N.J. Devils: Newark Sweeps Home And Home From Penguins

From the desk of:   THE BRICK CITY DEMONS

NEW JERSEY DEVILS - David Clarkson Continues Pitching His Fork Into Atlantic Division Foes.

Broad Street Demons In First Place At First Quarter Check Point

 

 

The Devils extended their first place lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins by sweeping both games of a home-and-home series.  Sunday evening in Steel City, David Clarkson's hot scoring touch continued with two more goals, bringing his season total to nine.  Along with Ilya Kovalchuk's fourth goal of the season coming in the second period, the Devils rode a 3-0 lead into the third session.  James Neal scored for Pittsburgh, to get them within two goals of Newark.  But Johan Hedberg made sure the Penguins scored no more.  The Devils back-up stopped twenty three of twenty four shots to record his second win of the season.


Pittsburgh had more shots on goal, more hits, and won more face-offs than the Devils.  Newark also committed more penalties.  The Penguins were 1 for 3 on the power play.  David Clarkson's second period goal made the Devils a perfect 1 for 1 on the power play.  David had five shots on goal in twenty one shifts to lead the team.  He and Patrick Elias, who assisted on Clarkson's PP goal, are now tied for the team lead with thirteen points.  Ilya Kovalchuk was next in with only three shots on goal in twenty eight shifts.


The Devils now lead the Atlantic Division with nineteen points, three points better than the Pens.  They are also riding a five game win streak in which they defeated the Pens twice, Tampa, the Rangers, and Islanders.  Their lone regular season loss incidentally came against Pittsburgh back on February 2nd.  The Devils are now 8-1-3 for the season.  One quarter of the regular season is now complete.




* Devils Playground Graffiti
Mike.BTB

New Jersey Devils: Newark Needs Kovalchuk Of Old

From the desk of:   THE BRICK CITY DEMONS


NEW JERSEY DEVILS - With Zach Parise Gone To Be Wild, Who Will Fan The Fires Of Newark Now?

Patrick Elias' Swan Song?

How is New Jersey going to get back to the finals?  That's a devil of a question.  I've been forecasting the Devils' demise for a couple of years now.   Yet they earned 102 points last season, defeated the Eastern Conference regular season champs, and competed for a Stanley Cup.  But was Adam Henrique's goal in Game 6 of last season's Eastern Conference final the Devils last hurrah?  Because after celebrating that goal, they had nothing left.


Martin Brodeur, the NHL's soon to be forty-one year old, all-time, multi category leader for goalies, is, well..., forty-years old.  Was last season his final hurrah?  In fifty nine starts, Brodeur was 31-21 last season.  His .908 Save% ranked below his career average.  His 2.41 GAA was certainly not his highest.  Brodeur's work load is clearly on the way down.  But in a compressed forty eight game schedule, how many games should he start?  Marty's history says he will have another solid season.  Even though Johan Hedberg is ancient in his own right at thirty nine years old, he proved he is no slouch between the pipes.  Between these two geezers, the Devils should have flexibility in net and enough potassium and zinc to get through a season.  They will both benefit from having a good defense in front of them.


What of the Devils other Renaissance Man?  Last year Patrick Elias matched his highest point total (78) since he tallied 81 points during the 2003-2004 season.  His twenty six goals were his second most over the last seven years.  Patrick Elias will now turn thirty seven years old in April.  He will also be a free agent after the season.  Will the 2013 season be his swan song?  The answer should be yes.  But then, look at Marty.


Patrick Elias rewrote the Devils offensive records:

* Holds record for most points in a single season - 96
* Devils all-time playoffs leader in goals, assists, points;  45-80-125
* Devils all-time regular season leader in goals - 361
* Devils all-time regular season leader in assists - 440
* Devils all-time regular season leader in points - 894


He and Martin Brodeur will surely be the next Devils greats to have their numbers retired, and their jerseys lifted to the rafters........ if they ever retire!  But if last season was the hypothetical question, then the answer should surely be - Why should they?  Unfortunately for Devils fans, Patrick Elias' goal count will not change the new condition of the Devils.


Without Zack Parise, the Devils scoring ability has been severely depleted.  All sticks quite literally now point to their ridiculo-million dollar forward, Ilya Kovalchuk, who, through his own devise, recently made fans question his commitment to the New Jersey Devils.  He is here now.  But will he score goals....lots of them?  Last season his total finally started creeping back near his earlier career numbers.  For seven seasons between 2002-2003 and 2009-1010, Ilya Kovalchuk averaged forty four goals a year.  Over that span, he eclipsed forty goals a season six times, and fifty goals twice.  Last year's thirty seven goals was a step in the right direction.  But the Devils need the Kovalchuk of just three years ago to partly compensate for the departure of Zach Parise and Petr Sykora.  Kovalchuk is still only twenty-nine years of age.  That is a good thing.  But they need the former younger Atlanta sniper of old.


I think Adam Henrique is a marvelous player.  But the Devils must first wait till he fully recovers from off-season thumb surgery.  Then maybe the Devils can hope to get more than sixteen goals from him.  Travis Zajac, recently signed to a big money deal, missed most of last season.  The Devils need for him to contribute a respectable number of goals.  If he can get back to his twenty to twenty five goal form, that would sure go a long way towards getting his team from Point-A to the playoffs.


I hold a small notion that as David Clarkson goes, so go the Devils.  Last season was a career year for him, as he scored thirty goals, which was thirteen more than his previous regular season high of seventeen.  Somewhere between ten and thirty goals, lies Clarkson's upcoming season assuming he stays healthy.  Can he duplicate a thirty goal season?  I think the Devils will be happy with twenty, and ecstatic with twenty five.  But they need at least fifteen goals from their twenty eight year old center.  They can not afford to have Clarkson disappear the way he did at times throughout the playoffs.  He needs to be a nightly force.., when he is not in the box, that is.


After that, the Devils utilize the neutral zone like a nursery for potential goals.  Once again, they will rely more on a system than they will on one individual not named Kovalchuk.  Thing is, the Devils, Lou Lamoriello, and Coach DeBoer all know how to make it work.


Congratulations to Bryce Salvador for being named new Captain of the Devils.

2013

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

REGULAR SEASON OPENER

 

New Jersey Devils

vs.

Long Island/Brooklyn Islanders

FROM

Uniondale, Long Island

 

 

Mike.BTB

N.J. Devils ~ Sticking Themselves With Own Pitchforks

From the desk of:   THE BRICK CITY DEMONS

2011-2012

Stanley Cup Playoffs

Quarter Finals Round

Florida Panthers

vs.

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

Florida Panthers Lead Series 2-1

Game One - New Jersey Devils  3;  Florida Panthers  2

Game Two - Florida Panthers  4;  New Jersey Devils  2

Game Three - Florida Panthers 4;  New Jersey Devils  3

Devils vs Panthers Series Preview

NEW JERSEY DEVILS:  Quick!  How Many Devils Can You Fit in the Penalty Box?


The Devils got off to a great start in the series' opening game against the #3-Florida Panthers.  Three first period goals by Patrick Elias; Dainius Zubrus; and Ryan Carter kind of reinforced what I was feeling heading into the series.  Even as the Panthers clawed back with two second period goals, watching on TV,  I never felt the final outcome was under threat.  The teams played a scoreless third period, as the Devils went on to win by a 3-2 final score.


Martin Brodeur won the 100th NHL playoff game of his career.  And Patrick Elias in particular, scored one of the prettiest, not to mention one of the craftiest goals I've ever seen.  For that one particular play, he almost looked Gretzky-like in how he slowed the play down to a crawl.  For Brodeur's part, he made 24 saves off 26 shots on goal.


Game Two was a much different story.  But not if you talk to a Panther player.  They'd tell you they just picked up where they left off.  A first period goal, followed by two second period goals had the Devils behind 3-0 heading into the second intermission.


Whatever Coach DeBoer may have told his players in the locker room almost worked.  The Devils opened the third period with Tavis Zajac's goal a mere 0:48 into the period.  Roughly a minute and a half later, Ilya Kovalchuck made it a one goal game.  But that's all they'd get.  With but a second left on the clock, Florida scored into an empty net making the final 4-2; tying the series at a game apiece.


Martin Brodeur followed up his 100th NHL playoff win by allowing three goals on just twenty-three shots on net for the loss.


The series shifted to Newark for Game Three.  Playing back at The Rock, the Devils seemingly found their way again.  Thirty-three seconds into the game, Zach Parise finally found net for his first goal of the series.  And visiting Florida fell instantly behind.  Three minutes later, Stephen Gionta made it a two goal Devils' lead.  And for good measure, Patrick Elias scored a power play goal at the 6:16 mark to make it a 3-0 game.


Florida's goalie; Jose Theodore; earned a well deserved hook.  In came Scott Clemmensen for the Panthers.


During the back end of the first period, as they have all series, Florida's power play went to work on the Devils.  Two goals; one in the sixteenth minute, and a second inside the nineteenth minute; made this a one goal game going into intermission.


At 2:18 of the second period, this game was tied.  At that point, Coach DeBoer signaled for his goalie to head towards the bench.  Martin Brodeur's night was through after just twenty-two minutes and eighteen seconds of play.  Johan Hedberg would finish the game.  At 6:34, he allowed Florida's fourth goal of the evening on yet another power play opportunity.


Both goalies have struggled.  And they both earned well deserved hooks Tuesday night.  You may even call the effect on the game, and series, a wash.  Instead, the prevailing factor in this series has been the Panthers' efficiency on the power play.  For the series, Florida has six goals with the man advantage in ten opportunities.  In Game Three, they scored three times in three chances.  The Devils only have two goals in eleven chances all series.  And there's your difference.


Otherwise, the Devils' best chances to score in Game Three came when they had (at the time) a tying goal waived off for goalie interference at 1:28 of the 2nd period.  And then over the final minute, when they pulled Hedberg from net, in a hellish attempt to tie.  But they fell short.  Florida's Scott Clemmensen held on, and with seven seconds left, literally snatched the Devils' last chance out of the air.


The Devils now trail in this series two games to one.  And Coach DeBoer has an interesting decision to make for Game Four.  Does he reinsert Martin Brodeur, or, turn the game over to Johan Hedberg, whom they have plenty of confidence in?  What's more, the Devils just need to stay away from taking so many penalties.  They've been playing winning hockey at even strength.  But now they are behind in the series.





Mike.BTB

N.Y. RANGERS ~ Stabilize Now Or Spiral Out Of Control

I. - NEW YORK RANGERS:  Blueshirts must come together before their season falls apart.

II. - New Jersey Devils:  Playing like a Bat out of Hell!


Out of our minds and spinning in circles; that's what Blueshirt Fans are, and that's what the Rangers are doing.  They have three games coming up against the 'Canes; Capitals; and Lightning.  They need to salvage this next week before their season spirals dangerously out of control and the centrifugal force flings them out of playoff contention.

Friday night against the Devils, Ranger Fans got a quick re-education in the dangers of defensemen Pinching the Offensive Blue-line.  Marc Staal got his ankles busted and drilled into the ice like a screw at the blue line while trying to handle a bouncing puck (that he didn't put his body in front of) as New Jersey's Ilya Kovalchuk recovered said puck and sped by Staal on his way towards a break-away goal against Henrik Lundqvist.  That's it.  That's all there was.  Because that's all you get with the Rangers lately; great efforts, one mistake, and little in the way of positive results to show for it.  I'd like to stress - Lately.

In that game, the Rangers were 0-2 on the Power Play; no surprise there.  They managed no shots on goal in either man-advantage and only 14 shots on goal for the game.  The Rangers lost to the Devils 1-0 giving Johan Hedberg the shut-out who was playing in injured Martin Brodeur's place again.  The Rangers have lost their last two games played against the Devils and are now 3-2 against them this season.

Friday night, the Carolina Hurricanes retired Rod Brind'Amour's jersey reminding me they won a Stanley Cup more recently than the Rangers have.  They also won their ceremonious game that night to cap-off a stellar night of Ranger Hockey and keep things worrisome for everyone on Broadway.


Down goes Gaborik!  Down Goes Gaborik!  DOWN GOES GABORIK!
The Rangers followed up the Devils game with yet another Sunday matinee game versus the Flyers that yielded yet another Rangers loss on home ice to the Division leaders.  They lost more than just the game; they lost Marian Gaborik due to concussion symptoms...and the Rangers aren't entirely sure when the symptoms started and it's unknown when he'll return. 

No Ranger injury has come at a good time, but this injury to Gaborik comes at a horrible time just before the trade deadline making Glen Sather's decisions that much more complex.  Or should I say exposing him yet again as being terribly inept?  The Bruins; Avalanche; Maple Leafs; Sharks; Blues; Lightning... have ALL already made trades involving Defensemen.  Pittsburgh, in giving up defenseman Alex Goligoski to the Dallas Stars upgraded their Wing by acquiring James Neal in the absence of Sidney Crosby and Malkin.  Tomas Kaberle of Toronto has been available for some time now.  He finally ended up in Boston in return for a fine hulking specimen named Joe Colborne.  Mr. Sather...is there a plan here?

*sigh*

Back on Saturday, the Devils completed the sandwiching of their Ranger victory, with two wins against the Carolina Hurricanes.  New Jersey beat them on Feb. 16 then repeated the feat Saturday Feb. 19th.  The Devils beat the Hurricanes a third time in February back on Feb. 3rd.  And so the Devils continue to chip away at the teams above them in the playoff standings while playing and winning at an outrageous pace.

Spinning a tangled web....
The Rangers next opponent on Tuesday? -  Yep;  The Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes represent the last barrier before the Sabres and Atlanta can gain a clear focus on our Blueshirts.  The Carolina protective barrier is now only 2 points deep.  To say a win against Carolina Tuesday night is of paramount importance to the Rangers is a gross understatement.  The Rangers are 2-8 in their last 10 games;  2-7 in February.  They are showing no signs they can do anything to improve their Power Play and over-all lack of scoring.  No amount of line-up shaking seems to be working for Coach Torts.  Additionally, there is no denying, we all feel the flames in Newark getting hotter.  The Devils lost their first four games of January to usher in the New Year on a rotten note which was really a continuation of the rotten 2010 portion of their season.  But since a January 9th win over Tampa Bay, the Devils have gone 15-1-2.  In February they are 9-0-1.  Those two over-time losses both came against Florida.  But they are starting to haunt everyone.

As of today; February 21, 2011....the standings are as follows:

7th ~ New York Rangers  ~  66 points.
8th ~ Carolina Hurricanes  ~  64 points
9th ~ Buffalo Sabres  ~  60 points.
10th ~ Atlanta Thrashers  ~  60 points.
13th ~ New Jersey Devils  ~  54 points ...and counting!

*The Rangers have the least amount of games remaining of the teams listed above.

The Devils are now just a mere 10 points out of the eighth place spot with only 23 games remaining.  Jacques LeMaire has this team of Devils playing like Demons once again.  After achieving the 600th win in his coaching career, he's still proving he has a few more tricks up the ol' sleeve.

Rangers Fans, we aren't falling out of the sky like a piano just yet.  But the rope holding us up might be getting ready to snap.  Look out below!  Because this is not just about the Sabres; Thrashers; or the Devils.  This has more to do with what we're doing (or not doing) than about what those teams are.

King Henrik hasn't been so royal to his subjects, not just lately, but all season.  There's been a-lot of inconsistency in his play.  And our scoring?  Well, it's just anemic.  There is no amount of line-changing Coach Torts can try that will change much about the Rangers' over-all inability to score.  He's just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic at this point.  These forwards have had their chances.  Many times they are in the process of out-shooting their opponents.  But I'm seeing Goalies play up to their grinding tempo and stymie the Rangers.  Call it dumb-luck or whatever you will.  Everything else about the Rangers is there.  Their attitude and work ethic is right where a Coach and Fan Base want it to be.  They play a tough, gritty, game and are very good on defense and the PK.  It's a shame the ultimate demise of this very likable bunch might be their inability to score goals and having no room for even a single mistake.

More frustrating about their inability to score goals is many times it takes on the appearance of being down-right feeble on special teams.  How many times have we gone without shots, or just attempting one shot on goal during a PP?  How many of you have had your faces contorted with disgust while watching them attempt to gain the zone, much less maintain a possession...like I have?

A loss against the Hurricanes will expose our back-side to the on-rushing teams who will no doubt want to do unthinkable things with their sticks to it should they get a view.  It's imperative we beat Cam Ward and the Hurricanes tomorrow.  Yes, I said Cam Ward.  He's been killing us!  I told you once before - the Carolina Hurricanes we coming to claim their playoff spot and that once they did, they wouldn't leave.  Well, they did; and now they're not.

So that just leaves US. 

We can either keep the "Canes between us and the teams headed our way with ramming speed, or, get exposed as the last in line.  This team needs to stabilize right now.  They don't need to do anything extraordinary; just stabilize themselves with a win against Carolina.  If they don't, and compound the bad month they've been having already with more losses this week, things can spiral out of control before March even begins.

Should that happen, the rope holding up our Blueshirt Piano will surly snap and our season will fall out of the sky and crash horribly upon the sidewalk of Seventh Avenue with a resounding......Pfft.

...but accompanied with a hardy "Fire Sather"  !!!



C'mon Boys!   Let's Go Rangers!




Mike.BTB

Rangers vs Devils ~ BATTLE of the HUDSON V

BATTLE OF THE HUDSON ~ V

NEW YORK RANGERS

vs.

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

@

THE ROCK

NEWARK, N.J.

NEW JERSEY DEVILS:  Playing Possessed.

No one has been talking about the Devils Ownership situation as of late.  But the way they have been pounding opponents on the ice lately has put the Eastern Conference on notice.  They want a playoff spot and it's going to cost some team theirs.!

The DEVILS are only playing the most insane Hockey in the League right now.  And being that I am not taking the Florida Panthers nor the Toronto Maple Leafs very seriously, I fully expect the Devils to leap-frog over those two clubs.  The big question for the Devils is will they have enough games left in the season to qualify for a playoff spot?  Let's keep that far-off idea in perspective and just say it's the Eighth Spot we're talking about.  But, if they keep-up this hellish pace of play, in the last week of the regular season they can very well bump another team with playoff aspirations out of the tournament.  A few short weeks ago, we wouldn't even have entertained this topic.  Two weeks ago I laughed off the notion with some friends.  But I can actually envision the Devils sustaining this fury. 

The only problem I see with their pursuit of a coveted playoff spot is their goalie situation.  Johan Hedberg will have to be New Jersey's goalie to make that happen.  It's fair to question how reliable Martin Brodeur will be down the stretch.  I don't mean Marty still can't deliver them to a playoff spot, but the way it looks right now reliance on Johan Hedberg seems very necessary to their success.  Working in concert with Brodeur and having him agree to a more limited role more-so than he's used to seems odd in the land of Devils.  What's wrong with odd, if it works?  Plus, Marty has yet to prove he can be healthy this season and sustain it.

NEW YORK RANGERS:  This Game Against Devils Is More Meaningful Than I Care For.

Finally, a game! 

I hate extended breaks in the schedule.  But against the Kings, the Rangers for the most part didn't look rusty at all.  The off-days perhaps did them well.  But tonight's game was going to be exhausting.  You could see it from the start.  Both teams were in a skating and hitting mood. 

A sense of urgency and desperation might have sparked them tonight.  While the Rangers have been idle, other teams have been playing and accumulating points.  Then when L.A. scored first, Purpose finally entered the building and laced up some skates.  They rebounded in this game after giving up that early first period goal.  The Blueshirts played L.A. to a 1-1 tie after two periods.  Then a BIG goal by Gaborik seven minutes into the third period, off a defensive end turnover recovered by Sauer gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead.  It was Marian Gaborik's first goal in too long of a stretch.  I don't know the exact number, so I won't try.

But because we don't do things the easy way, the Kings made it 2-2.  Lundqvist couldn't react in time to a shot from the top of the right circle that deflected off Brian Boyle's stick.  That's so typical of the kind of goals that get scored against Henrik.  But The King came up with a huge save when L.A.'s Richardson received a sweet pass and snuck in with a clear path towards Henrik.  The King stopped him cold and made perhaps the save of the game.

With 3:08 left in the third period, Brandon Dubinsky scored on a wrap-around after an awful lot of hard work by Ryan Callahan that started on the other end.  Callahan caused havoc for L.A. along the far boards and heading towards the 7th Avenue end, fought his way up ice all the way towards net.  Dubinsky was there to clean up the play and stuffed a loose puck home with the Rangers' go-ahead goal.

Then Los Angeles scored again!  From behind the goal line, the Kings banked a shot off the back of Henrik's shoulder for the tying goal 47 seconds after the Rangers took the lead.  Hey, it was that kind of game, and for the second time, it was that kind of a goal. 

Regulation time expired and the Rangers, Kings and Madison Square Garden would go to over-time. Remarkably, with the Rangers in need of a big break at this point, they got one.  After Staal sustained a high-stick penalty called a double-minor to end regulation, they would go on a four-minute power play to start the five minute over-time.  But four Blueshirt shots later, the Rangers committed a penalty; a high-stick by Dubinsky.  ...And I'm thinking...You're kidding me...right?  So naturally, you know what that meant;

Three on Three Hockey!!!  Neither team could generate much.  There was just a-lot of jostling for the puck..  Four on four play resumed for the last minute of over-time which only resulted in 1 shot on goal for the Rangers. 

Over-time expired with the score tied 3-3.

SHOOT-OUT:

NYR ~ Christensen; GOAL.

LA ~ Handzus; SAVE.

NYR ~ Zuccarello; GOAL.

LA ~ Stoll; GOAL.

NYR ~ Wolski; SAVE.

LA ~ Kopitar; SAVE.

...And the Rangers wound up victorious over a tough Los Angeles Kings team.

** GAME NOTE:   Henrik Lundqvist ~ Win Number 200 as a New York Ranger.

It was a rough way to earn two points.  But right now points are at a premium.  This is in no way a statement of panic on my part, but the Rangers' play-off lives are being played for, Right Now!...  There's a couple of teams bunched together in the neighborhood of 60+ points.  Carolina already came on like a Hurricane to join the Pack of Eight.  Buffalo has stormed back from the abyss to put themselves at the doorstep.  At this point, the top five teams in the Eastern Conference you can pretty much write in stone.  Those teams aren't dropping anywhere.  The sixth place team; Montreal....I'd write them in ink.  Then, like I said, that leaves us, Carolina, Buffalo and Atlanta all futzing around in our 60's.  And those Devils....What do we make of them?  They are now only 12 points away from 8th place Carolina.

RANGER COMMENTS:

This game against the L.A. Kings may have been Coach Tort's best game managing and distributing minutes amongst his forwards.  All game and past the half way point of the third period, Torts maintained a high/low ice disparity of four minutes on average.  We know from Coach's history, getting ice time from him is like a lightning strike.  He never seems to hit the same spot twice.  And knowing him, he's about to trim down his "set" lines to three and abandon a fourth line altogether.  Who's going to comprise those three lines?  I'm sure we're about to find out.  But with him, nothing has ever been set.

Friday Night Fights Hockey

FRIDAY

February 18, 2011

LET'S GO RANGERS!!

Mike.BTB