Triple Overtime, ten years later
Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik
05/26/12 at 01:14 PM ET | Comments (0)
The Raleigh News and Observer’s Chip Alexander and Luke DeCock have penned a series of articles recalling the Carolina Hurricanes’ 2002 Stanley Cup run, discussing the team’s cementing of its status as a locally-adopted team, pondering the “curse” of the Prince of Wales trophy, offering status updates as to what the Canes’ alums are doing at present, and, of course, DeCock recalling the Red Wings’ Triple Overtime win in Game 3 from a Carolina perspective:
“I remember talking with Brett Hull a few years later,” said Ron Francis, the Hurricanes’ captain that night. “I didn’t even want to hear about it, but he said. ‘Game 3, if you guys had won ...’ I mean, they felt it too.”
For years, I believed that if the Hurricanes had won Game 3, they wouldn’t necessarily have won the series, but it would have gone seven games, and anything could have happened. As time has passed, though, and I’ve had the chance to speak with more people on the Detroit side of things, I’ve come to the conclusion that the series was in fact hanging in the balance that night.
Perhaps not at the end of regulation, when the Hurricanes were clinging to that one-goal lead, but more and more as overtime piled on top of overtime. With every minute the clock ticked, with every shift and every shot and every save, the Red Wings got a little older, a little creakier, a little less equipped to recover from that kind of effort if they lost.
“I think it would have turned things around,” Red Wings forward Sergei Fedorov would say, long after. “It would have been tougher on us to play the later matches. Those kind of games, when you lose, it’s a tough blow for any team. It could have been a seven-game series. You never know.”
Filed in: | The Malik Report | Permalink
New Jersey Devils Make The Finals
Blog: The Puck Stops Here By PuckStopsHere
05/26/12 at 01:10 PM ET | Comments (0)
Who would have predicted that New Jersey would make the Stanley Cup finals this year? They missed the playoffs last year with a very similar roster to the one they have this year. If I made a power ranking list I wouldn’t have ranked them in the top ten when the season ended. They wound up with the ninth best record at the end of the regular season. There is little to see here that makes them look like a team that might make the Stanley Cup finals. There is nothing to see here that makes me think they might be an elite team.
Nevertheless, let’s take a look at them with my necessary (but not sufficient) conditions to be an elite team.
Filed in: | The Puck Stops Here | Permalink
Tags: Ilya+Kovalchuk, Martin+Brodeur, New+Jersey+Devils, Patrik+Elias, Zach+Parise,
The Key Matchup In The Stanley Cup Final
05/26/12 at 12:37 PM ET | Comments (0)
from Pierre LeBrun and Scott Burnside of ESPN,
Devils centers vs. Kings’ dynamic depth down the middle: The Kings have won the center battle throughout the playoffs against Vancouver, St. Louis and Phoenix, and it’s a big reason for their success. Kopitar and Richards are a dynamic 1-2 punch down the middle but don’t forget the veteran Stoll, who has provided clutch two-way hockey as the team’s No. 3 center. The Devils will counter with a group of lesser-known pivots but let’s not underestimate the work done by Travis Zajac this spring. He lost most of the regular season to injury but his seven goals are one off the playoff lead. He will center the Devils’ top line and could see a lot of Richards as a result. Adam Henrique, the overtime hero in Game 6 of the conference finals, might be the key to this matchup. A Calder Trophy nominee as rookie of the year, he played the last part of the conference finals with Kovalchuk and Patrik Elias, and DeBoer said the only time he has seen Henrique nervous was playing cards with Kovalchuk. And then there’s Josefson, whose return to the lineup in Game 4 of the conference finals coincided with a Devils revival. Speaking of centers, the Devils rank last of all 16 postseason teams in faceoff percentage.
read on as LeBrun and Burnside break down the series and make their predictions…
Filed in: NHL Teams, Los Angeles Kings, New Jersey Devils | KK Hockey | Permalink
No Longer A Dream For Kings Fans
05/26/12 at 12:14 PM ET | Comments (0)
from John Horn of the LA Times,
Sheri Patko plans to visit her father’s grave in Costa Mesa and thank him for introducing her to the sport. Charles Kinninger aims to fly with his family from Guadalajara to Los Angeles to witness history. And Blake Kidder might get a tattoo memorializing the unprecedented event.
Los Angeles Kings fans have endured 45 seasons without ever winning a championship. While that futility can’t match the drought baseball’s Chicago Cubs have experienced, hockey supporters finally believe that the Kings’ turn has arrived. The prospects of a first-ever Stanley Cup now have the team’s longest-suffering fans struggling to come to terms with how redemptive, if not still incomprehensible, a championship could be.
Like North Korean rocket scientists who keep trying despite years of failed launches, wary Kings fans hope for success but fear that the object of their affection will go down in flames. In a city where the Lakers and the Dodgers are expected to triumph and often have, the Kings at best have shown occasional flashes of mediocrity. But hard-core fans remain hopelessly loyal.
“It feels like you’re in a dream, that you’re waiting to wake up, that somebody is playing a trick on you,” said Kidder, 34, who works in advertising and recently relocated to Boston from Los Angeles. She became a Kings fan when she was 12.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Los Angeles Kings | KK Hockey | Permalink
Here’s a prediction ... I don’t know!
Blog: Iced Coffey By pcoffey
05/26/12 at 10:18 AM ET | Comments (0)
Who is going to win the Stanley Cup?
Let me be the first to say “Damned if I know.”
This has been such a wild, weird and wacky tournament that to suddenly state I know what’s going to happen would be the height of folly.
But I will say with certainty that my good friend Frank Marrone and I will not be exchanging pleasantries for the next couple weeks.
Frank is a brilliant web producer I helped recruit to NHL.com years back. But at the time, I didn’t realize he bled purple (opps, back to black and white now) until I saw his cube all decked out in everything Kings. Strange choice for a died-in-the-wool New Yorker, but I suspect Frank is actually a wannbe rapper.
He isn’t going to be sending me any forget-me-nots either, knowing the admiration I have for Jacques Lemaire and all things New Jersey, which starts with Bruce Springsteen and then moves on to hockey.
Frank and I already have hurled a few verbal brickbats at one another via Facebook, but aside from that, I doubt either one of us really knows what’s going to happen. OK, Frank thinks it will be a sweep for the Kings. As for me, sorry, I got nothin’.
Filed in: | Iced Coffey | Permalink
Low Seed Meets Lower Seed
05/26/12 at 08:56 AM ET | Comments (0)
from Kirk Penton of the Winnipeg Sun,
Congratulations, everybody! We have the worst Stanley Cup final in more than 20 years!
That’s only technically speaking, of course, as New Jersey and Los Angeles should be solid entertainment.
But when the Devils beat the New York Rangers 3-2 in overtime on Friday night to set up a date with the Kings, it meant the ninth and 13th overall teams from the regular season will battle it out for the right to hoist Lord Stanley’s mug.
New Jersey was ninth overall and the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, while the Kings were 13th overall and eighth in the Western Conference. Their regular-season placings total 22. The only higher sum was in 1991, when the No. 7 Pittsburgh Penguins beat the No. 16 Minnesota North Stars.
In fact, not since the playoffs expanded to 16 teams in 1980 has the better seed among the finalists been as low as No. 9 overall.
continue for some playoff notes…
Filed in: NHL Teams, Los Angeles Kings, New Jersey Devils | KK Hockey | Permalink
Morning Lines
05/26/12 at 08:38 AM ET | Comments (0)
“We’ve won three Stanley Cups since then, but winning against them on the big stage is not just for me, but for the fans of New Jersey who’ve always taken the second seat,” Brodeur said. “They’re going to be pretty happy, going to work, going to school.
“We made a lot of people really happy by beating them.”
-Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils.
“There’s only one guy that likes beating the Rangers more than Marty, and that’s Lou [Lamoriello, the GM].” Hey, these guys have been through this rivalry for 20 years.”
-Pete DeBoer, head coach of the Devils.
More from Marc Everson of the NY Post.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Martin+Brodeur, Pete+DeBoer,
Red Wings overnight report: milking Hasek’s return story and a tough way for Jurco to go
Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik
05/26/12 at 04:46 AM ET | Comments (7)
The reaction to the news that Dominik Hasek is at least entertaining the idea of attempting an NHL comeback received varying reactions on Friday, but the vast majority of them involved statements similar to the following: “He’s 47 years old, he didn’t play at all last season, and he played the previous two seasons in the Czech Republic and Russia, respectively. Is he nuts?”
First and foremost, yes, yes he is nuts. Despite Sportsnet’s Ian Mendes’s suggestions to the contrary, Dominik Hasek did indeed learn to be both a team player and something of a mentor to Chris Osgood and Jimmy Howard during his final tenure with the Wings, but there’s no doubt that the “comeback” is one part ego trip, one part sentimentality and five or six parts crazy Dom being less than 100% attached to reality.
While the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan didn’t pen a column offering a reaction to the news, he offered a succinct comment regarding the reality of said comeback on Twitter…
Filed in: | The Malik Report | Permalink
Devils Move On To Stanley Cup Finals
Blog: Devils Advocate By David Pavlak
05/25/12 at 11:53 PM ET | Comments (0)
What a game.
With a 3-2 series lead, the Devils literally tried to throw everything they had at the Rangers to finish this series off in front of their home fans. After dropping a 2-0 lead that they gained in the first period, the Devils were able to pull through with a 3-2 win in overtime. The Devils will now move on to face the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday, as they search to bring the Stanley Cup back to New Jersey.
Filed in: New Jersey Devils | Devils Advocate | Permalink
Tags: Ilya+Kovalchuk, Martin+Brodeur, Ryan+Carter, Stephen+Gionta, Steve+Bernier,
Tough to Take
Blog: Goal Line Report By Patrick Hoffman
05/25/12 at 11:36 PM ET | Comments (0)
If you are a New York Rangers’ fan, this is most likely what you are feeling regarding what happened to the team tonight.
The New Jersey Devils ended the team’s hope of getting to the Stanley Cup Final by beating the Blueshirts 3-2 in overtime on a goal by rookie Adam Henrique tonight at the Prudential Center. It is certainly disheartening considering the way the Rangers played in this game.
With the exception of the first period, it seemed like the Rangers dominated this game. They outshot the Devils 35-29, forechecked hard, had a lot more puck possession and were once again able to overcome 2-goal deficit to tie the hockey game and put a a major scare into their Hudson River rivals.
Unfortunately for the Blueshirts, it was only a scare they put into the Devils and not the victory. With their playoff lives on the line for the fourth time this postseason, the Rangers were not able to overcome a 3-2 series deficit for the right to play a Game 7 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night.
With that said, one has to wonder what it would have been like had the Rangers turned in better first period performances in this series. Time and time again, it seemed like the Rangers got down early and were forced to play comeback hockey. While the team was not terrible tying up hockey games, it is a tough way to play in the postseason and unfortunately, the Blueshirts learned that the hard way.
Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: 2012+Stanley+Cup+Playoffs, Adam+Henrique, Carl+Hagelin, Chris+Kreider, Derek+Stepan, Martin+Brodeur, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers, Pete+Deboer, Ryan+Callahan, Ryan+McDonagh,
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Comment by George Malik in The Malik Report
From the entry 'Red Wings overnight report: milking Hasek's return story and a tough way for Jurco to go'.
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From the entry 'Red Wings overnight report: milking Hasek's return story and a tough way for Jurco to go'.
Comment by Sven22 in The Malik Report
From the entry 'Yes, Dominik Hasek is indeed planning another comeback'.
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From the entry 'Red Wings overnight report: milking Hasek's return story and a tough way for Jurco to go'.
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From the entry 'Red Wings overnight report: milking Hasek's return story and a tough way for Jurco to go'.
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From the entry 'Red Wings overnight report: milking Hasek's return story and a tough way for Jurco to go'.
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From the entry 'The Summer of Ken Starts Now'.