Today’s topics (excluding the part at the end where I say I think Real Sports in Toronto sucks and Pizzo and Noon verbally abuse me):
* It feels like Devils could’ve swept the Rangers by now
* The Rangers’ best players look worn down
* Zach Parise does not
* Mike Rupp gave Marty Brodeur a shot to the chops
* Can the Coyotes win another one?
* Detroit may be getting a new arena – do you prefer old or new barns?
* And much more.
You can listen to it here:
Noteworthy is a feature blatantly ripped off from Trey Kerby and The Basketball Jones crew that catches you up on everything you need to know from the night before in the NHL.
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Rangers/Devils, New Jersey won 4-1
Series: 2-2
Bringing the heat: The Devils, much like last game, were all over the Rangers from the get-go (the Rangers slow starts are sort of becoming their trademark), much thanks to their captain Zach Parise. He scored twice, added a nice assist, took five shots, and was plus one with a hit and a takeaway. His teammate Danius Zubrus described him as “A little ball of energy” after the game, and that’s bang on. He was relentless.
(Andy Marlin, Getty Images)
The New York Rangers’ 4-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils was the first time this postseason that the Rangers have given up 4 goals. They’re averaging just 1.83 goals against per game, second only to the Los Angeles Kings. The defensive performance of the Rangers in the playoffs is even more remarkable when you realize they’ve been playing the vast majority of their games with just 5 defencemen.
6th defenceman Stu Bickel averages approximately 5 minutes of ice time per game, which is one of the reasons why Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh average around 27 minutes per game. With Brandon Prust suspended, however, the Rangers dressed a 7th defenceman in his place, Steve Eminger, who ended up with more ice time this game than in his previous two playoff games combined. Bickel, who started the game as a forward, had 9 minutes of ice time.
Bickel and Eminger ended up seeing more ice time partly because John Tortorella benched Michael Del Zotto for most of the second and third periods. Del Zotto finished the game with 11:39 of total ice time, which is not only his lowest ice time of the playoffs, but his lowest ice time of the entire season. What’s baffling is that this decision came when the Rangers were down by two goals and Del Zotto is one of the Rangers’ best offensive players.
If like me, you’re a fan of all sports, you probably have, at one time or another, found yourself drawing a comparison between two teams or players across different leagues.
For me, and I know I’m not alone on this, one of those pairings has always been the New Jersey Devils and the San Antonio Spurs.
Earlier today Eric T. of the newly formed, already great website NHL Numbers wrote a solid post on Zach Parise that used advanced stats to demonstrate why teams may want to exercise a little caution before throwing their checkbooks at the unrestricted free agent this summer.
His point is correct: a scorer’s offensive prime is much younger than most people think (usually over by around 26), Parise is 28, and if you look at his numbers the past few seasons, the trend could be considered a concern.
But my rebuttal to that idea is pretty simple: sometimes the human angle matters, and Zach Parise is going to be an offensive force for quite awhile because his passion and work ethic will make it so. I know of very few NHLers that care like Parise does.
Somehow this ends up a save.
Henrik Lundqvist gets plenty of love from hockey fans and the media, and rightfully so – he’s a great goaltender who consistently puts up great numbers, and he happens to be a remarkly humble guy. Also, apparently folks think he’s kinda handsome.
But he doesn’t really get that much love. He wasn’t the goaltending story in round one, as the surprising Craig Anderson played lights out and caught us all off-guard. He wasn’t the goaltending story in round two when rookie Braden Holtby caught lightning in a bottle and helped carry the Caps through 14 playoff games. And he’s not really the goaltending story in round three, with 40-year old legend Marty Brodeur finding the fountain of youth and playing great for the Devils.
John Tortorella, feigning shock and incredulity. This is why reporters don't like him.
The New York Rangers are tired. They have to be. To get to where they are, the LA Kings have played 13 games and 2 OTs, neither of them long. The Rangers, in contrast, have played 17 games and 4 OTs, including one triple overtime marathon. They’ve played more hockey than any team in the postseason, and hockey, as we all know, is a tiring thing.
It would be the easiest thing in the world for John Tortorella to admit as much. He could just come out and say, “Yes, the playoffs are a war of attrition, and we’ve attrited more than most, and yeah, we’re weary, but we’re going to try to battle through it anyway, the best that we can.” To say such a thing would be no more than an acknowledgment of a plain truth and the simple humanity of his players. It would be honest.
Rob Pizzo, Jo Innes, Ryan Lambert, Daniel Wagner, Cam Charron, Ms. Conduct, Chris Lund, Ellen Etchingham
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