My apologies for the delay. The Pens game was pretty straightforward - a solid defensive effort coupled with the offense capitalizing on its chances. Early on, play was sloppy and Zajac's goal came off a broken play. Keeping it 1-0 for a long time left the outcome uncertain until Pando and Gionta ("Peanut" as I call him) put the biscuit in the basket. Apparently, nobody knew Gionta's goal was his 100th and the puck has gone missing. Granted there'll be more, but 100 is a big milestone.
The end of the game featured a Slap Shot moment where Jordan Staal purposely tripped Marty Brodeur with 5 seconds left. Yes, he got a tripping penalty, but somehow something like this isn't enough in my mind. Goalies need to be protected by the refs and cheap shots like this are dangerous; they could easily be injured. While I do believe that a suspension is too hard a punishment, a fine is in order.
Tonight, the Devs face the Capitals (read: Alex Ovechkin). With White out, Lukowich has been called up to take on the top forwards of the other team. Earlier in the season and last year, I thought Lukowich wasn't worth his salary and should have been waived or traded. He turned the puck over constantly, missed assignments in front of the net (recall Erik Staal's goal with 5 seconds left in Game 2 of the second round last year), and general bad decisions on the ice. It seems like he's turning the corner and becoming the defenseman he was in Tampa Bay and Long Island. Hopefully he keeps this up because the Devils need all the help they can get on defense.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Sunday, December 24, 2006
NJ 2 - ATL 5
The only thought running through my head today is "I sat in 2 hours of traffic in New Haven to see that?" Granted Connecticut's endless road construction isn't the cause of last night's disaster, it's still enough to thoroughly piss me off. I missed the first 15 minutes of the 1st period waiting at the GWB, but from what I heard, the Devs definitely capitalized on their chances and didn't give the Thrashers much to work with. By the time I sat down to watch the game, Parise had just scored on the PP and things were looking good. Then Bobby had to ruin everything.
The fact that it was going way wide and Martin deflected it in doesn't hurt as much as the fact that it came with less than a minute left in the 1st and Atlanta was in the middle of a change. Bobby had a fence of 3 Devs pinning him at the boards and just decided to throw it up; good things happen when you put the puck at the net. Regardless it was still 2-2; they weren't losing, yet. Hnidy and Kozlov capitalized on their chances while the Devs failed to do so on countless power plays and that was the game.
It's pretty easy to tell that the Devs were defeated when they couldn't lead a decent breakout. Whether the Thrashers were playing that well or the Devs were just flustered, the fact remained that the puck wasn't going tape-to-tape and there was no speed in the neutral zone. As a Devils fan, I see this way too much when the pressure's on; it's been happening since I can remember going to the games (to date myself, Sean Burke and Chris Terreri were in goal and I was 7). The tape-to-skate passing ruined any chance of a comeback as they never carried the puck deep into the zone nor could they get a dump and chase going. Easy defense for the Thrashers, who just had to clear the puck and wait for a turnover (Kozlov's goal) to seal the deal. Hopefully the Christmas break will give everyone a breather and let Elias and White recover or they're going to have to find a way to bring back Matvichuck, Brooks, or Fahey.
On a plus side, the Rangers blew a 3-0 lead in the 3rd to lose 4-3. THEY LET A DEFENSEMAN SCORE A HAT TRICK! And I thought the Devils' defense was weak.
The fact that it was going way wide and Martin deflected it in doesn't hurt as much as the fact that it came with less than a minute left in the 1st and Atlanta was in the middle of a change. Bobby had a fence of 3 Devs pinning him at the boards and just decided to throw it up; good things happen when you put the puck at the net. Regardless it was still 2-2; they weren't losing, yet. Hnidy and Kozlov capitalized on their chances while the Devs failed to do so on countless power plays and that was the game.
It's pretty easy to tell that the Devs were defeated when they couldn't lead a decent breakout. Whether the Thrashers were playing that well or the Devs were just flustered, the fact remained that the puck wasn't going tape-to-tape and there was no speed in the neutral zone. As a Devils fan, I see this way too much when the pressure's on; it's been happening since I can remember going to the games (to date myself, Sean Burke and Chris Terreri were in goal and I was 7). The tape-to-skate passing ruined any chance of a comeback as they never carried the puck deep into the zone nor could they get a dump and chase going. Easy defense for the Thrashers, who just had to clear the puck and wait for a turnover (Kozlov's goal) to seal the deal. Hopefully the Christmas break will give everyone a breather and let Elias and White recover or they're going to have to find a way to bring back Matvichuck, Brooks, or Fahey.
On a plus side, the Rangers blew a 3-0 lead in the 3rd to lose 4-3. THEY LET A DEFENSEMAN SCORE A HAT TRICK! And I thought the Devils' defense was weak.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
NJ 4 - WSH 1
The score says a lot for someone who didn't watch the game. The replays - just click the camera - showed a lopsided victory, but I'm not positive yet. Looking at the stats, it looks like Marty had a lot of work last night with 36 shots against. Hopefully a lot of these were pepper shots from the outside with some stellar second and third chance saves.
The special teams looked ideal last night (2 for 4 on the PP and 4 for 4 on the PK) as the Devs took a lot less penalties than we've seen recently, leading me to think that the defense wasn't one-step behind like they've been recently. Props to everyone. There's not much to complain about here, which is a great feeling for the solid effort. General feelings have been the same at Tom Lycan's Devil's Due blog and 2 Man Advantage, so I'll have to take their word for it.
As Rich Chere notes, the best news is that Ovechkin's eight game point streak was shut down not by Pando, but by Brylin. Colin Stephenson writes that the fact that AO is a left wing meant that either Pando would have to switch to right or someone else would have to pick him up. Looking back at the 3-2 loss against the Rangers and how easily things got out of hand when Pando wasn't shadowing Jagr as well as any time when Madden and Pando get switched up on the PK, playing the perfect positional game against one of the top skaters in the league is a daunting task at least. The fact that Brylin and the defense were able to hold him to 5 shots (below his average) in a 36 shot game says a lot for how valuable Brylin is.
Of course, most valuable has to be Marty, who has won all 19 games for the Devils this season and most of the time, has done it with a handful of jaw-dropping saves. He's 2nd in the league in wins (19), 6th in GAA (2.15), 1st in saves (822), and 5th in save percentage (.923). All of this with a less than stellar defensive core. I'm not implying that the defense isn't good, but it can't hold a candle to the Stevens-Niedermayer-Daneyko core that Marty had eariler. Every critic has mentioned the Devils' defense as the reason why Marty's won so many games and has so many records, but these last two seasons should prove them wrong. Currently the Devils are ranked 9th in Wins, but somehow Marty has more than everyone but Giguere (understandable since the Ducks are so good this year). Marty has never led the league in shots against nor saves, though he came close last year; this year, he's on pace to set or even break his career high all while maintaining a .923 save percentage. To put it into perspective, he's only once managed better than .917 and that was in 96-97 when Hasek beat him for the Vezina and he only played 67 games. His career playoff save percentage is .921. All of this with an offense that has only 90 goals in 34 games (2.64 goals per game) in the NEW NHL. Check out his profile and highlights here. If he keeps up these numbers, breaks 43 wins, and the Devils win the Atlantic Division, Marty deserves a Vezina and maybe even the Hart.
Granted I am biased, but when the Devils' defense has 2 players coming into their own (Martin and Hale), 1 player who's finally turning a corner (Lukowich), 2 players who've been thrown into the go-to-guy position (White and Rafalski), and 1 player who hasn't played North American hockey before (Oduya) and they're offense is not producing as much as they did last year, the games are won and lost on Marty's shoulders (similar to Hasek in Buffalo). As far as I've seen, nobody's done the same for their team yet.
The special teams looked ideal last night (2 for 4 on the PP and 4 for 4 on the PK) as the Devs took a lot less penalties than we've seen recently, leading me to think that the defense wasn't one-step behind like they've been recently. Props to everyone. There's not much to complain about here, which is a great feeling for the solid effort. General feelings have been the same at Tom Lycan's Devil's Due blog and 2 Man Advantage, so I'll have to take their word for it.
As Rich Chere notes, the best news is that Ovechkin's eight game point streak was shut down not by Pando, but by Brylin. Colin Stephenson writes that the fact that AO is a left wing meant that either Pando would have to switch to right or someone else would have to pick him up. Looking back at the 3-2 loss against the Rangers and how easily things got out of hand when Pando wasn't shadowing Jagr as well as any time when Madden and Pando get switched up on the PK, playing the perfect positional game against one of the top skaters in the league is a daunting task at least. The fact that Brylin and the defense were able to hold him to 5 shots (below his average) in a 36 shot game says a lot for how valuable Brylin is.
Of course, most valuable has to be Marty, who has won all 19 games for the Devils this season and most of the time, has done it with a handful of jaw-dropping saves. He's 2nd in the league in wins (19), 6th in GAA (2.15), 1st in saves (822), and 5th in save percentage (.923). All of this with a less than stellar defensive core. I'm not implying that the defense isn't good, but it can't hold a candle to the Stevens-Niedermayer-Daneyko core that Marty had eariler. Every critic has mentioned the Devils' defense as the reason why Marty's won so many games and has so many records, but these last two seasons should prove them wrong. Currently the Devils are ranked 9th in Wins, but somehow Marty has more than everyone but Giguere (understandable since the Ducks are so good this year). Marty has never led the league in shots against nor saves, though he came close last year; this year, he's on pace to set or even break his career high all while maintaining a .923 save percentage. To put it into perspective, he's only once managed better than .917 and that was in 96-97 when Hasek beat him for the Vezina and he only played 67 games. His career playoff save percentage is .921. All of this with an offense that has only 90 goals in 34 games (2.64 goals per game) in the NEW NHL. Check out his profile and highlights here. If he keeps up these numbers, breaks 43 wins, and the Devils win the Atlantic Division, Marty deserves a Vezina and maybe even the Hart.
Granted I am biased, but when the Devils' defense has 2 players coming into their own (Martin and Hale), 1 player who's finally turning a corner (Lukowich), 2 players who've been thrown into the go-to-guy position (White and Rafalski), and 1 player who hasn't played North American hockey before (Oduya) and they're offense is not producing as much as they did last year, the games are won and lost on Marty's shoulders (similar to Hasek in Buffalo). As far as I've seen, nobody's done the same for their team yet.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
ATL 4 - NJ 3 (SO)
Three words: TWO SHORTHANDED GOALS! What has made the Devils such a strong team in the past has been puck control. This game proved just how important it is. Marian Hossa walks the puck out of his zone on the PK, dances by Rafalski, and threads the needle through a stickless Langenbrunner and baffled Brodeur; all of this happened on a 2-on-3. The first reaction has to be shock that Hossa got the opportunity as nice as that, but the obvious second one was why didn't Langs have his stick? A replay shows it being slashed out of his hands by the other Thrasher on the play, Slater. Langs is obviously angry and the no call and complains only to receive this in response: "He said if he would have known they were going to score, he would have called it."
The last time I watched hockey, I would expect a response like this to be a joke. In the past 10 years, scoring a goal isn't a criterion for calling a penalty, but if an infraction creates a genuine scoring opportunity, a call must be made regardless of how borderline it may be. This is a garbage call and it should have at least led to a review or an overturning of the goal. The NHL does have instant replay nowadays.
Luckily, the Devs put 2 in the net on beautiful shots by Brylin and Oduya. It's nice to see Sarge becoming more confident with the puck; hopefully this will lead to a return to form for the former 20 goal scorer. I got a chance to see Oduya play the Bruins in the preseason and was impressed by his 3 assists, overall speed, vision, and passing; he reminds me of Scott Niedermayer and I'm looking forward to see him develop for the next few years.
Unfortunately, the lead wasn't safe as Jimmy Dowd was about to be sent off for a needless hook and the Thrashers capitalized on the laziness of the Devils. There was no back check; Dowd stopped skating; and a simple touch of the puck would have put them on the PK against a team that wasn't doing much with the opportunities they were given. That would have been easy, but instead the lead is wiped out on a great display of hand-eye coordination from John Sim.
The Devs fired back with a goal of their own on a 5-on-3 PP. As anyone who has watched the Devils over the last 10 years would know that this was the killer. A 2-man advantage would result in a collapsed umbrella formation with slow puck movement that wouldn't fool the PK squad at all and would rarely result in a goal. This year has been special and may be my favorite coaching decision from Claude Julien. The PP unit moves the puck quickly and forces the PK out of position, leaving at least one passing lane and one shooting lane open. Tic-tac-toe, it's in. Langenbrunner's shot has been dead-on in these situations and how wonderful it's been.
19 seconds later, it happens again. Another shallow zone turnover and weak backchecking leads to another shorthanded goal. Props to Oduya for catching up to the speedy Hossa, but the stick check came a split second too late. Not much else to say about it other than it was a good shot that caught Brodeur off-balance. It's way too frustrating to see these turnovers lead to scoring chances (as can be seen by another chance for Hossa that was stopped by Brodeur).
The rest of the game went as well as anyone could have expected and the Devs lost in a shootout. I've never seen Marty get lit up like he did on those two shots and Parise's and Gionta's chances didn't even fool Lehtonen. Another disappointing loss after a morale boosting win against the Rangers. Hopefully this weekend goes better.
The last time I watched hockey, I would expect a response like this to be a joke. In the past 10 years, scoring a goal isn't a criterion for calling a penalty, but if an infraction creates a genuine scoring opportunity, a call must be made regardless of how borderline it may be. This is a garbage call and it should have at least led to a review or an overturning of the goal. The NHL does have instant replay nowadays.
Luckily, the Devs put 2 in the net on beautiful shots by Brylin and Oduya. It's nice to see Sarge becoming more confident with the puck; hopefully this will lead to a return to form for the former 20 goal scorer. I got a chance to see Oduya play the Bruins in the preseason and was impressed by his 3 assists, overall speed, vision, and passing; he reminds me of Scott Niedermayer and I'm looking forward to see him develop for the next few years.
Unfortunately, the lead wasn't safe as Jimmy Dowd was about to be sent off for a needless hook and the Thrashers capitalized on the laziness of the Devils. There was no back check; Dowd stopped skating; and a simple touch of the puck would have put them on the PK against a team that wasn't doing much with the opportunities they were given. That would have been easy, but instead the lead is wiped out on a great display of hand-eye coordination from John Sim.
The Devs fired back with a goal of their own on a 5-on-3 PP. As anyone who has watched the Devils over the last 10 years would know that this was the killer. A 2-man advantage would result in a collapsed umbrella formation with slow puck movement that wouldn't fool the PK squad at all and would rarely result in a goal. This year has been special and may be my favorite coaching decision from Claude Julien. The PP unit moves the puck quickly and forces the PK out of position, leaving at least one passing lane and one shooting lane open. Tic-tac-toe, it's in. Langenbrunner's shot has been dead-on in these situations and how wonderful it's been.
19 seconds later, it happens again. Another shallow zone turnover and weak backchecking leads to another shorthanded goal. Props to Oduya for catching up to the speedy Hossa, but the stick check came a split second too late. Not much else to say about it other than it was a good shot that caught Brodeur off-balance. It's way too frustrating to see these turnovers lead to scoring chances (as can be seen by another chance for Hossa that was stopped by Brodeur).
The rest of the game went as well as anyone could have expected and the Devs lost in a shootout. I've never seen Marty get lit up like he did on those two shots and Parise's and Gionta's chances didn't even fool Lehtonen. Another disappointing loss after a morale boosting win against the Rangers. Hopefully this weekend goes better.
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