Rangers vs. Devils ~ Eastern Conference Championship

From the desks of:   RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS
and THE BRICK CITY DEMONS

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE  ~  2012 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS

THE BATTLE OF THE HUDSON

Reular Season:
I -  NYR 4; NJD 1
II  -  NJD 4; NYR 3
III  -  NJD 1; NYR 0
IV  -  NYR 2; NJD 0
V  -  NJD 4; NYR 1
VI  -  NYR 4; NJD 2

TONIGHT

GAME ONE

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

vs.

NEW YORK RANGERS

From

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
33rd Street at 7th Avenue

NYC

Devils Fans..., I have been good to you.  This blog IS good to you and to your team.  You can not deny me - the Brooklyn Trolley Blogger has treated you and your team well.  I do what I can.  Additionally, I have no hate for the Devils like I might harbor against the Islanders.  And I guess that is directly attributable to the fact the Rangers did in fact beat the Devils in 1994, and not the other way around.  And what's there to be bitter about anyway?  Since then you guys won three Cups to our one.


To so many though, all that matters is indeed 1994 - the last time these teams met in the Eastern Conference Championship Round.  Martin Brodeur is the only one returning from that series eighteen years ago.  And over the last two days, Brodeur has made it very clear, he has no particular like of the New York Rangers, nor of the city, or even us fans.  And well, that's good.  Let's ratchet up the hate then, okay there Maaaaarty?


In 1982-1983, I was one of those who was more intrigued than anything by the arrival of the former Kansas City Scouts/Colorado Rockies organization, and thereby giving the NYC area a third NHL team.  But the time has come for me to get back in my foxhole and engage in battle against you....again.  That's just the way it is.  So let's just go to our neutral corners and come out fighting when the bell rings, okay?


But I don't mean that literally. I do not see any of the hostilities which boiled over in the last regular season meeting between us, spilling over into Game One.  But the Dueling Coaches are a great backdrop though.  Aren't they?  -   Selective Memory vs. Just Shut Up.   Classic!  There's no secret to me either.  I am a Tortorella Ork.  I will blindly grunt and battle for him.  But I like your guy Peter DeBoer too.  I think he's a damn good coach for the Devils.  And like some, I feel like he got shafted by Florida.  But that's the Panthers' loss, on two counts.  The rest of the series remains to be seen.  However, both teams have reminded everyone listening or watching on TV - No, there is no love lost between them.  Henrik said it too.  So Let's Get it On!


There is nothing that will change about the Rangers with regard to the way they played the Devils during their six regular season meetings, with regard to the way they played the Ottawa Senators, and about how they played against the Capitals.  Rangers Hockey is an open book.  No mysteries here.  We are going to try and physically beat you at home, then try going into The Rock in Newark, and grind it into fine sand.  And we are going to try to do that, with good old fashioned hard work.  The thing about hard work and resiliency is, it doesn't matter if you see it coming.  Rangers Hockey is methodical and uncompromising like an iceberg.


The Devils on the other hand, nearly shot themselves in the foot against the Florida Panthers.  New Jersey made that series closer than it needed to be.  Rather than getting outplayed by Florida, New Jersey diverted a vast amount of playing time to visit the penalty box.  But the Devils outplayed their mis-steps.


Against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Devils played far more disciplined hockey, and limited themselves to just a scattered penalty here and there.  The longer New Jersey stayed out of the box, the better they played as the series wore on.  Philadelphia was a wildly inconsistent team however, thrown off their game by the Devils' discipline which Perter DeBoer stressed upon his team.


Unlike the Rangers, there is no mistaking the Devils ability to score in bunches.  But the New York Rangers possess the number one defense in Hockey.  Therefore, look for another tight, seven game series, with both team's skills sets meeting somewhere in the middle.


Rangers Fans, we know what's up by now.  And for you Devils Fans, I'd say things are set up rather appropriately for the very possible - Marty's Revenge.


Time to drop the puck!


LETS GO RANGERS!





Mike.BTB