9:36 PM ET: Okay, game is over. Devils lose. Series is only 2-1 Lightning, but it might as well be 3-1 in my eyes. Who should we point the finger at for tonight’s loss? Ah, our wonderful MVP Marty Brodeur. I just love how he claims he needs to be the difference in the game and step it up…well, congrats Marty, you were the difference. It’s not often said, but it needs to be put on the table tonight:
YOU LET YOUR TEAM DOWN.
Step it up for Game 4, prove you’re a damn fine goalie and get the job done. I don’t have anything else to say, because the boys really didn’t look all that bad tonight. All I can do is scratch at my head and shrug my shoulders. Marty hasn’t merely looked human this series, he’s looked downright bad.
Stay tuned for our game breakdown, featuring none other than the man, the myth, the legend Joeeeeee Bechteeeeeeeel-tel-tel-tel (yes, my lame attempt at an echo.) Just give us a little time to once again compose ourselves. Hey, it’s no secret — we’re as emotional as they come when it comes to fans.
9:22 PM ET: Couple minutes left in the game. Not much hope. Matvichuk takes a penalty. It’s pretty much all over now. Marty will likely crap another goal at this point. Unless the Devils miraculously tie this game up, I’m shutting down for the night. Stay tuned for a 2MA BREAKDOWN with Joe at the conclusion of the game.
9:16 PM ET: …no words. No words.
9:08 PM ET: Thank goodness for goal posts. Marty needs all the help he can get.
9:00 PM ET: Tie game again. It’s the battle of the Crap Goaltenders.
8:55 PM ET: I’d rather have Scott Clemmensen in net. 2-1 Tampa Bay.
8:46 PM ET: The all-important 3rd period is right around ther corner, and I am scared as all hell. I hate to be that fan who bitches and moans about one-sided officiating, but this has really, truly, absoutely without-a-damn-doubt been ridiculous. When there are even opposing fans saying that penalties should have been called on their team, there’s something damn wrong.
8:36 PM ET: The Mad Dog is alive. Holmer just absolutely robbed Dowd. Holmey Moly! Save of the game right there. Marty, take notes. We might have a game on our hands after all…
8:34 PM ET: Uh, explain to me how Brian Gionta is the only player to come away with a penalty after that scrum? Makes perfect sense, really.
8:33 PM ET: Hey, the Devils have LIFE! Keep on shooting the puck. Shoot anything and everything. Hell, even let Marty shoot. Something is bound to go in.
8:31 PM ET: John Madden, I love you. Tied game.
8:23 PM ET: Really don’t have much to say at this point.
8:07 PM ET: Can someone explain to me why the Tampa Bay Lightning CONTINUE to use their sticks as weapons to whack players in the faces? That’s three sticks to the faces of Devils players in less than two games. Ridiculous. Apparently it’s going to take a Devil losing an eye for an official to even call something. Dirty and disgusting.
7:53 PM ET: Okay, after taking a couple deep breaths, I have regained my composure. Devils need to come out strong in the 2nd. They gotta stay calm, no more dumb penalties and it looks like they need to actually help Marty out because it’s apparent he’s lost the ability to stop a puck, especially from any angle whatsoever.
7:45 PM ET: Thank goodness that’s over. I’m going to pretend that period didn’t happen.
7:38 PM ET: Well. Nice to see the boys took that power play serious. It’s starting to look more and more apparant that this team will be a one-and-done. Prove me wrong.
7:35 PM ET: Wow, a high-sticking penalty is finally called on St. Louis. This guy really needs to learn how to not clip players in the face with his stick.
7:32 PM ET: Andre Roy throws nine million hits — by the process of, well, probability, he finally gets called for a penatly. Huge power play coming up here.
7:31 PM ET: So, the Lightning have managed to easily make Marty look human. Disheartening.
7:27 PM ET: You gotta be KIDDING me! Not Rad, Brad. This is exactly what you guys shouldn’t be doing. 1-0 Tampa Bay because Marty Brodeur is pure garbage. This is going to be a long night.
7:23 PM ET: Crap. Keep dem elbows down, Zachy. This is NOT the time to be taking a penalty…especially when you’re our best player. Mr. Dowd, get the job done.
7:21 PM ET: Okay, so my bud John F. over at Boltsmag informed me that it is not the arena which is so unbelievably dark, but instead a wonderfully awful broadcast.
7:13 PM ET: Wow, can we say D-I-R-T-Y Mr. Ranger? Granted, I can barely even see the play right now as it appears nearly pitch-black in this arena, but, uh, you can’t take out a player like that. No good.
7:13 PM ET: Could it look any darker in this arena? I can barely see the game! Bad broadcast or bad lighting?
7:12 PM ET: This game ever going to start? Jeepers…
6:58 PM ET: Thanks to reader and good friend Hasan, we now know that White is out of the lineup after suffering what the organization is calling a “stiff back.” Let’s hope that’s not code for “disk herniation.”
6:35 PM ET: Welp, Game 3 is almost here. Must-win for the boys tonight. Gonna be a bit tricky, though, as Colin White did not take part in the pre-game skate and will not dress for tonight’s game. Skating in his place is the seldom-used but often-loved Richard Matvichuk, who will be making his ’07 playoff debut tonight. Let’s go Mattie!
This is a bit worrying, though. Wonder if the groin is acting up for Whitey again…
I think I’m going to be sick, that was one pathetic 5 on 3 powerplay.
Reason #10038 to love the NHL Center Ice package: according to SUN sports’s color commentator, Parise faked the high stick to his face. I guess the images of his continued looks of agony and being tended to by the trainer are just a ploy.
Someone needs to give Ken Daneyko a higher SPF sun block!
I
Props to Oduya, who just skated his ass off to get to the puck first, even though he knew he was going to get hit.
Why does Tampa get to keep the Hey Song?
I meant to say that I “heart sign” Parise. They gave him #9, and he’s been playing like the 1995 Neal Broten on speed and steroids.
Chico needs to stop playing up Holmqvist’s play. No one is making him move and all their shots are right at him.
You can pretty much throw that win record, the twelve shutouts, the Hart-Vezina-whatever out the toilet if the Devils lose this series. Hard to tell who’s been worse Marty or the refs, both look like they want the Lightning to win
Pop quiz hot shot!
9 seconds left; puck in the defensive zone; what do you do?
Answer: walk it out ever so slowly and take a prayer of a shot from outside the blueline?
I can’t remember the last time (besides tonight) that I was nervous almost every time an opposing team took a shot on goal. Bleh…
It looks like the rookie can play after all. Holmer is THE MAN!!!! I bet you guys sure miss Scott Stevens don’t ya? Without him back on D, Marty just doesn’t look the same. Of couse Vinny, Marty, Richie, Boyle, Prospal etc, etc, etc can do that to a goalie. Can’t stop the same shot 2 nights in a row, the odd angle from the right at the goal line. Oh man. BTW, Patricia, I took care of talking to the boys about the high sticking, unfortunately your guys can’t seem to stop skating into them! Up 2-1, can’t wait for Wednesday! GO BOLTS!!!!
RJ, really doesn’t have much to do with Scott Stevens, to be honest. Marty put together the best season of his entire career — and one of the best seasons in NHL history, as noted by his single season wins record. For some reason, though, he seems to have been shaky as all hell in the playoffs.
Um, RJ? Etc, etc, etc? Really? REALLY? Without St. Louis and Lecavalier, TB has NOTHING to show in this series.
I have to say, it’s almost impossible for me to fathom the Devils not having a strong return in game four. After two straight losses, two notably weak performances, they’re going to come out hard in game four. And with a win, it’s a three-game series.
I wouldn’t be celebrating yet, RJ. Marty hasn’t played like this all season and can easily bounce back. The guy’s got long-term credentials and has had quite arguably his best season of his career. If he bounces back, the Devils have a great shot at the series. And RJ, “can’t seem to stop skating into them”? Are you serious? That’s one of the most ridiculous statements I’ve ever heard. A high-stick is a high-stick, even accidental high-sticks are usually avoidable. If your team had three un-called high-sticks, would you be saying that? Honestly?
The Lightning are playing like they’re pissed off. The Devils need to keep agitating them and keep wearing them down. With that, and Marty responding big, they can get this series.
P.S. Oh, and one more thing. I have Center Ice as I live in Albany and don’t always get the Devils feed, as was the case tonight. Joe was right about the Sun announcer claiming Parise faked the high-stick. Rewind DVR -> Pause -> Slow-Mo = DEFINITE high-stick on Parise. Now, I’ve heard of Chico being called a homer (Doc? no way) before, but come on! At least he corrects himself if he jumps to the wrong conclusion at first.
Tampa Bay does well in the hitting category early, so the announcers are 100% about hitting. Meanwhile, the Devils are largely out-shooting the Lightning, no comment. Latter half of the game, Devils became all about hitting but didn’t get as many shots on goal, all of a sudden the Lightning were geniuses for shooting. You can say that they never said anything bad about the Devils, sure, but this sums it up; they never said anything bad about the Lightning nor anything good about the Devils. It was probably in the bottom five hockey broadcasting calls I’ve watched in my whole life, and I’ve watched a lot. (Let’s just say I get my money’s worth out of Center Ice and have heard every team’s broadcaster a few times.)
And I have to listen to them again game four, most likely? ::puke::
I think it’s still sad that I’d still prefer SUN’s commentators (as obnoxious as they are) to Sam Rosen of the Rangers and the guy who does the Buffalo games. Living in Boston with Center Ice is great because the majority of games are broadcast as FSNY, but these three come on once in a while and always leave me yelling at my TV because of how one-sided and absurd they are.
Aaron – I actually love the guy who does the Buffalo games, he’s Rick Jeanneret. However, I have a soft spot for the Sabres (Devs are BY FAR and always will be my #1) as much of my family is from the area and I was born in Rochester. Any time I visited family out there, he’s who we heard.
However, he is EXTREMELY one-sided, so I can see your point. He gets quite into the game, which is great, but you can quickly realize how one-sided he is when he calls a game against your team and he has nothing positive to say about them at all. For Buffalo though, I think their color guy and their other commentators are horrible.
Sam Rosen is pretty bad. I actually never really minded John Davidson, even though I always thought he was kooky, but when he was with Sam Rosen he could get annoying too.
With all this said, by far the worst announcers I’ve ever heard are Philadelphia’s. The mood-swings of the Philadelphia crowd are fast and fickle, yet they’re worse because they buy into it.
Point #1: Brodeur had a great regular season, set record for wins he himself said should have an asterisk next to. Not a great point to fall back on, but when a guy like him tanks 2 games in a row the way he has, I understand falling back on the regular season accomplishments.
Point#2: To say we would have NOTHING without the big 3 is the same as me saying you would have nothing without Brodeur. Weak, very weak. The etc, etc refers to a 4th line that has kicked the Devs tails all over the ice. Ward and Feds who have forechecked the hell out of you guys and forced numerous turnovers and chances. The etc, etc sets up the big guns to do what they do.
When your boys learn how to play behind the net and in the corners, and figure out how to stop what they know is coming, look me up. It’s obvious your team doesn’t have a lot of confidence, I would say you could thank Lou for that one. We’ll seey tomorrow in game 4.
GO BOLTS!!!!
BTW if you want to hear something crazy, check out our radio play-by-play guy.
Well, when you have the guy who Marty BROKE the record say himself that he thinks Marty’s wins are legit, it kind of throws the arguement out once again.
A word of advice — your goalie really hasn’t been all that much better. The only difference here is that Marty has been letting in the softies of the game while Holmqvist has been making the saves of the game. Other than that, both goalies have been easily even matched. That’s not acceptable in terms of Marty, as he should be playing better, but he hasn’t been as bad as we’ve been making him out to be.
And, really, take a good look at your team. Outside of St. Louis and Lecavalier, your offense hasn’t done much. And we have nothing outside of Brodeur? Well, hate to tell you, but that’s been said for a few years now. Where’s our offense? We don’t have much, and what we do have (aka Elias, Gomez, and Gionta) have decided to not give a crap this series for one reason or another.
And no, you guys haven’t kicked our tails all over the ice, rather, you guys have high sticked our guys faces all over the ice. You have fellow Tampa Bay fans even saying that the officiating has been horrible.
It’s pretty easy to shut down our offense, we don’t really have much to begin with, so I wouldn’t get all excited about that. This team is based upon goaltending and great defense — both of which have been average. When that happens, of course it’ll be an easy series for you to win. Lecavs has been skating circles around the Devils.
Good luck in Game 4. If my gut instinct is right, Marty will come back with a vengance and it’ll be a whole different series come Friday.
[...] Patricia over at 2manadvantage.com had some choice words to summarize her live-blogging of game 3. Okay, game is over. Devils lose. Series is only 2-1 Lightning, but it might as well be 3-1 in my eyes. Who should we point the finger at for tonight’s loss? Ah, our wonderful MVP Marty Brodeur. I just love how he claims he needs to be the difference in the game and step it up…well, congrats Marty, you were the difference. It’s not often said, but it needs to be put on the table tonight: [...]
All in all, it takes one bad bounce and an ugly goal for a game to change. Momentum has been in the Bolts’ favor but that’s why it’s a SERIES. Hopefully we’ll see some of that momentun tilt our way.
We all have our own perceptions as far as the game goes. It’s still a series right now so, no hard feelings as to who’s done what on the ice. I’m pretty confident in the Devs, no matter how far they go. We all put up a fight for our teams. This is the playoffs so ENJOY it while it lasts. It might not be so different next year!
Does the fact that the Rags… cough… Rangers are up 5-0 against the Thrash make you wanna crap your pants! At least they’re beatin up on the Thrash and not the Devs!
So here’s the deal. Godlike goaltender takes 9 in the ass over 3 games. What does a team with nothing else fall back on? If the Devils are losing going into the 3 period, the Devils are losing – period. They don’t know how to react to a team that can score. Meanwhile, Torts is finally giving Homer the confidence that he needs by not pulling him after every goal. Seriously, that kid has the skills. If he can continue to play consistently, the Lightning will have all the tools they need – and that is not just 2 players. It’s one of the best scoring defenses in the league. It’s speed on all lines. And apparently, they are not afraid to check either (reference Monday night – and no whining please!) I think the Lightning have few obstacles in front of them and the Devils are not one of them. I think your neighbors (both Rangers and Islanders) are more of a threat for the cup. Your GM said it best when he symbolically told the country that this team doesn’t have what it takes to win out.