It is still painful to talk about the implosion that was the final 1:2o of last night’s game. I’m not even sure it has set in yet, that the season is over.

A few things that will stick with me from the aftermath: Realizing my contacts were drying out and my jaw was in my lap when Jokinen scored the tying goal, and looking up from my notes just in time to see Staal and his 3 zip-codes worth of space firing the winning shot; the inability of Colin White to put together a sentence, even after sitting in his locker and answering questions for 20 minutes; Zach Parise’s absolutely despondent look will haunt me in my sleep- I’ve never seen an athlete go catatonic after a loss.

Moments before Jokinen tied the game, I leaned over to Dan Martin of the NY Post and told him that the shot blocked by Nic Havelid was the best thing he’s done since he arrived here … and then he let Jokinen score. Havelid looked like a good player coming from Atlanta leading the team in +/- and blocked shots … but that was on Atlanta, not the Devils. I think the acquisition of Havelid was a bad move overall (easy to say in hindsight), and will force the Devils to use cap space to sign another defenseman. Because I’m sure there will be a riot if the Devils resign the Finn. And I will be at the front, leading the way with pitchfork and torch.

A few quotes from after the game…

Coach  Sutter on Jamie Langenbrunner’s return:  “I thought he played hard in his first game back in Carolina, and tonight I thought he was very good. That line played very well tonight for us, and unfortunately got scored on to tie the game up, but they were without a doubt our best line tonight. They brought it to the table in game seven and Jamie was a big part of that. Those two kids fed off him and he fed off them. Not having him in those two games, lets not kid ourselves, there was something missing.”

‘Canes coach Paul Maurice on playing Boston: “Yeah, we’re real excited we’re going to Boston. I got the job December 4th, and this is the 11th time we’ve played this team in the past four months. I’m really hoping we don’t schedule an exhibition here.”

Jamie Langenbrunner: “We know it’s not in hand, it’s a sixty minute game. We were playing well, eliminating their chances. We got caught out there and couldn’t get the puck out of the zone… We got caught running around at the end and they made us pay for it.”

Martin Brodeur: “Losing like that is shocking, and that’s the bottom line.”

Draft day is in June, and as always the Devils will host a draft party. I hope to be able to attend, and talk to fans about the latest addition to the Devils’ organization as well as thoughts on the season and where the team is headed. Are major changes on the way after another round one loss? We will find out.

Thanks again to the readership for loyalty and encouragement. And in my previous entry, I forgot to thank the Prudential Center staff- a great group of dedicated people who make sure everything runs smoothly everynight. Without them, I would have been lost in the bowels of the Rock way too many times.

Posted under Uncategorized

Carolina 4, New Jersey 3

Ugh. Double ugh. The Hurricanes tied the game with 1:20 left on a shot by Jussi Jokenin, and 40 seconds later, Eric Staal won the series for Carolina. Brodeur was spectacular, but couldn’t stop the two most important shots of the night. Everyone was scrambling, playing not to lose rather than to win.

It’s been a special season with the Devils, and this offseason should be interesting. Who knows who will be leaving and who will be brought in. No one has seen a series go down like this one has. Everyone kept saying a full 60 minutes was necessary. They got to 57:40.

I’ll be back tomorrow with stats and quotes. For now, it’s time to shave the playoff beard, pack up the locker and start preparing for next season. Watch for improvements and additions to ‘The Devils Made Me Do It’ during the offseason. New Jersey isn’t the only team that will retool in the next few months.

Thank you to the Devils PR staff, all of the fellow writers who have helped me along during my first NHL season, and the players for being generous with their time, thoughts and opinions. It’s been a blast.

Posted under Uncategorized

Here are three things the Devils can do to help their chances of moving on to the next round:
1. Score first- the earlier this team gets on the board, the better they play. Remember in Marty’s record-breaking day, Zach Parise scored early and the team just cruised from there. Scoring first would keep the crowd in the game, ease the pressure from not scoring last time out, and improve the chances of winning for the team.

2. Use the D to push the puck up- Some of the best stuff we’ve seen out of this team happens when players like Paul Martin and Johnny Oduya push the puck up the ice into the offensive zone rather than sitting back and preventing any mistakes up front. How does that old cheer go? Be! Agressive! Be! Be! Agressive!

3. Be Opportunists- The Devils have failed to capitalize on mistakes made by the Hurricanes, while Carolina has been all over the flaws in New Jersey’s game. It ’s time for the Devils to make the Canes pay for mistakes. Catch them on line switches, fire up the power play, convert the odd-man-rushes, and get traffic infront of Cam Ward. It’s now or never, so take what they give you, and then take some more.

Posted under Uncategorized

At this point, I’m so overwhelmed with nerves and stats and historical consequences, that I really don’t have anything coherent to say about game seven other than: This Is Big.

Not only big because it means the end of a season or a rebirth for another best-of-seven. Big because there is a lot of talent on this team that is expensive and aging. This could be the last window of opportunity (although that’s been said many times as superstars have retired from the Devils, and Lou continually puts together a contender). Marty isn’t getting any younger (and neither are his top backups), and players like Shanahan, Holik, Langenbrunner, Elias and the like are starting to edge towards the other end of the bell curve.

That’s where my nerves come from. Am I seeing this team for the last time? Is this the last chance to get a one-on-one interview with the likes of Brendan Shanahan? No one is talking the end of the line, but you never know.

Game seven will be a match of goaltenders, toughness and who can put the freaking puck in the freaking net.

Many feel the 4-0 drubbing the Devils received in Raleigh on Suday should be embarassing enough to fire up the club, but according to some of my peers who were here for morning skate said several players mentioned they were “nervous” about tonight. Jamie Langenbrunner returned for game six, and although he wasn’t able to contribute on offense, he surely brings a calming presence and shakes some sense into his teammates.

Now is not the time to be nervous. Now is the time to be fierce, bold and willing to do everything to win. And that is the beauty of game seven.

Check it out tonight at 7:30 on Versus!

Posted under Uncategorized

A 1-0 thriller tonight, the best of playoff hockey. Two guys who didn’t even think they would see power-play time tonight put together the game-winning goal for the Devils. Andy Greene fired a confident blast at the net, and David Clarkson did what he does best: he got in someone’s way, and tipped the puck in.
Martin Brodeur made 44 saves to tie Patrick Roy for most playoff shutouts with 23, and earned playoff win number 98.
What’s the most impressive stat of the game?
22 Blocked Shots. 22. Twenty-two.
That’s team-work, playoff style. Four by Paul Martin alone.
Which reminds me, that was one of my keys to victory for the Devils…
Tomorrow morning we’ll recap the game, look at some quotes from pre-and post-game.
If necessary, I’ll be back in Newark for game seven. With a 3-2 lead, the Devils hold on to the home ice advantage, which makes this an even more interesting weekend to watch hockey.
Good night from Newark.

Posted under Uncategorized

The Good, The Bad and the Jussi:

So, here’s the good news: The Devils are 9-1 this season in the first game home from a road trip of two or more games.

The bad news: That one loss came against Carolina.

The good news is Andy Greene and Bobby Holik are in the lineup this evening.

The bad news is Bryce Salvydor and Jamie Langenbrunner are not (again).

The good news is Martin Brodeur is ticked off about the last-second goal in game four.

The bad news is no one else seems to be (maybe becuase it was the right call, but that’s just a thought).

Tonight’s game five against the Carolina Hurricanes seems to be ripe with cliche’s. I did five interviews this morning, and nothing really stood out except for Scott Clemmensen dripping sweat on me. These guys are in media-damage-control, hoping they pull out of the ”we play 25 minutes of good hockey and hope for the best” trend that’s been going on for the past few weeks before their season is over.

Carolina is a good team, a physical team, and a younger team. Patrik Elias is quietly getting shoved around out there. Cam Ward is playing very well, and more importantly, playing very well when the team needs him to. Martin Brodeur may be showing that he has lost a step in the months he was out of the game. It is very possible. He’s still capable of winning multiple playoff series, but just not by himself anymore.

So where does this leave the Devils for tonight? It leaves them with a lot of questions about who is going to step up, who is going to sacrifice themselves to keep the puck away from Marty and who wants to win more.

Here’s some keys to tonight’s game for the Devils:

1. Shot blocking- Standing out and swinging your stick at pucks isn’t going to get the job done at this time of the year. Lay down and keep the puck from reaching Brodeur. There’s some thought that a Devil tipped in the final goal on Tuesday… that should not happen.

2. Production from the 2nd line- Patrik Elias had a killer season very quietly, and now he’s having a very quiet post season. Not what keeps the Devils in the hunt. The Zubrus-Elias-Gionta line needs to provide some scoring for the team. Asking the first line to do it all isn’t helping anyone. Zubrus needs to pick it up big-time; he may be the (biggest) weakest link in that chain.

3. Channeling Marty’s Anger- Brodeur is STILL hot about that call on Tuesday, one of my peers in the pressbox saying he called it the “worst call in hockey history.” Instead of complaining to the refs, take it out on the Canes! The Devils need to use Marty’s anger to fuel the team, find some inner energy. The thing about a core of veterans is that they’ve been here before. They’re not phased by the playoffs, no matter what they say. unlike younger guys who are jazzed to be in the post-season. There are a lot of well-paid veterans, many of whom have their Stanley Cup rings, who might be fine with another extended golf season. But that’s not fair to the fans and the players on the team who still have yet to sip champagne from el grande punch bowl.

Game five might as well be game one in a best of three series. Tonight we shall see if the Devils are ready to fight for the next round.

Posted under Notes and Musings

Welcome back, Hockey Fans! While The Devils Made Me Do It is not in sunny Carolina this week, we still are elbows-deep into the playoffs. And it shows, as the blog received it’s 2,000th hit earlier this week! Thanks for reading!

Onto the good stuff.

The loss of Jamie Langenbrunner for  part of game two and all of games three and four is tough on everyone, even the defensemen. Paul Martin talked a little bit about it right after the captain went out with the “lower-body injury.”

“When you’re used to playing with someone for that long and to mix it up and constantly changing on the bench at the same time,” Martin said. “Guys should know what they’re doing but obviously the chemistry is not there when you’re not playing with the guys you usually play with.”

Brian Rolston did a great job of filling in during the third game, minimizing impact on the other lines by moving up to the first, allowing Bobby Holik to man the fourth line while the second and third lines remained the same.

The team has consistently responded to injury adversity all season (see: Brodeur, Martin), and it seems they didn’t really miss a beat once overtime of game two ended. Even Langenbrunner’s linemate Zach Parise felt absence was just another thing you deal with. We will see tonight in game four if Rolston can continue to up his play to first-line quality. It could be a decididng factor.

Speaking of guys stepping up their games recently, check out my Game four preview on MyCentralNewJersey.com, featuring Brendan Shanahan and Jay Pandolfo. http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20090420/SPORTS0401/904200350/1095/SPORTS

Along that same line, I leave you with another quote from David Clarkson from Friday morning. Yes, there are incompleted thoughts, but as a whole it shows you how excited this guy is to be on the Devils. I’ll be back Thursday in Newark for game five. Enjoy tonight’s game, and if I were you, I’d pass on the meatloaf, it’s a little salty.

“It’s definitely a deep team, I’ve never played on a team, you look around the NHL and there’s not many teams in the league that have depth we do where you can have certain guys on your fourth line or certain guys on your third line. I think if a lot of guys on our team were on other teams, they’d be top two, top three line guys and here its third or fourth, it’s a situation where you’re lucky to have that much determination, that much grit, and that much experience on the same team. Because even a young guy, I learn from a lot of the guys around me, and I hope to play a long time so you try to pick up certain things from guys. But I think as a depth ratio, we have one of the deepest teams in the NHL and I think it’ll help us down the stretch the farther we go.”

Posted under Notes and Musings

With the 2-1 overtime loss, the series goes down to Raleigh for games three and four.
The Devils will need to win at least one while in North Carolina to maintain a true home-ice advantage in the series.
Despite the loss, the team seemed confident in the locker room, rather than dejected like Carolina was this morning.
The Devils will travel to Carolina tomorrow morning, and then practice there.
There will be plenty of updates at ‘The Devils Made Me Do It’ between now and when the team returns. Check back often as the Second Season rolls on.

Posted under Uncategorized

By the Beard of Oduya, it’s less than an hour-and-a-half before Game Two begins.
Talking to Mike Rupp before the game, he said he feels like the Hurricanes are going to come out firing in the first period, which he and the Devils need to be prepared for.
Rupp also said, that while winning game one was exciting and a better way to start the playoffs versus last year’s debacle, “We’ve won one game, and as far as I know, that won’t win you the Stanley cup winning one game, so we’ll just keep picking at it.”
Pick away, my large and intimidating friend. Pick away.

Word is the Hurricanes locker room this morning was a pit full of dread. Not a lot of optimisim, which is surprising coming from a team that bullrushed its way into the playoffs after playing so-so for most of the season.
Could the Devils Game One win be demoralizing enough to put the ‘Canes on the downward spiral? Maybe. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Clear the pot roast from your mustache, get your best Chico Resch jersey on, and let’s watch some playoff hockey.

Posted under Uncategorized

Just a tease of what’s to come tonight:

It’s guys like David Clarkson that make the playoffs fun, that surprise us and fascinate us. And there’s a reason for it. Guys like Clarkson still get as psyched for the playoffs as the fans.

“I think everything feels different. To me it feels like a little kid and you play in a tournament on the weekend and you have three games that day and those are probably the best three games you played all year,” Clarkson described.  ”But it feels like the playoffs being a kid. You’re dad tells you ‘If you guys win you’re in the semi’s. If you win that you’re in the finals,’ and its all in one day. I think to me, that’s like the playoffs when you’re a kid playing in a tournament.”

Anyone who has taken a child to a day-long tournament, with skates or sneakers, bats or bowling balls, knows that feeling. Anyone who has played a full weekend of tournament sport knows the extra adrenaline, the extra joy of a trophy. The joy of the game doesn’t stop when you sign a contract, the excitement doesn’t stop when you reach the highest level.

Playoff hockey is never jaded, it is never cliche, and it is never predictable. And that’s why the 16 wins it takes to get the Stanley Cup are the most exciting 16 games of the year.

Posted under Notes and Musings