as well as the team’s play from 12 forwards to six D out perfectly:

“It felt like everything was working for us. It’s not every night, especially not in the playoffs, when everything just seems to work for you.”

It summed up what amounted to a perfect night for the Blueshirts as they pulled within one win of the second round. They know that Win No.4 won’t be handed to them even if the Thrashers forgot to show up Tuesday. The fourth ‘W’ is always the hardest. They must come with the same type of effort tonight. Get a couple early and that could put Atlanta out of its misery. When you have a wounded animal down, you got to finish them! Plain and simple.

Wow, what a complete game the Rangers played tonight. Color me impressed.

Did I just say color me something? This must be a special night.

Nylander a hat trick, Callahan had 2, Malik and Shanny chipped in. Lundqvist had 21 saves and the Rangers look absolutely dominant. Right now, a Rangers-Ottawa series looks to be mighty appetizing to me. Well, I’ll hold my horses on that, but it looks good, after a 2-1 Ottawa win at the Igloo. Anton Volchenkov got the winner.

VanCity leads Dallas 2-1 in the 3rd. Anaheim up on Minnesota in a broom game 1-0. Calgary and Detroit are scoreless.