Not With A Bang
Every post-season ends for every team but one with a loss. When it’s a team you love, that makes it further than you dreamed hope on Opening Night, that loss hurts. It’s worse than finding out the cute girl in 5th grade thinks you’re weird. It is, in the words of the Bubba, heart breaking, [...]
Round Three
The Devils win four in a row to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in nine years. There aren’t that many bills I look forward to getting, and Round 3 Stanley Cup Playoff tickets set the bar pretty high. Where do you start being proud of this team, as a fan? [...]
Five Reasons The Devils Can Knock Off The Flyers
The Devils can knock off the Flyers, probably in six or seven games, because they have the right ingredients with the right blend at the right time. 1. They do the little things. Clarkson’s Game 2-winning goal doesn’t happen if Elias doesn’t poke-check the puck away from his man on the half-boards. It’s not on [...]
Teamwork and Accountability
We can dish out blame for last night’s Devils playoff loss all over the place: the inconsistent referees, the fact that Kovulchuk skated like he’s got a “lower body injury” (groin, hamstring, torn back), DeBoer’s line shuffles that accomplished nothing, Marty’s decision to play the puck without looking at the forecheckers, Volchenkov once again managing [...]
Taking Lazy To A New Level
The Devils are not going to make the playoffs because they are a lazy team. Even if they get a few wins in a row, it’s not enough to offset the institutional laziness that has become acceptable on the ice. Exhibit A: Ilya Kovulchuk does not skate hard to the end boards with four minutes [...]
How Not To Start A Season
The Devils are off to their worst start in 27 years. As far as I’m concerned their 1-4-1 record is an overstatement. They’ve lost five games and haven’t won a game in regulation yet this year. Their inability to score goals is a sign that something is very wrong with this team, and with the [...]
Puck Drop Time
It’s been way too many months since I’ve said something about hockey. Quite honestly, this was one of the strangest off-seasons (long free agency periods, contract bumbling on Sixth Avenue, dismantling of the Blackhawks) and one of the most encouraging ones (Kovulchuk, Mottau, Arnott, MacLean). With a mere eight days to the season and home [...]
Kovulchuk Is A Devil
I’m flat-out delighted that Ilya Kovulchuk will be a New Jersey Devil for the next 17 years. The last time I was this happy was when Elias signed a 7-year deal assuring he’d play in New Jersey until the Bubba graduated from high school. Kovulchuk might be the first player that we cheer through four [...]
Pathetic Devils Effort
Why are Colin White and Mike Mottau together? On the winning goal, Colin White (a) followed his guy behind the net (b) reached, leaned and otherwise made lazy swipes at the puck and (c) left Mottau to remember to cover the weak side (oops). These two don’t belong on the ice at all, let alone [...]