Battle Of Hudson

Our guest this week is Newark Star-Ledger Devils beat writer, Mr. Richard Chere. He has covered the Devils forever and his the authority on all things New Jersey hockey. He was kind enough to join us this week on “10 Questions with..”.

SL: After 25 years, name one memory at the Meadowlands that sticks out the most to you.
RC: The Jim Schoenfeld-Don Koharski “Have another doughnut” incident during the 1988 playoffs. It was so explosive when Schoenfeld confronted Koharski. Then, when the referee claimed he had been pushed, those of us who were there knew otherwise. Because the incident became such a big issue within the league, the memory remains fresh.

SL:What’s your opinion on the new arena. Will it improve the Devils attendance, or will hardcore fans stay away?
RC:The new arena itself will be a great place to see a game. It will be nice not to have to walk through such a crowded concourse, as in Continental Airlines Arena. As far as the attendance, there will undoubtedly be a bump at the start. However, I think the attendance will wind up being virtually the same figures they get now. The team will have the concession and parking money, so I think they’ll be happy enough with a 10,000 average attendance on most nights.

SL: Who will drop out of the Atlantic Division race first: The Rangers, Islanders, both, or neither?
RC: The Rangers are certainly trying harder. I think the Rangers are a better team, but it’s a concern when Jaromir Jagr loses interest or confidence. That said, I think both teams will remain in the race until the very end.

SL: Is the Devils first place position at Christmas surprising, given various factors such as the defense’s insipid play at times, Elias’ slow start, injuries, etc.?
RC: Quite surprising. Scott Gomez has been average and Patrik Elias, as you suggested, has struggled at times. The most surprising aspect has been the better-than-anticipated play on defense by Johnny Oduya (the rookie) and Brad Lukowich (whom many of us thought was washed up). They’ve exceeded their expectations while Paul Martin and Brian Rafalski have performed under their levels.

SL: How much longer can the Rangers keep playing the way they are until they decide to go with younger players (Dawes, Callahan, Girardi, Baranka)?
RC: As long as the Rangers stay within close proximity of a playoff position, they’ll keep going with a veteran team. The need to make the playoffs. The coaching staff believes this team is much better than it has played over the past few weeks and, I would agree. I’d be surprised if they threw in the towel and started playing kids.

SL: Which of the 3 local teams need to make a trade the most?
RC: The Islanders have dealt some good players in York and Zhitnik. They’ve cleared some money under the salary cap, so Garth Snow needs to invest it somewhere to improve his team. His next moves will show us whether they are dumping salary or building with a chance to make the playoffs this year.

SL: The Islanders have pretty much surprised everyone with their play up until now. Can they sustain it?
RC: They’re a solid team. I see no reason why they can’t sustain it. What they really need to become a legitimate playoff team is for Yashin to continue to play well and for DiPietro to avoid a slump.

SL: Who has been the better captain so far: Elias, Jagr or Yashin?
RC: I’m not in the Islanders or Rangers dressing rooms much, so that’s a tough call. Elias has taken his role very seriously, but you can’t deny the impact Jagr and Yashin have had on their teams. I’d say it’s a Jagr-Yashin tie.

SL: Will Tom Renney be gone at the end of the year?
RC: Only if the Rangers miss the playoffs. And, even then, he could stay. He is highly-regarded around the league. And the Dolans seem to stick by their coaches.

SL: Finally, Will Scott Gomez be back next year?
RC: My guess is that several teams are going to throw some serious money at Gomez. Imagine the Capitals with Gomez centering for Ovechkin… Lou Lamoriello will make every attenpt to keep Gomez, but we could see a repeat of the Niedermayer situation where he wanted to play in a new atmosphere. Gomez likes the West Coast, so I’d say the odds at this point are 50-50 that he stays

Metro Cup Standings
Team W-L-OTL-PTS
Islanders 4-1-0-8
Rangers 3-3-0-6
Devils 2-3-1-5

Tonight in hockey:

Canadian fans get a TSN HD Doubleheader. Buffalo and Ottawa start it at 7:30 (Simulcast on Comcast.net) and Stars and Canucks finish it at 10 (Simulcast on Yahoo.com).

Later at 10:30, Columbus meets the Kings.

Anytime the Rangers beat the Devils, it’s nice. Why does every game against that team feel like facing the Old Soviet Union? Nevermind. You’d have to watch a Devil game to understand how annoying their style is. Such attention to detail.

If Jaromir Jagr had more Devils around him, I’d have thought they were part of his body. It’s just a sickening strategy but effective by a team that prides itself on perfection. Jagr still hasn’t figured out how to get shots through. Even when he makes a good move, he gets it blocked. Sooner or later, he has to conquer his demons.

So this was a good win. And for two out of the three periods, the Blueshirts were the better team. They outhit the Devils and generated more chances off the cycle. The best part was they got offense again from Petr Prucha, who put them ahead midway through the third when Jagr deflected the puck to him. Prucha was the most encouraging player tonight. For the second straight game, he scored and looked very confident. If this team is to get going, they’ll need Prucha to continue his solid play.

Maybe the most disappointing aspect of this game was that a silly penalty by Thomas Pock allowed the Devils to tie it when Jamie Langenbrunner stuffed home a rebound past Henrik Lundqvist to get the first place Swamp Rats a point. Considering that the Devils were unable to get much sustained attack after they trailed, it just reinforced how mistimed Pock’s penalty was. He just is too uncertain in his end. He’s a good stickhandler and shows potential offensively but teaming him with our best defenseman Michal Rozsival is a nightmare. It forces Rozy to do more.

It seemed like both teams were content to go to the shootout during the 4-on-4 OT. Each played tenatively until the last frantic minute which included the only real scoring chance when Jagr setup a cutting Martin Straka, who was robbed point blank by Martin Brodeur to force the shootout.

The shootout was totally unpredictable. Who would’ve thought seven goals would be scored? Lundqvist took his perfection into it but allowed Zach Parise (backhand deke), John Madden (backhand deke) and Patrik Elias (backhand deke sensing a theme here) all to score. A couple of them Henrik admitted to FSNY’s Steve Cangialosi he should’ve had. Even more odd was how the Blueshirts got four on Brodeur. Michael Nylander and Brendan Shanahan each beat him in the same spot over his pads while Matt Cullen and shootout hero Marcel Hossa went upstairs. I guess it was only fitting that Hossa would win this one. He’s been ripped apart by many fans. So he morphed into his much better brother and made it look routine against a Hall of Famer.

It would’ve been possible without Lundqvist stoning Jamie Langenbrunner. He beat Langenbrunner’s forehand deke by getting a leg out at the last split second. When he denied Travis Zajac’s backhand deke, the Rangers had won their second in a row.

It comes at a good time with the Islanders suddenly having dropped four straight. The Rangers are now up to 44 points in the crowded East. They must continue to turn it around Thursday when they return to the Garden to host the suddenly hot Flyers. The Flyers have won three straight after holding on to beat the Islanders 3-2 tonight. They’ve gotten splendid goaltending from Robert Esche. Can it keep up? We’ll know in a couple of days.

Almost forgot to mention that Jed Ortmeyer finally returned to make his season debut. It was nice to see the 28 year-old gritty forward back from a pulsonary embollism condition. He only got nine shifts playing fourth line but looked alright. Look for Tom Renney to work him in slowly. Aside from that, the unsung heroes in this game were Ryan Hollweg, Blair Betts and Adam Hall. This checking unit played well all game and took the body. Hands of stone Hollweg even had a point blank chance but predictably fired wide. If only Santa had given him a new pair of hands. He’s all heart (game best six hits). Hall also had one of his most effective games physically while Betts was solid in all facets. They’ll need that to continue.

Scoring Summary
1st Period
Devils – Madden – 4th of the Season, from Brylin and Pandolfo at 18:32.
2nd Period
Rangers – Nylander (PP)- 14th of the Season, from Rozsival at 14:56.
3rd Period
Rangers – Prucha – 9th of the Season, from Jagr and Rachunek at 9:05
Devils – Langenbrunner (PP) – 15th of the Season, from Gionta and Gomez at 15:48

Shootout

Ranger Goals: Nylander, Prucha, Hossa
Devils Goals: Parise, Elias, Madden.

An undeserved point to the Devils tonight. Not much to recap. The two goals could’ve been easily thwarted, by either Brodeur or the defense. The shootout is a joke, but the Rags ABSOLUTELY wanted it more tonight. They deserve the 2. The Devils played OK, but you felt NO sense of urgency to win. New York gets a 3-2 win in the shootout. Not trying to sound like a suicidal, 1 – loss fan here. I know we still have 4 points on New York in the standings and 4 more shots to beat them this year, and that we still have pwnage from the playoffs. Still, it’s very weird how the Rangers just seemed to have the Devs number at every turn. A good hockey game, but NY wanted it more.

7:30 PM
The Swamp of East Rutherford
Devils TV: FSNY
Rangers TV: MSG
Devils Radio: WFAN 660 AM
Rangers Radio: ESPN 1050 AM

Last We Met/Season Series: 2-1 Rangers this year. Last time, 12/17 at the Garden, the Devils manhandled the Rags and got timely scoring. 2 from The Captain, 2 from Sarge, and added tallies from Langs and The Zach en route to a 6-1 thrashing of Kevin Weekes and New York, who’d given up 9 in front of Lundy Bridges the night before.

Since Then…: New Jersey’s ascended to the Atlantic Division lead, going 4-1-1 since 12/17. The Rangers, well a far different tale has been written. They lost five more in a row and finally ended a 7-game slide vs. Washington on Saturday.

Next Meeting: January 16th back at the Swamp.

Leading Scorers
New Jersey
#26 Patrik Elias 15-22-37
#9 Zach Parise 14-16-30
#14 Brian Gionta 15-14-29
#15 Jamie Langenbrunner 14-14-28
#23 Scott Gomez 6-22-28

New York
#68 Jaromir Jagr 16-36-52
#82 Martin Straka 18-27-45
#92 Michael Nylander 13-30-43
#14 Brendan Shanahan 23-19-42
#3 Michal Rozsival 4-16-20

Goaltending
New Jersey
#30 Martin Brodeur 22-12-2, 2.11, .925%
#40 Scott Clemmenson 0-1-1, 3.60, .878%

New York
#30 Henrik Lundqvist 15-11-2, 2.97, .901%
#80 Kevin Weekes 4-6-2, 3.21, .881%

Game Analysis:

Here we go, the fourth Hudson River Ravage as the team from NJ in red and black meets the team from NY in blue and white. It will be an interesting tilt, especially from where both sides are at this point in the season. With the Devils playing the way they are, and the Rangers playing the way they’ve been, make no mistake: This is a must-win game for the Rangers if they want to have any shot at rebounding from the funk before the All-Star break. They desperately need secondary scoring, because we all know Madden and Pandolfo will cancel out Jagr-Nylander-Straka, as much as Ranger fans would like to believe they’ll break through this time, simple logic says not tonight.

The Rags have lost their last 4 on the road. Of course, the Rangers fans (including Derek) will say, “Yeah, so, it’s at the Meadowlands, it might as well be a home game”. In the end, New Jersey will get the matchups it wants, and Brodeur will play another solid game, and outduel Lundqvist to even up the season series at 2 and push the Devils back into Metro Cup contention.

The Rangers win if…: They want it more. The Rangers really, really need to have this game, and if they realize that too, they may be able to pull out the performance they need. If they can effectively find away to balance their scoring.

The Devils win if…: Madden, Pando and Sarge shutdown Jagr. Simple as that.

Prediction: Devils 3, Rangers 1

Well, as I am usually, wrong about who’s calling Vs. games. Rick Peckham and Darren Eliot doing a solid job at Isles-Sabres.

As for game two, they like either Doc or Beninati to call games in HD, and Beninati’s out of the picture, so maybe Doc and Brickley.

So, what you can expect in 2007 is more interviews (Like the Bucci one), which will usually be every Thursday. Expect us to find a GameDay/PS Isles blogger, and more of me and Derek sending quips each others way.

Some of the insights you’ll see on our new interview series “10 Questions with” will include…

Stan Fischler
Kara Yorio
Linda Cohn
John Buccigross
Rich Chere
Paul Kukla
Shawn P. Roarke
Vote For Rory’s Steve Schmid
Greg Wyshynski

and MUCH MUCH MORE!

happy 2007.

A month ago, Caps’ sophomore star forward Alexander Ovechkin caught Buffalo’s Daniel Briere with a blatant cheapshot during a line change. The 2005-06 Calder winner’s check from behind knocked the Sabres’ offensive leader into the boards. For all parties involved during that December 2 incident at Verizon Center in the nation’s capital, they were fortunate that the Buffalo captain wasn’t seriously injured. Especially on a dangerous blindside hit which could’ve resulted in a concussion.

If you give Ovechkin the benefit of the doubt, maybe he didn’t realize his strength. The fiery 21 year-old Russian plays the game like a bull giving everything he has every shift. It’s resulted so far in another great season with the former 2004 first overall pick tied for the league lead with Tampa Bay’s Martin St. Louis in goalscoring with 25 goals. With an assist in Monday afternoon’s 3-2 loss to Phoenix, the Washington sniper moved into fifth in scoring with 51 points.

There’s little doubt that he is a special player who gets the most of his talent. And that is a good thing for not only his team but for the NHL. He is a superstar who the league should promote at every turn. However, they shouldn’t turn the other cheek when he makes a mistake and nearly injures another player. Unfortunately, that’s essentially what happened. Instead of facing suspension, the affable Russian got a slap on the wrist, instead being fined $1,000.

Fast forward to the rematch between the teams last week in Buffalo. The Sabres made a statement by scoring the game’s first six goals in a dominant first before cruising to a 6-3 win at HSBC Arena on December 26. In the same game, Briere took a cheapshot of his own spearing Ovechkin to the ice while officials were screened out by Buffalo teammate Brian Campbell, causing it to be undetected. To Ovechkin’s credit, he got up and challenged Briere to a fight. But Briere’s teammates prevented it.

According to the rulebook, a deliberate spear attempt is cause for a five minute major, automatic game misconduct and a league review. A few days ago, this incident was reviewed by the league before the Sabres took on Carolina. Predictably, nothing happened allowing Briere to dress and notch an assist in a 4-1 win over the Hurricanes on December 28.

So, in two instances where a star player was involved in a cheap play, they didn’t miss a game and only one was fined.

Now let’s examine what took place this past Saturday night at the Garden during the Rangers’ 4-1 victory over the Caps. Throughout the relatively chippy contest, Washington goon and NHL bad boy Donald Brashear ran several Rangers including star captain Jaromir Jagr. This wasn’t any surprise as playing the moody Czech physical has seemed to get him off his game. However, during a faceoff in the third period, the ex-Flyer enforcer elbowed Jagr. On the same shift, No.68 retaliated by taking down the big man drawing an interference penalty. When Brashear returned to the bench, he was called out by Ranger star Brendan Shanahan. During their next shift, Shanahan challenged Brashear to a fight, sticking up for Jagr and gaining a ton of respect from teammates and the home crowd who ate it up chanting, “Shanny, Shanny, Shanny.”

It was quite a statement made by the 37 year-old leading goalscorer for the Blueshirts. Never one to back away from a challenge he issues, the 600 goal member took his lumps and did relatively well even landing a couple of uppercuts. When the scrap concluded, Brashear’s theatrics weren’t over. Apparently Ranger defenseman Aaron Ward uttered something to him which he didn’t like. He reacted by suckerpunching Ward in the face, drawing a match penalty and automatic ejection ending his night.

Not to be outdone was Ranger enforcer Colton Orr, who late in the second stuck up for Ryan Hollweg and took on Brashear. With under five minutes remaining in the contest, the 24 year-old Manitoban cheapshotted Ovechkin with a high hit to the head knocking down the star and drawing a charging minor before accepting Washington defenseman Shaone Morrisonn’s challenge.

There’s little doubt that Orr’s move was dangerous and could’ve resulted in serious injury to Ovechkin. So when NHL Senior Executive VP of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell ruled on it yesterday, it was no surprise that the former Bruin faced serious suspension. As a first time offender, he was given five games and lost $13,235.29.

Now consider that 34 year-old Brashear has been in the league much longer and was a repeat offender who had already been suspended three games this season. Somehow, he only got one game for his suckerpunch.

Here was Mr. Campbell’s statement on why Orr received four extra games:

“The Rangers player’s actions with his stick were reckless and dangerous. Although no injury resulted, the action is unacceptable.”

This seems like a fair assessment. For the record, I don’t have a problem with why Orr got five games. However, how does Brashear get only a game? Was that not dangerous? He could’ve fractured Ward’s cheekbone. Was it as bad as what Orr did? Probably not. But it should have been worth at least three games.

Punches like that can do damage. Just ask former Ranger Jeff Beukeboom, who suffered a career ending concussion after a Matt Johnson cheapshot to the back of the head.

But what’s the sense trying to make sense of a league which has gone soft? This is the new corporate NHL. Where they protect superstars even when those stars are in the wrong committing violent acts like the ones Ovechkin and Briere got away with on each other. Do you think for one second if it was a little known fourth liner, they wouldn’t have been severely punished?

And that is what’s wrong with this newer softer product which is full of hypocrisy. Why should one set of players be held to a higher standard? Shouldn’t there be some consistency? Not anymore.

All commish Gary Bettman’s game is doing is turning off diehard supporters. If you don’t believe me, just look at the responses this got on TSN:

http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=190421&hubname=nhl

The real hockey fans know the deal with what they’re seeing. But they no longer matter in Bettman’s NHL. An NHL which has turned its back on the diehards.

Is it worth it? But hey. As long as they have enough corporate sponsors telling them what to do, it’s not going to change anytime soon. That’s who they’re selling the game to.

Caps rematch with Phoenix. Why rematch? Remember what Ovie did last time vs. the Yotes? 2PM on Yahoo.com

Avs are in Nashville.

Atlanta and Ottawa faceoff at The Skank.

Here’s Versus’ Schedule for tonight:

4:00 Isles-Sabres (Emrick/Olczyk or Brickley/Jaffe)
6:30 Pre-Game (Clement/Jones/Engblom)
7:00 Boston-Toronto (Strader/Eliot/Harwood)
9:30 Post Game

PLEASE DISREGARD WHAT YOU SEE ANYWHERE ELSE THAT MAY SAY THE ISLES GAME IS ON FSNY, IT IS ON VERSUS.

To find Versus in your area, head to Versus.com

I believe Doc Emrick and Eddie Olczyk have the call today, I’ll post later if I hear anything different.

New York (19-15-3, 41 Pts, 3rd Atlantic Division, 9th Eastern Conference vs. Buffalo (28-7-3, 59 Pts, 1st Northeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference)
4:00 PM
The New Aud in Buffalo
TV: VERSUS (Check Versus.com to find VERSUS in your area)
Radio: Bloomberg 1130AM

Last We Met/Season Series:

Only one meeting so far, October 26th at the Mausoleum. Sabres simply outclassed NY 3-0 to win their 10th straight to start the 06-07 season. Kotalik, Afinogenov, and Pominville scored for Buffalo, and Ryan Miller made 29 saves to shutout the Isles.

Next Meeting: January 27th at the Mausoleum.

Leading Scorers

New York
#55 Jason Blake, 21-17-38
#79 Alexei Yashin, 12-22-34
#81 Miroslav Satan, 10-15-25
#25 Viktor Kozlov, 13-11-24
#18 Mike Sillinger, 10-14-24

Buffalo

#48 Daniel Briere 15-31-46
#61 Maxim Afinogenov 17-25-42
#26 Thomas Vanek 22-19-41
#23 Chris Drury 20-16-36
#29 Jason Pominville 18-11-29

From NewYorkIslanders.com

It’s 2007, and the Islanders start the New Year by matching up against on the Eastern Conference-leading Buffalo Sabres at the HSBC Arena.

With the Rangers off today, the Islanders can leap-frog them in the standings with a win. With 41 points, the Islanders are currently tied for eighth in the conference with the Boston Bruins.

Allan Rourke made his season debut with the Islanders on Saturday against the New Jersey Devils. He replaced Radek Martinek, who went down with a foot injury. Rourke appeared in six games for the Islanders last season.

In order to halt their two game skid, the Islanders will have to knock off the Sabres, who have one of the best home records in the NHL, going 13-4-2 at the HSBC Arena. The only previous meeting between these two teams came in October, when Buffalo extended their season opening winning streak to ten by defeating the Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum.

From day one, the Sabres have been atop the Eastern Conference standings. They opened the season with ten consecutive wins, and haven’t looked back. Their 59 points is seven better than second-place Atlanta.

The Sabres have used a balanced attack up front, steady defense from the blueline, and solid goaltending from Ryan Miller to reach their record of 28-7-3.

Offensively, Buffalo has nine players with at least 20 points. Daniel Briere leads the way with 46, while sophomore standout, Thomas Vanek, paces the team in goals with 22. Vanek is also second in the league with a plus/minus rating of +23. Defenseman Brian Campbell is having the best season of his career, leading the Sabres defense with 25 points.

In their most recent game, the Sabres extended their eastern conference lead by defeating Atlanta 4-1. Miller made 29 saves for the victory while Vanek had two goals, and Briere added a goal and an assist. The Sabres are 7-2-1 in their past ten games, and have won three in a row.

BoNY Prediction: Sabres win 4-3