My apologies for the hiatus; winter break, 4 jobs, 3 classes, and constant travel have kept me from doing this. Anyways, update: since the shootout loss to the Rangers the Devs have gone 8-1-1 (3 SO for Brodeur in the span) and though they looked weak heading into the break, narrowly beating the Flyers in a shootout, they blanked the Lightning. Not only is it a relief to beat a team that beat you a mere week or two before, but to do it after a 6-day break (which is always bad for the Devils) is even better.
During the All-Star break, the league's higher ups met to discuss the schedule. The two points of view here are the West, who have been complaining that they can't showcase the NHL's stars, and the East, who like the fact that they don't have to spend so much on travelling from one arena to the next. While there are gray areas, I do think most people are right to dislike the schedule, but unfortunately, most dislike it for the wrong reasons.
Inter-Conference, Intra-Divisional, and Intra-Conference Play
Personally, I like the fact that rivalries are emphasized; while you can have a Devils-Red Wings game that oozes with subplots, you'll have to deal with sterile matches with the LA Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets. Who cares about those games? Even analyzing it from the perspective of making sure you don't let the other team get points, it's lose-lose. When the Devs lost to the Wings, everyone shrugged it off and said, "at least they're not in our conference." If you want to ensure that the games mean something, you'd have to only schedule matchups where there's a history, but that still leads to West teams complaining they won't see the East stars. Even the fans want to see only interesting matchups. The Devils were booed any time they set up from behind their net when they went to San Jose. All the Sharks fans must've been saying, this game's a snorefest, why can't the Penguins come instead?
The meaning behind the game combined with giving away points philosophy make intra-divisional games that more tense. There's more at stake if you let a game go into OT against a division rival, worse if you lose to them. 8 games over a 7 month season may seem like a lot, but that's a result of poor scheduling. If the Devils faced the Rangers once a month with one home-and-home series on a weekend, nobody would complain. The problem is that they play each other twice in January and three times in February and won't see each other until the playoffs (assuming the Rangers don't blow it). If the games are spread out over the course of the season, 8 games would be fine.
Intra-Conference play suffers the same fate as the Intra-Division games. Each team plays out of division teams only 4 times. The fact that these 4 games are clumped together makes the games redundant and uninteresting. If you look at the Bruins series, the Devils played in Boston twice in the span of 5 days. As a Devils fan, my two games in Boston during the whole regular season were over in a flash; not cool. The Devils played the Thrashers twice in January and will do the same in February. Spread it out and the games wouldn't be boring.
Spreading the Stars Around
Let's face it, the majority of young stars of the NHL are in the East, but that doesn't mean the West has nothing to offer fans. The YoungStars game was pretty even and the West even won the All-Star game. Fans and Presidents are complaining that they can't see the Eastern teams' stars, that the East is stockpiling talent for itself. This is ridiculous however you want to word it. Before the lockout, the East played the West once or twice a season and not every team faced each other. When the big names were in the West (Sakic, Forsberg, Iginla, Giguere, Nash), nobody heard these complaints. The West was happy with their star power and the East didn't throw hissy fits about it. While you can say that there was a lot of star power in the East, the focus was more on the strength of the teams (think Ottawa in 2003 and Tampa in 2004).
If the West's fans want to see these young stars so much, then they'll have to be willing to take the good with the bad. San Jose will have to watch the Devils play a defensive game in order to see Sidney Crosby. Detroit will have to host the Panthers in order to see Alex Ovechkin. Minnesota will have to go through the Bruins to watch Dany Heatley. To the West's fans, I have three words: QUIT YER BITCHIN'!
Mostly everyone agrees that something's wrong with the schedule, but you have to weed out the childish tantrums to get to the meat of the dilemma and that's clumping. Spread the games out, you'll get more anticipation and excitement. Sending the East's stars to play the West means sending the "boring" teams out there too. You can't have everything.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Devs-Rangers
New year, clean slate. This game has left me in disbelief. Both sides were even; all four goals were tricky shots. Madden's goal hit Ward's foot, Nylander's goal was immediately off the dribble (apologies for lack of a better term) and through a screen, Prucha's goal was set up by a skate deflection from Jagr (on purpose), and Langenbrunner's goal was a 1,000th shot on Lundqvist on the backdoor. No score in OT, time for a shootout.
Marty has looked more than human in the recent shootouts, making the first move and getting roofed often. Tonight was no different and Matt Cullen's goal showed how badly he could get burned. On the Devil end, Gionta cranked a slapper into Lundqvist's pads and he didn't even have to move to stop it. Gomez and Brylin insisted on hitting the 5-hole on a butterfly goalie and made no moves to stretch him out. Parise did his move (emphasis on one) and got it in and Patty FINALLY scored, but barely. Which brings me to a new feature:
Phrase of the day:
Pulling a Rollie - v - the act of being stopped when sliding the puck into an open net.
Origin - Brian Rolston in his days with the Devils did this so often, he earned the namesake. Time and time again, he'd slide the puck on the ice instead of lifting it that vital 1 foot and could have been a 30 or 40 goal scorer if he learned from his mistakes. A perfect example is Elias being stopped by Brian Boucher's glove (which was on the ice) in the 2000 ECF. Patrice Bergeron has also been known to pull Rollies, but could not beat Rolston for the honor.
Example sentence - Langenbrunner sure pulled a Rollie against Lundqvist tonight. Why didn't he just lift the puck?
Granted, a lot of oportunities must be rushed and wobly or spinning pucks make it harder, but this is what it takes to be a pro. Even if the puck's not in the sweet spot, you have to get it up. Langenbrunner's goal proved this point; if he didn't lift it, it would've been stopped. Skip ahead to the shootout.
Elias gets Lundqvist down and sliding the wrong way, but gently slides the puck on goal. Lundqvist (a name I'm tired of typing) stretched out and got a piece of the puck, but luckily it still went it. Langenbrunner stepped up with a chance to win the game and did the same thing Elias did. Lundqvist had nothing, but still stretched his glove out in hopes of touching the puck and that he did. Langenbrunner emphatically pushed the puck to the goal only to be stopped by the glove. Firstly, he's on his forehand and snapping a puck a foot off the ice shouldn't be that hard regardless of where it is. Secondly, the puck was in the sweet spot, making it easier to lift it. This is the worst time to do something like this and now, the Rangers are a point closer and are in high spirits.
Marty has looked more than human in the recent shootouts, making the first move and getting roofed often. Tonight was no different and Matt Cullen's goal showed how badly he could get burned. On the Devil end, Gionta cranked a slapper into Lundqvist's pads and he didn't even have to move to stop it. Gomez and Brylin insisted on hitting the 5-hole on a butterfly goalie and made no moves to stretch him out. Parise did his move (emphasis on one) and got it in and Patty FINALLY scored, but barely. Which brings me to a new feature:
Phrase of the day:
Pulling a Rollie - v - the act of being stopped when sliding the puck into an open net.
Origin - Brian Rolston in his days with the Devils did this so often, he earned the namesake. Time and time again, he'd slide the puck on the ice instead of lifting it that vital 1 foot and could have been a 30 or 40 goal scorer if he learned from his mistakes. A perfect example is Elias being stopped by Brian Boucher's glove (which was on the ice) in the 2000 ECF. Patrice Bergeron has also been known to pull Rollies, but could not beat Rolston for the honor.
Example sentence - Langenbrunner sure pulled a Rollie against Lundqvist tonight. Why didn't he just lift the puck?
Granted, a lot of oportunities must be rushed and wobly or spinning pucks make it harder, but this is what it takes to be a pro. Even if the puck's not in the sweet spot, you have to get it up. Langenbrunner's goal proved this point; if he didn't lift it, it would've been stopped. Skip ahead to the shootout.
Elias gets Lundqvist down and sliding the wrong way, but gently slides the puck on goal. Lundqvist (a name I'm tired of typing) stretched out and got a piece of the puck, but luckily it still went it. Langenbrunner stepped up with a chance to win the game and did the same thing Elias did. Lundqvist had nothing, but still stretched his glove out in hopes of touching the puck and that he did. Langenbrunner emphatically pushed the puck to the goal only to be stopped by the glove. Firstly, he's on his forehand and snapping a puck a foot off the ice shouldn't be that hard regardless of where it is. Secondly, the puck was in the sweet spot, making it easier to lift it. This is the worst time to do something like this and now, the Rangers are a point closer and are in high spirits.
Friday, December 29, 2006
PIT 0 - NJ 3; WAS - NJ
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.
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.
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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