Wed 2 May 2007
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9:51 PM ET: Oh, and I feel bad for Brodeur — he was sparkled so brightly in Game 3, and then he puts together a crapper of a performance for Game 4. What’s up with that? Ugh.
9:41 PM ET: Welp folks, that’s all she wrote. It’s been fun, maybe next year the boys can actually prove they have what it takes in the playoffs.
…oh, wait…series ain’t over yet? Could have fooled me. This one is done. All that’s left are the formalities of giving the Sens their fourth win of the series.
9:29 PM ET: Of course no game is complete without the obligatory Colin White Anger Management penalty. Yay!
SIDEBAR: Elias should be stripped of the ‘C’ — it’s just not working out. On a positive note, though, Paul Martin has kicked some serious ass lately. He’s finally developing into the defenseman he should be. Brian Rafalski, on the other hand, sucks.
9:19 PM ET: Babysteps folks, babysteps. 3-2 Sens. Granted, Martin’s shot towards the net was the first on goal the entire third period, but, uh, does this not prove something? Oh, hey I know — THROW ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING AT THE NET! Emery is NOT that good. Pepper him, and drive for the rebounds, for the love of Stanley!
9:07 PM ET: Series over. 3-1 Sens. Devils aren’t going to overcome this.
8:43 PM ET: I miss my good feeling. I’m pretty much convinced the Devils will not win this series. Prove me wrong.
8:35 PM ET: Crap.
8:28 PM ET: Did anyone else’s heart just stop there when the puck nearly trickled through the crease? Whoo-boy thank goodness Marty was able to pounce his lil glove on the puck right before it was about to cross the line. Yikes. NOW we have a game on our hands, folks. This is what this series should be looking like.
I also gotta admit, Rasmussen looks good tonight.
8:14 PM ET: Yay, a power play goal…took long enough. Of course, it’s followed by a penalty. Good job boys.
Special mention to VERSUS for the AWFUL camera angle. Couldn’t even tell it was a goal on that live camera feed. Thanks guys, once again proving your coverage is top notch.
7:39 PM ET: The Devils WILL lose this series if they do not friggen get the concept of PUTTING SOMEONE IN FRONT OF THE GOSH DARN NET. Holy crap this is beyond ridiculous now. Emery is garbage, he looks like garbage, he’s playing shaky and giving up tons of rebounds…yet he WILL continue to stop the puck if not a single Devil will stand in front of him. I just don’t get it, I really don’t. Now I’M starting to get pissed.
7:29 PM ET: Well…uh…damn. Cap’n, you suck. Thanks for turning the puck over twice in one shift on the power play. Seriously.
Oh, and goal post? What did I ever do to you, really? Come on.
7:27 PM ET: Oh goal post, how I hate you right now! Huge power play for the boys…hey, every power play is huge at this point.
7:21 PM ET: If there’s one saving grace right now, it’s that the Gomez line looks like they’re flying. I anticipate a Devils goal…but, uh, they just gotta actually get into the zone for that to happen. Can’t win a game when you’re spending the whole time in the defensive zone boys.
7:17 PM ET: Even when the Devils look halfway decent the Sens still find a way to get the job done. 1-0 Sens early. Granted, Ray Emery still looks like garbage and is giving up monster rebounds, but my good feeling has really gone away already…
7:12 PM ET: In-tros-ting…Mike Rupp is sitting, David Clarkson is playing. Spark plug maybe?
7:09 PM ET: Well, puck’s about to drop. Marty says the Devils aren’t worried. Dany Heatley says the Sens are purely awesome. Okay, maybe I paraphrased…but you get the gist.
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Once again, it proves to be difficult to be in two places at once, so I will try my damndest to update as much as possible. Stupid VERSUS…
For serious though, I do have a good feeling about the game. I dunno, maybe it’s just me but I expect a good game out of the Cap’n tonight. He’s looked like garbage so far this series, and I gotta believe he’s still sicky-poo. Hopefully he’s bettery-poo now, cause, uh, we need him…bad.
Ray Emery is a beatable goalie, the boys just need to keep firing at him (psst…shoot glove side!) and scoop up all those juicy rebounds he seems to enjoy giving out, and all will be okay.
If not, well, it’s going to massively suck. Going down 3-1 is quite the poopy situation, and I’ll be quite sad if the team does lose tonight.
Don’t make me sad, New Jersey Devils. Don’t make me sad…
May 2nd, 2007 at 4:29 pm
we SERIOUSLY need to throw camm up in there tonight. i mean, i may be going out on a limb for this juxtapostion, but look what wack ass Avery has done for the new york jagr’s. i think he’s the only one down (other than all of us at home) to get in and start cracking mo fo’s
May 2nd, 2007 at 6:53 pm
im about seconds from slamming my tv against the wall
May 2nd, 2007 at 6:57 pm
Why are the Devils playing 3-on-5 in the offensive zone? Emery looks awful (he hasn’t stopped a play on a save yet), but for some reason the Devils aren’t swarming for the huge rebounds.
It’s official, Elias is a lazy bastard. Up until now, I chalked it up to poise and great vision, but he’s fooled me for the last time.
With 2 seconds remaining, why does Rafalski decide to dump the puck from behind the blue line instead of trying to walk it in or just crank a shot? The dump-in cries “we give up” whereas a goalie who’s been terrible might not expect a shot and let one in or at least a huge rebound.
I hope Lou threatens to put them on the LTI or send them to Lowell.
May 2nd, 2007 at 7:29 pm
I love David Clarkson.
May 2nd, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Marty got Lecavaliered on that shot…that’s my new term for side-angle goals
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Never posted here before….but maybe Johnny Mac should lace them up.
After being quite adamant about that puck going into the bench he’s looked like he’s taking this game much more serious then most of the players are.
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:16 pm
wow we forgot how to pass how to score how to not suck
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Welcome to the site, Brian! Hope you enjoy your stay!
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:23 pm
You can stop bashing Emery now. Even the sens fans give props where they’re due, and Rayzor’s allowed one less goal than the infallible Brodeur.
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Thanks Patricia, definitely have enjoyed reading your funny quotes and sarcastic twist on themes.
What pisses me off most about the Devs is they NEVER break away from their game plan. Yes they play defensively and wait for chances…but would it be so hard to push on offense a little more. Madden line hasn’t stopped the Alfredsson line so instead of constantly trying to pair up against the sens, the Devs should make the Sens pair up against them.
Their guys lose ice-time because the second that line steps out on the ice the Madden line is out there. They don’t know how to adapt in the least till it’s crunch time and it’s been their downfall before.
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:30 pm
omg white took a penalty.. he made damn hit on Neil looked fine to me.. why do the refs always pick on Colin’s hits..
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:42 pm
series over.. elias shouldnt be captain anymore.. goodbye gionta/gomez? time for some off season moves Lou.
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:45 pm
They’ll never learn….what doomed the Stars. So defensively focused you forget what offense is.
Always waiting for the other team to make a mistake instead of creating their own chances.
Times like this I envy the Sharks and Ducks.
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Listen, Ben, with all due respect: has Emery realllly been that good? He’s a human rebound machine. Chalk it up to a blessing that New Jersey doesn’t have a more aggressive offense.
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Why shouldn’t Elias be captain? Because the PZL unit was invisible? Because the checking line didn’t shut anyone down? Because the defense played like moving pylons at times?
Elias at least TRIED in this game (he created the rebound for Gionta to score on, had a whopping 8 shots on net, hustled all night), something I can say a lot more than a lot of the other Devils. I don’t see how having anyone else as captain would have changed anything considering tonight’s effort. The Devils simply provided too little, too late on offense. I agree that the Devils are too defensive minded, but they could use work there too.
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Ben, I’m just frustrated. And to be quite frank, Emery has NOT been a Stanley Cup calibre goaltender — he’s given up monster rebounds, has looked shaky handling the puck behind the net, and really hasn’t made any spectacular saves in the past couple games.
He’s good, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think he’s been amazing, that’s all.
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:19 pm
John, again, I’m frustrated. Elias has clearly been playing injured or sick, which is admirable and all, but he’s been downright awful. He factored in the Gionta goal, but that was about it. He turned over the puck quite a few times, had nothing but weak shots towards the net, and really never skated hard for the majority of the game. I’d liken that ot injury or illness, for sure.
Aside from that, I just don’t LIKE him as Captain. It’s a personal choice for me. I’d like Madden as the Captain, to be honest. I just love the gritty guys, and I felt like Madden would have been a great choice after Stevens/Niedermayer. Oh well.
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:32 pm
That’s a great point, Patricia. My own mentality as well. I would have sewn the ‘C’ on Pando’s jersey. But you get the point.
It just seems that ever since Elias was named, he’s been trying to play a different game. I just want him back to his old Ranger-wrecking self
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:36 pm
I agree, make Madden the Captain and then Elias can go back to being, well, just Elias. I think what made Stevens the great captain was that his own team was afraid of him. We need somebody like that to be captain. John has the nickname Mad Dog for a reason.
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:37 pm
i think the person we really need to pointin fingers @is mr LAMEorello. He’s responsible for pretty much every gripe i’ve seen- the offense due to his inability to change up line matches that arent working, his brodeur will save everything mentality, and patricia even you think elias shouldn’t have been captain. but that came w/his 7 year contract fresh off the dirty czech prostitute desease. i agree, we shoulda tried harder to grab rob neidermeier and put scotty @cap. oh well, he wants to do everything but own the team i guess.
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:42 pm
I could have a .935 save percentage with the Ottawa defense in front of me and the Devil offense opposing me. Emery has only had to make maybe one hard stop per game.
As far as my boy Elias, physically is one thing he’s clearly worn down overall - but mentally he’s looked like Stephane Richer for much of the season. I heard this comparison earlier and it fit. Ironically Richer was one of my first favorite Devils too lol. He doesn’t shoot when he has golden chances then he does shoot when he can get weak backhanders behind the net.
BTW if Madden was captain people would be killing his -8 or whatever. This playoffs is the first time I’ve ever seen Madden-Pando overmatched.
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:13 pm
I perhaps will not agree as strongly with you that Emery is “garbage”, but it’s true, he does give off some really huge-arse rebounds. But I’ve found it only happens if he’s shaky. He sort of needs time to play himself into the rhythm of the game and then he’ll be able to come up with a big save. I don’t think it’s really about how hard the save is, I think it’s about when the save comes and he’s been able to make them at the right time.
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:46 pm
This defensive-mentality I hope hit a chord this season.
Julien was overly defensive but he atleast attempted to adapt and try new things, even if it was with a defensive mindset.
Lou’s problem is he stays with the same strategy no matter what, never changing. Constantly putting out the checking line against the Sens top line as if they’ll suddenly shut them down for the rest of the series.
Worked against TB because that was all they had and didn’t really get any secondary scoring. The Sens have more depth with others that can score and it’s that 1-2 goals from those other guys that have hurt them.
It’s like in the 90’s where the Devs would score 1-2 goals and then expect Marty to do the rest…only that doesn’t work anymore with the faster game.
May 3rd, 2007 at 6:55 am
WIth regards to the captaincy, the Devs don’t have an intimidating player on their roster (other than Janssen) and even if they did, that’s not what they need in the new NHL. They need a guy who works his butt off every shift and leads by the examples he sets, which leads me to my top three choices:
Sergei Brylin - he’s been around since ‘95 and knows what it takes; plus if you watched the game last night, there was a shift where he broke up a 3-on-2 from behind, went up the ice, cycled the puck, got a good shot on goal, and then broke up another 3-on-2 the other way.
Jamie Langenbrunner - he hasn’t been around as long as the others, but he’s been an intense player since he’s come over from Dallas. He throws the body (and doesn’t kick peoples’ legs out from under them as he’s doing it [looks at Patty]), takes it hard to the net, and can play any position Lou wants him to.
Jay Pandolfo - granted he has no offensive abilities in the NHL, but night in and night out he’s the shutdown guy. Everyone already relies on him to help them win.
As for the Stephane comparison, I don’t buy it. Stephane skated hard all the time and had a wicket slap shot (I almost got hit by a deflected one). Though his numbers went down when Lemaire was hired, he was still a force to be reckoned with. Patty has just seemed lazy with the puck; he has complete confidence in his puck handling abilities and tries to throw cross-ice lob passes tape-to-tape through 3 defenders or, worse, sweeping passes along the wall that are supposed to go through the defense to the point man on the power play.
May 3rd, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Ya Emery sucks eh. He is up 3-1 in the series. What does that say about the Devils offense.
Those rebounds you speak off. Have you noticed he kicks them out to his defense which he has confidence in, then the defense moves the puck up to the forwards which can get shots against the trap. Those rebounds are helping to break the chance. If the Devils could get at those rebounds it would be a different story but they can’t.
At least you will get to watch one more Devils game this year.