Prediction markets are becoming a useful tool in determining future events, whether they be elections, to geopolitical actions.  Essentially, it allows people to invest according to their individual research, opinions, etc, while developing an overall consensus on market performance.  The more players, the more accurate it becomes.

It’s typically better than a poll because shares can be bought or sold, allowing the market to track team performance and adjust accordingly.

So here it is… invest wisely!

Market Link

As the days of summer continue to drag on, it appears the Devils have made the majority of their player movements and transactions.  While the management continues to say that they are still looking to acquire a much needed defenseman, it looks as if they are taking their time.

Essentially, it looks as if Lou wants to see what the team he has now is capable of.  So let’s take a look at the Devils current Depth.

Left Wing Center Right Wing

P. Elias                   B. Rolston                B. Gionta

Z.  Parise                T. Zajac                   J. Langenbrunner

J. Pandolfo             J. Madden                D. Zubrus

M. Rupp                 B. Holik                  D. Clarkson

Forward Depth

R.  Pelley (C),  N. Bergfors (RW),  F. Federov (please stay in Lowell) , B. Tallackson (RW), and P. Vrana (LW)

Defense

P. Martin        J. Oduya

B. Salvador    C. White

M.  Mottau    A.  Greene

Defense Depth

S. Brookbank, M. Fraser, M. Corrente, T. Eckford

Goaltending

M. Brodeur

K. Weekes

Goaltending Depth

S. Clemmenson

J. Frazee

As you can see, the Devils have manged to take what worked from last season, and only make minor adjustments.  Bringing in Rolston helps on the first line because his shot is what a player like Gionta needs.  Theoretically, a playmaker like Elias can feed to him, and Gionta picks up the rebound.  Theoretically of course.

The 2nd line goes back to where it had it’s best chemistry (PZL, “pretzel line”), and hopefully Zajac will put his “mediocre” sophmore season, and blossom into the center the Devils need him to be.

The 3rd line remains the Rock of the team.  Madden, Pandolfo, and Zubrus have proven themselves to be highly effective in the checking, and even scoring roles.  Consistency is key with this group, and their track record is fairly good in this regard.  Hell, before Jay got injured in the game against Dallas, this line (sans Zubrus if my memory is correct) had some of the best production in this last season, hell to my knowledge, the best ever!

With the injection of Holik on the 4th line, along with youth like David Clarkson, and our good ol’ boy Michael Rupp, this line can provide physicality, as well as some short term checking capacity.  Hell, the Devils can finally roll 4 legit lines and cover all their bases.

On Defense, the Devils have mainstays in Martin, Oduya, White, and Salvador.  The last two spots become very iffy.  Mike Mottau, a Rangers reject, proved himself quite well in the Devils red last season, and has earned the chance to play in the starting lineup again.  Greene however… with guys like Matt Corrente bucking for a spot in the lineup… he may have to earn his spot in the lineup.

My view on the D-situation is that we have some expendable assets.  I would like to see Corrente make the lineup, and the only way for him to achieve that is by playing better than Mottau and Greene in camp.  But if he can do it, then more power to him.  His development is far more important than the career of Mike Mottau.  You don’t let players like Corrente rot in developmental hell if they prove to be ready right now.

As for Fedor Federov… I for one feel he has no place on this team.  There just isn’t any room… But!  4th line in place of Rupp is a possibility… a slight one.

All in all, the Devils are fairly stacked.  Their depth is not an issue… but the quality of their primary talent is still in doubt.  Especially on D.  Hence the rumours that Lou may still be looking for a D-man to put the team over the top.

But the way things are… it may be best to wait and see how things proceed.  With Marty in net, a mediocre D-corps becomes above-average when stopping goals against… but getting them to help with the transitional game (going from being on D to the attack) is where their weakness may be.  A good outlet pass or blue-line puck carrier is highly valuable.  And the loss of Scott Gomez highlighted that weakness immensly (cuz he used to just do the work himself).

Are the Devils a cup contender?  In my opinion… no.  Not yet.  But they are going to be as good or better than last year.

Friday 10/10 Islanders at Devils 7 PM

Monday 10/13 Devils at Rangers 7 PM

Monday 10/27 Rangers at Islanders 7 PM

Tuesday 11/4 Islanders at Rangers 7 PM

Wednesday 11/12 Rangers at Devils 7 PM

Friday 11/21 Islanders at Devils 7 PM

Friday 12/12 Rangers at Devils 7 PM

Saturday 12/27 Devils at Rangers 7:30 PM

Monday 12/29 Islanders at Rangers 7 PM

Tuesday 1/13 Rangers at Islanders 7 PM

Saturday 1/17 Devils at Islanders 7 PM

Monday 2/9 Rangers at Devils 7 PM

Wednesday 2/11 Islanders at Devils 7 PM

Wednesday 2/18 Islanders at Rangers 7 PM

Saturday 2/21 Devils at Islanders 7 PM

Thursday 3/5 Rangers at Islanders 7 PM

Saturday 3/7 Devils at Islanders 2 PM

Monday 3/30 Devils at Rangers 7 PM

I don’t know about anyone else but Milena Govich singing the national anthem last night was probably the high point of the game for me.  Yes, Brian Gionta scored early to give the Devils a lead but the Rangers scored so fast after that a lot of the sellout crowd hadn’t even sat down yet and it was a net letdown.  Maybe the talented and pretty Law and Order actress should have suited up for defense last night, or better yet in goal. 

Oh well, it probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway who played last night, the better (and more physical) team won this playoff edition of the Battle of the Hudson.  We, as fans can analyze what went wrong till the cows come home but when it comes to the Devils only a couple of opinions count - and those would be GM Lou Lamoriello and his possible successor, coach Brent Sutter.  Both presided over a team that nearly topped 100 points again but instead of a deep playoff run suffered a fourth straight unceremonious five-game playoff exit.

But as a blogger and a fan, I still get to spell out the issues as I see them so here goes.  Offensively the Devils ranked 25th in the NHL in goals and goal-scoring was a problem for much of the season until (surprisingly) the final three playoff games.  It seems to me that any team with the young and talented Zach Parise and vets such as Gionta, Patrik Elias, and Jamie Langenbrunner shouldn’t have had quite as much trouble scoring as they did but two big problems came back to bite the team. 

One, being the lack of offensive help from the center-ice position.  Travis Zajac, expected to take a leap forward in his second season instead regressed to 34 points and a -11 rating.  Free agent acquisition Danius Zubrus proved to be a very capable and physical third-liner in the playoffs but he was brought in (and paid) to be a top six forward so from that aspect his 13 goals and 38 points in the regular season was a bit of a dissapointment as well, especially considering he had to be shifted from center to wing.  Elias was moved back to center after years as a left wing and performed capably in the second half of the season and playoffs but the team still needs at least one more offensive threat at center.

Another problem - which has been an issue since the lockout is the pathetic lack of offense from the blueline.  Scott Niedermayer leaving three years ago was the biggest blow, but losing Brian Rafalski last offseason made the offensive woes from the team’s defensemen even worse.  Other than the occasional end-to-end rush by Johnny Oduya against the Flyers, there really was no hope of offense from the team’s defensemen.  Oduya led the blueliners in goals with a pitiful six, and overall the team’s defense chipped in just 25 goals in 2007-08 (19 by defensemen that dressed for the final three games of the season).  That problem will certainly have to be addressed this offseason.

Other problems that need to be addressed include the lack of depth forward-wise.  I like Mike Rupp a lot despite his 9 points and -8 in 64 games, but five or six forwards with his offensive production (or barely above it) in one lineup is way too much.  Lack of physicality also showed against the Rangers, who were allowed to run goaltender Martin Brodeur without much fear of retribution until it was too late in the series. 

And on the blueline the team wasn’t nearly good enough defensively either.  Paul Martin was by far the most consistent defenseman on the team, and made the inexperienced blueliners he played with (Oduya, Mike Mottau and even Andy Greene at the beginning of the season) better.  Aside from Martin’s +20 and Oduya’s team-leading +27 though, no other Devil distinguished themselves even-strength.  Who was third on the defense in plus-minus?  Karel Rachunek with a +3.  Yes the same Rachunek that was persona non grata at the end of the season allegedly (via Larry Brooks) for signing with a Russian team before the season was over.

Brodeur, even at 35 is one worry the team does not have and had what some consider to be his best ever regular season in goal playing with an inexperienced and undersized defense.  However, in the past few years he’s failed to live up to his enormous reputation in the playoffs.  Some fans (like me) and most of the media pin this fact on his workload, playing 75 games a year is one thing but doing it at age 35 and with the post-lockout NHL and having to compensate for an increasingly suspect defense eventually has taken its toll on Brodeur’s play towards the end of every season, particularly the last two years. 

Coachingwise, Sutter came in with new ideas - splitting up the John Madden and Jay Pandolfo checking line, jettisoning veteran defenseman Richard Matvichuk and playing more of an up-tempo style.  Yet after the first ten games, when Sutter realized a lot of the changes weren’t going to work with this cast of characters he adjusted and went back to Devils-style hockey.  Results improved, but the last couple of months of the season showed there’s still a lot of work to be done.  Sutter did a good job as coach in any case, holding a veteran core accountable helped the team shake off a bad early start and perservere through tough times.  This offseason will be a big one for him though, will Lamoriello and he bring in more Sutter-type players or will Sutter have to adjust his gameplan to the team composition once again?

One of the most troubling aspects of this season was the Devils’ inability to win their biggest games.  To wit: 2-11 against the Rangers in the team’s biggest rivalry (with neither win coming in regulation), 2-6 against the lousy Islanders, and in March the Devils also endured two losses to the Penguins with the division lead on the line and two losses to Montreal with the conference lead on the line. 

This year’s version of the Devils did have heart and kept bouncing back from various dissapointment (a nine-game road trip to open the season integrating a lot of new faces in the process, lack of goalscoring throughout), but just lacked the poise and smarts needed to come up big in key situations offensively or defensively. 

And fact is this year’s team just wasn’t very talented.  New Jersey’s last regulation win came on March 15, in Colorado when Jose Theodore let a couple of beach balls go past him.  Their last 60-minute win at home was on Feburary 23, which not-so-coincidentally was the next to last game before the trade deadline.  For whatever reason two years running, seasons that looked on the verge of being very good turned dramatically south just after the deadline.  It will be up to Sutter and Lamoriello to figure out why and what changes (re: additions) need to and can be made. 

All Photos Copyright Getty Images

Martin Brodeur didn’t have much to say. Aside from the predictable handshake snub of Sean Avery, the normally unflappable Devil franchise netminder handled questions in odd fashion after the Rangers had eliminated his team with a 5-3 Game Five win at The Prudential Center Friday night. 

To say it was awkward would be an understatement. Or maybe as he’d term it, ”Weird.” 

Aside from the unusually brief Brodeur postgame reaction, several other teammates took it in better stride analyzing what went wrong. I watched a vast majority of both sides of the Battle of Hudson MSG postgame coverage and came away impressed with how other Devs handled the crushing defeat. Particularly John Madden, who almost was the hero.

It was a rough night for Brodeur, who didn’t have a good showing allowing another questionable goal in what amounted to another high scoring game. If there was a turning point in this game, it had to be after the Devils got on the board first courtesy of a Brian Gionta goal from Travis Zajac and Dainius Zubrus. Wonder where that line combo came from?

Oddly enough, all four of Brent Sutter’s lines were exactly what was written here. Did someone spread the word to the first-year coach? I just found it totally amusing. 

Anyway, Gionta finally solved Henrik Lundqvist and it came early. You had to figure that boded well for the Devs as the team who scored first had won the past four games. Plus the percentage had been fairly high thus far in these playoffs.

Instead of keeping momentum, the Devs allowed the Rangers to come right back 18 seconds later when the series’ best player Jaromir Jagr got to a loose puck behind the net and centered for teammate Michal Rozsival, who beat Brodeur upstairs for his first of the series. Not long after, Jagr notched his second of the series while on the power play when for some reason the Devils backed off allowing him enough time to setup and wrist one five-hole on Marty.

MSG-Plus (that’s the best name they come up with? Geez.) Devil analyst Ken Daneyko had it right when he said that the Devs’ PK needed to be more aggressive there against Jagr. You don’t let a skilled player like that get so much space. It was just way too much time for what was a stoppable shot.

The turnaround continued thanks to a great shift by Avery. With a target on his back all period where Devils hit him often including a few illegally, the Ranger pest took the abuse during one shift coming out with the puck forcing Brodeur to make a save. Instead of taking their former teammate, the Madden line was preoccupied with Avery allowing Scott Gomez an early Christmas present which made it 3-1 Blueshirts with 1:59 left in the first.

That goal really categorized why the Devils came out on the wrong side in this series. There were just too many instances during this heated series where they were going for the big hit and forgot about their defensive assignments. Not the kind of disciplined hockey one would expect from New Jersey.

Another glaring example of this was Chris Drury’s series clincher. The Devils had a solid shift in the Ranger end but couldn’t make a dent on the scoreboard. Somehow, Nigel Dawes came out with the puck during a two-on-three and made a perfect cross feed between Mike Mottau’s legs to a cutting Drury, who buried it for his second in two contests at 5:35.

At the time, it looked like a knockout blow because the Devs didn’t have much life. However, hockey’s a weird game. Sometimes, you’ll get a couple of bounces to get back in it which was precisely what happened when a Bryce Salvador dump-in from his bench deflected off Brandon Dubinsky’s back past a stunned Lundqvist which suddenly cut it to 4-2 with over 30 minutes still left in regulation. Maybe one of the oddest goals I’ve ever seen.

A few minutes later, a loss of discipline from Dubinsky (offensive zone- interference) and Marc Staal (slash) led to a Patrik Elias five-on-three tally at 13:50 making it a one-goal contest. During a siege in front, Elias threw a puck which caromed off a Ranger past Lundqvist. Suddenly, it was the Devils with all the momentum and plenty of time on their side.

Ultimately, the game came down to Madden, who was pulled down by Ranger defenseman Dan Girardi leading to the first ever penalty shot in Stanley Cup playoff history in the third period. He made a strong move opting to go to the backhand but Lundqvist got just enough of a pad on Madden’s five-hole stuff attempt to keep it out with 7:08 remaining.

With the Rangers playing more conservatively (more on this in another column) trapping, the Devs only got one more quality chance to tie it but a wide open Gionta one-timer similar to the one he scored on was foiled by Lundqvist, who got enough of his goalstick to push the puck over the net.

An inspired shift by Ryan Callahan where he controlled the puck deep in Devil territory for roughly 40 seconds seemed to take the wind out of Sutter’s club as they never threatened again.

A Dubinsky empty netter was the final nail in the coffin with exactly a minute to go, allowing the Rangers to become the second team to advance to the Eastern Conference Semis- joining possibly future opponent and division rival Pittsburgh.

That all depends on what happens with the two remaining series. The Flyers will try to wrap up a spot in D.C. later today while the top seeded Canadiens look to do the same tonight in Boston. If the Habs prevail, they’ll get either the Rangers or Flyers. That’s if the Caps don’t mount a 3-1 comeback. There are other scenarios. So we’ll just have to wait and see how it all shakes out.

In the other two Western Conference series, the Red Wings got a Johan Franzen OT goal at 1:48 to edge the Predators 2-1, taking a 3-2 series lead back to Nashville. Meanwhile, the Ducks responded to adversity getting a goal and helper from veteran Teemu Selanne and 42 saves from Jean-Sebastien Giguere while getting the better of the Stars 5-2 to force a Game Six back in Big D.

The best thing you can say about a five-game series is that at least it wasn’t a sweep.  However, the Devils’ pattern of losing in five games is growing quite tiresome - 2004 against the Flyers, 2006 against Carolina, last year against Ottawa and now this year against the Rangers. 

It wasn’t as if the team went down without a fight, in some ways tonight was probably their best game of the series.  Unfortunately they were let down by Martin Brodeur, who let up at least two soft goals during a decisive first period where the Devils outplayed the Rangers, took an early lead after a Brian Gionta goal and still found themselves behind 3-1 by the end of the period after goals from Michael Roszival, Jaromir Jagr and yes, Scott Gomez again. 

After another Ranger goal by Chris Drury in the second it would have been easy for the Devils to pack their tents and fold.  But showing resiliency, New Jersey fought back.  Granted Bryce Salvador’s goal that brought the score to 4-2 was quite lucky, but sometimes you make your own breaks when you put the puck towards the net.  In Salvador’s case his long shot from behind the blueline deflected in off a Ranger, and awakened the Devil fans in attendance, however many there might have been (more on that later).  Soon after, the Rangers took two consecutive penalties giving New Jersey a 5-on-3, which Patrik Elias converted on, scoring off a netmouth scramble to make the game 4-3, where it would stay going into the third period.

As it turned out the major moment of suspense in the final twenty minutes came when Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi hauled down John Madden on a breakaway, giving the Devils a penalty shot with a chance to tie the game.  Unfortunately for Madden, his shot found nothing but Henrik Lundqvist’s pads.  Brandon Dubinsky scored an empty-net goal with a minute left to sew up the game 5-3 and the series 4-1, both in favor of the Rangers.    

As for the postgame contreversies with Lundqvist basically taking a victory lap around the Rock and Brodeur refusing to shake Sean Avery’s hand, I’m pro on each of them. 

Why shouldn’t Lundqvist acknowledge the thousands of Ranger fans in attendance?  Hell, the Rock had become MSG2 by that point anyway.  Maybe it’ll give the Devil fanbase a much-needed wakeup call, because as someone in attendance tonight was an utter embarassment.  Not to me personally, since I did what I could to support the team but to the fanbase as a whole.  The players held up their end and didn’t give up but far too many of the fans who sold their tickets in an elimination game did. 

Apparently Ken Daneyko even called out Devils fans in the postgame, I’ll certainly be interested to see the tape on that later.  It must have been hard for him to do as someone who bleeds red and has done as much for that fanbase as anyone who has ever worked for the team.

And why should Brodeur have to show class to someone that has none in Avery?  Especially given Avery’s repeated references to Marty’s well-publicized divorce among his other trash talking and idiosyncrascies.  I know to an extent it’s part of the game but Avery not only crosses the line, he lives over it.  At a certain point it just went beyond the boundaries of hockey.  Marty may have had a terrible series on the ice but he doesn’t have to prove to anyone he’s the bigger person, he already is.  Though that isn’t really saying much in this case. 

The funny part is I half predicted it to a friend, when I said during the first intermission I’d be semi-interested to see whether Marty shakes Avery’s hand or not.

Anyway, I’ve said my piece on the game - or at least what little I was compelled to write, and will post an overall Devils season recap once the dust settles.

A couple of years ago, Ranger coach Tom Renney didn’t do his team any favors by going public about their opponents’ tendency to embellish penalties against his club. Not surprisingly, it came off wrong looking like a built in excuse for why the Rangers were handled by the Hudson rival Devils, who ironically enough are the same first round opponent two years later.

If there was a valuable lesson learned from that rough experience in which the Devils swept Renney’s team out of the playoffs, it was that the affable coach’s complaints didn’t help his team. Jaromir Jagr also lost his cool near the end of Game One going out of character to try to punch then opponent Scott Gomez injuring himself and any realistic chance a thin Ranger offense had of competing against a more well balanced and experienced Devil club that Spring.

Lesson learned. The second time around, Renney has taken a different tact with the officials in the fifth Battle of Hudson. This series has had its share of questionable calls for both sides in a very physical and intense match-up. If there’s been one noticeable change from two years prior, it’s the Rangers’ willingness to compete against an opponent whose reputation has always been to bang around and get dirty.

In particular, it’s been the Blueshirts’ more aggressive game plan of going hard to the net which has paid off driving Martin Brodeur nuts no matter what he says. It can’t be easy for the three-time Stanley Cup winner when pesky Rangers such as Ryan Callahan and nemesis Sean Avery are in his face constantly. Heck. Even the perimeter oriented Jagr stepped out of character the other night and took the puck hard to the net accidentally kneeing the Devils’ best player as he went by.

On the play, No.68 was properly given a goalie interference call while Brodeur got an unsportsmanlike conduct for diving. The three-time Vezina winner does have a tendency to overdo it when players come near his crease. However, I’ve seen worse than what happened in that instance where he got nabbed.

In Game Four, Avery also drove hard to the net being hauled down by Devil defenseman Colin White sliding into his “best friend.” Sure, he was pulled down and the momentum carried him towards the net but you always have to wonder with Avery. He tends to accentuate.

When the hard fought game had concluded in which his team fell short to fall behind 3-1 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series, first-year Devil coach Brent Sutter questioned the Rangers’ tactics. He had to stick up for his star player, who needs all the help he can get with a defense which has allowed their opponent to get to the dirty areas too easily.

If you heard or watched Brodeur’s postgame commentary Wednesday night, then you know he wasn’t overly happy with his team’s play. They were guilty of lazy turnovers which the Rangers turned into goals including Marc Staal’s winner. Instead of taking issue with how the games have been called, the franchise netminder credited his opponent for their aggressiveness.

Translation: His teammates aren’t getting it done. They’ll need to battle harder if they’re to extend the series tonight.

While Brodeur hasn’t complained, Sutter’s commentary after Game Four was heard loud and clear by Renney, who wisely took the high road even ignoring a Zach Parise play which saw the gritty Dev knock Henrik Lundqvist’s stick out leading to Mike Mottau’s tying goal. John Dellapina of the Daily News had a good article on the hot topic as the Rangers aim to eliminate their archrival tonight in Newark.

On the subject, Renney brought up some valid observations:

“Let’s not make too much out of this. Both teams play hard. The net is the end point. What are we supposed to do, just stand off to the side and throw pucks at him? It’s not the way the game’s played. Both teams and 16 teams are doing the same thing.

“That’s how you play. That’s how you win at this stage. … The one thing we know for sure is that we’ve never said to our guys, ‘Go after Marty Brodeur.’ We’ve never, ever preached that as a coaching staff. And we probably never would, with anybody.“

Such a poignant response was definitely the right way to go. Especially with his team a game away from the second round. There will always be lots of talking during playoff series. However, it’s how you handle adversity which ultimately decides whether your team advances.

Thus far, Renney’s team has dealt with the elements better than Sutter’s club. We’ll see if they have the killer instinct needed to finish a pesky opponent off in Game Five.

Photo Copyright Getty Images

Just call it sweet redemption. Three nights after helplessly seeing John Madden’s centering pass go off his skate before he could react which got the Devils back in the series, Ranger rookie defenseman Marc Staal struck late in more conventional fashion burning the Hudson rival in an entertaining 5-3 Game Four victory before a loud Garden last night.

As fellow Devil blogger Hasan already stated, three times a desperate Devil club cameback to tie this topsy turvy game. When one-time Ranger Mike Mottau made a nifty move and fired past a stickless Henrik Lundqvist 4:37 into the third, the game was again up for grabs tied at three.

At that point, I had plenty of doubts watching this unpredictable contest. How many times could the Rangers establish a lead before falling flat? Would the Devils finally make them pay for not putting them away? They came close a couple of times following Mottau’s goal. First, Paul Martin went through two Rangers like the parting of the Red Sea and walked in on a shaky Lundqvist but the Ranger netminder foiled his attempt. Next it was Madden’s turn as he found another hole to get off a backhand a few feet away but Lundqvist shut the door.

For as scary as the third-year Ranger in goal looked, when push came to shove he kept his team afloat when they needed it most. Otherwise it would’ve been a fourth straight win for the road team in this series and 2-2 headed back to Newark tomorrow.

Instead, the Blueshirts recovered playing a strong final six minutes which included Staal’s deciding tally with 3:13 remaining to take a 3-1 series lead, pushing the Devils on the brink.

By now, you know the facts. Only nine percent of NHL teams in a 3-1 hole have rallied to win a series. New Jersey still has a few players left from the 2000 Stanley Cup team which were in this predicament when they found a way to win twice in Philly sandwiched around a home win including a dramatic one-goal triumph in Game Seven off the stick of Patrik Elias, who coincidentally has been their best player in this series. Though his brutal giveaway led to Staal’s goal tarnishing a two-goal performance.

The other Devils who were on that team are Madden, Jay Pandolfo, Sergei Brylin, Colin White and of course Martin Brodeur.

Can it be done? Certainly. If the Devils elevate their game limiting mistakes and the Rangers let down, anything can happen. It would be wise for Tom Renney’s club to come out strong tomorrow at an arena they seem to play their best hockey at. If you have a team down, finish them off. Especially when it’s a resilient bunch like the Devs, who will never give up.

The fourth one is always the toughest to get. It’s about having that killer instinct. Scoring early would certainly help the cause. With all three teams netting the first goal in wins last night, that makes it 22 of 27 games this first round which have seen the team which scores first come out on top. In case you’re doing the math, that’s 81.5 percent.

Game Five is tomorrow night at The Prudential Center with a special start time of 7:30.

A few other observations on last night:

-Chris Drury played his best game of the series, netting an important goal off a nifty redirect of a Fedor Tyutin shot. He also tallied an assist.

-Speaking of Tyutin, twice he kept pucks in which led to Ranger goals. He hasn’t played well this series but was a little stronger last night in his end.

-Scott Gomez scored his first two of the series. Once on a great pass by Dan Girardi finishing off a power play goal which set the tone. The other was the empty netter. It looked like he got his stick on the puck while going forward to beat Madden. In any event, the former Devil leads all players with six points (2-4-6) in the four games. They must’ve taken away an assist because I thought he had seven. Maybe the scoring of the Sean Avery Game Two winner was changed.

-Much has been made of the Rangers’ strategy against Brodeur going to the edge of the crease and bumping into him. In particular, this Jaromir Jagr collision has been overblown. While on the man-advantage, No.68 took the puck hard to the net which is a rarity. From my vantage point in watching the replays, it appeared that he was trying to avoid Brodeur and step around there. The problem was that there wasn’t enough room.

I’ve already been yelled at by one of my Devil buddies online. Jagr’s never been a dirty player. While his reputation has come into question, it’s usually on the defensive side of the puck or work ethic. He’s answered the bell this series and played quite well with a goal and four helpers. I’m sure if it was say Avery, Brodeur would’ve been irate. Fact is the future Hall of Fame netminder got up, collected himself and didn’t look visibly upset. I just don’t believe Jagr would intentionally knee a guy he respects. This isn’t Jarkko Ruutu.

On the same topic, first-year Devil coach Brent Sutter voiced his displeasure with the Ranger strategy including one in which Avery was taken down by White and fell right into Brodeur. On the play which drew a penalty, Avery used his superior speed to go around White. The big physical defender then hauled the attacking Ranger down, who kept going sliding into the Devil goalie. Anyone who knows Avery has seen this before. Could he have stopped his momentum? I don’t really know. He has a tendency to take the puck hard to the net and fall after being tripped. Would it shock me if it were intentional? Hardly.

I could see why that would tick Sutter off. Avery pushes the envelope and has a few screws loose.

-Speaking of Avery, can anyone explain why Renney didn’t put the agitating winger out there during a four minute power play which did absolutely zilch in a tie game during the second? Terrible decision making by the coach which could’ve comeback to haunt them.

-Brendan Shanahan shouldn’t be getting as much power play time anymore. He’s looked old in this series.

-It was very uncharacteristic to see the Devils turn over the puck leading to so many Ranger goals. Especially when it was their best players. You don’t expect Elias and Zach Parise to make such weak clearing attempts. They know better and were challenged by their demanding coach afterwards.

-Brandon Dubinsky had another strong game, picking up a primary helper on a nice setup of a Marty Straka tally off a two-on-one. He really has given the Devils fits. They are having trouble dealing with Dubi’s size and speed. He’s an excellent skater who fights through checks and is very tough on the forecheck. The rookie pivot continues to mesh well with Jagr and Straka combining to form a dangerous top line.

-Straka had his best night tallying a goal and assist. He really was effective on the cycle keeping plays alive. His nice cross pass setup Staal’s left point blast, which proved to be the winner.

-Lundqvist did come up with one big save late denying the tricky Parise’s backhand with about 2:35 left. The pesky Devil snuck through but the Ranger No.1 got just enough of his stick on it to push it over the top of the net.

-The Devils need a lot more from Brian Gionta. Much like the regular season, he’s failed to score on Lundqvist and has just not found the right chemistry with Madden or Pandolfo. Maybe it’s time for Sutter to mix up his line combos as Travis Zajac needs scorers on his line instead of stone hands. A Dainius Zubrus-Zajac-Gionta combo wouldn’t be a bad suggestion for tomorrow’s game. That would allow Sutter to keep Parise-Elias-Jamie Langenbrunner intact. He could then shift either Brylin or David Clarkson to the Madden line. Mike Rupp and Arron Asham could play with either on the fourth line.

-Speaking of fourth lines, the Ranger trio of Ryan Hollweg, Blair Betts and Fredrik Sjostrom played well for a second consecutive game. Each has been doing a solid job on the cycle taking the body and working diligently. If there’s been one positive change for the better from Renney, it’s that he’s not overusing that line opting to give more ice-time to his other three scoring lines. Smart move.

-Sutter got his point across last night but why haven’t we heard anything about the three instances in which the Devils got away with having an extra man out there the past two games? How come nothing on the mugging behind the Devil net before Mottau’s tying goal? Parise also knocked Lundqvist’s stick out on the goal. Were those not penalties? Not to sound like a broken record but the officiating has been equally poor for both teams during this series.

-In case you missed it, the Pens completed a sweep of the Senators posting a 3-1 win in Ottawa last night with goals from Evgeni Malkin, Ruutu and Sidney Crosby. They’re the first team to advance to the Conference Semis.

-The Preds also evened their series with the top seeded Wings last night holding on for a 3-2 win. Greg de Vries’ goal 11 seconds after Pavel Datsyuk’s first of the game stood as the winner. If Nashville somehow comes back from 0-2 down to win this series, Detroit can only point to that brutal nine seconds in Game Three where a one-goal lead turned into a brutal loss.

A fitting title since this game felt like an episode of Charlie Brown.  Every time he got close to the football, Lucy would pull it away.  That was the Devils in a nutshell tonight.  Three times the Rangers took the lead, three times the Devils tied it but could never get the lead and finally just made too many errors in a sloppy 5-3 loss.

The game started one-sided as the Rangers were the only team to take the ice in the first period.  Ironically if it wasn’t for Martin Brodeur (who up to this point has had an off series) the score would have been worse than 1-0 at the end of one.  The Rangers’ only goal came after a failed Devils clearing attempt - get used to reading that - a great keep by Ranger defenseman Fedor Tyutin and a breakdown in the Devil defense leaving Scott Gomez all alone for a power play goal, his first of the series.

After a lackluster first period the Devils stormed out of the dressing room and scored 31 seconds in when Patrik Elias put home a rebound to tie the score - the first time.  Less than three minutes later Martin Straka would score on a two-on-one after some sloppy defending, both on the part of Jamie Langenbrunner and Colin White not keeping the puck in the zone and on Mike Mottau who failed to defend the pass as the defenseman back on the two-on-one.  Just four minutes later Elias tied the game again with a power play goal, deflecting the puck past a suddenly solvable Henrik Lundqvist.  Yet again the Devils would blow the tie a few minutes later when a turnover led to a Chris Drury deflection in front to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead going into the third.

Once again the Devils came out like gangbusters in the third, and their renewed effort was rewarded when Mike Mottau scored at 4:37, tying the game for the third time.  For the next several minutes the Devils pressed but could not put that last goal past Lundqvist that could have changed the series.  Instead it was the Rangers that would once again show the killer instinct in the third period, taking advantage of yet another failed clear by Langenbrunner and company, when Marc Staal blew a shot past Brodeur, the most stoppable one of the four he gave up.  In a fitting end to the game, the Devils pulled Brodeur with less than 15 seconds left and John Madden won a faceoff, but wound up accidentally shooting the puck into his own net.  Gomez was credited with the goal, which sealed the game and most likely the series.     

Sean Avery battles Marty Brodeur in an unusual matter

Let me just state for the record that I like Sean Avery. He can be a very effective hockey player and has played quite well in the First Round Eastern Quarterfinal Series against the Devils tallying three goals and an assist thus far.

However, the NHL’s most hated player (yes, even more than Darcy Tucker) crossed the line last night during an extended Ranger 5-on-3. His screening shenanigans in front of nemesis Marty Brodeur was completely uncalled for and let’s just say extraordinary stuff which defied logic. Does that surprise anyone?

Photo Copyright Getty Images

It was hard to tell what the heck Avery was doing in front of Brodeur from my seat. We sit in 412 and it’s all the way at the opposite end where the chaos was taking place. Watching the replays was enough to see how dumb this agitator can sometimes be. He was essentially swinging his stick in a way not to make contact with the Devil netminder without even paying attention to where the puck was behind him.

I’ve never seen anything like this in all my years watching hockey. It went on for at least 20 seconds even leaving Versus color analyst and former Ranger GM Neil Smith at a loss for words.

See for yourself above.

As fate had it, Avery cameback and scored on that same power play to put the Rangers up 2-1 in a game they’d eventually lose 4-3 in overtime.

Not surprisingly, the NHL reviewed the tape and instituted a new rule. We’ll just call it the Sean Avery Rule for waving his stick and whatever the heck else you want to say in ways a hockey player shouldn’t when screening in front.

This was bush league and has no place in the game embarrassing those who watched it. Why would a good player like him even need to go that far? He and Brodeur have a history but this was just moronic.

In any event, I hope he doesn’t try such garbage next game. Next time he won’t be so lucky and could require help off the ice. Word of friendly advice. Just play the game!