ECF Game 3 Review

Yesterday afternoon the New York Rangers defeated the New Jersey Devils 3-0 and took a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals.

1) Man, Henrik Lundqvist is some goalie, eh? How about those two saves on Ilya Kovalchuk? He was stellar all game. He was tracking the puck well, and the defense did a good job keeping the lane free from those deflections that plagued the team in Game 2.

2) The Rangers first goal was a direct result of Pete DeBoer not using his time-out after having a tired group trapped on the ice after an icing. Salvador was trapped on the ice, couldn’t move his feet, and took a hooking penalty on Gaborik. Then, Richards won a draw cleanly, and Girardi fired a shot past Brodeur for his 3rd goal (all GWGs) of the playoffs.

2) The second goal all started with a great shift by John Mitchell. The puck was cleared out of the zone, and Mitchell, instead of dumping the puck deep, carried the puck and held it until reinforcements arrived. He cycled the puck to Callahan, who took a shot, a second chance by Callahan deflected off Salvador, past Kovalchuk, to the point where McDonagh’s shot was deflected by Kreider making in 2-0.

3) Hopefully those three will be teaming up on goals for quite a while.

4) Another game, another PPG. Every game in the series has featured a PPG by the Rangers against a Devils penalty kill that was top 5 all season long.

5) The empty net goal was a great effort by both Boyle and Callahan. Boyle hit the red line, and angled a shot toward the net and it went just wide. Callahan was speeding after it, beat the Devils player to it and scored from about 1 foot off the icing line at a crazy angle.

6) Even though they won, I thought the Rangers played dreadfully the first period and a half. The first period had maybe one shift that the Rangers dominated. Midway through the second, John Tortorella had seen enough and used his timeout. He laid into his team and they seemed to respond, as they always do, to the coach.

7) DeBoer calling Prust a headhunter, that’s a bit extreme. I’ve been watching Prust since he’s been traded here, and this is the first time I’ve seen him do anything borderline dirty.

8) I thought Torts did a good job protecting Prust today. Basically saying if we want to talk about hits Zubrius had an elbow on Stralman and that the Devils set picks to allow Kovalchuk open chances at the net.

9) I fully expect the Devils to come back and play just as good as they did last night. I think the series will probably head back to New York tied at 2.

ECF Game 2 Review

Last night the New Jersey Devils defeated the Rangers 3-2 to tie the series at 1.

1) The first goal for the Devils was a result of Brian Boyle being in the box. Stepan was forced into penalty kill duties. He lost the draw on the opening face-off and the Devils controlled from their. With the puck along the near side half-boards, all 4 Rangers went to that half of the ice, leaving Ilya Kovalchuk all alone. Eventually the puck worked it’s way to Kovalchuk who had a clear lane to the net, skated in and ripped one over the glove of Lundqvist.

2) The Rangers would tie it in the second with a powerplay goal of their own. Marc Staal’s shot from the point took a perfect bounce off the end boards, went off Brodeur and into the back of the net.

3) The Rangers would take the lead on another powerplay goal. This time Anton Stralman, who has been a pleasant surprise this postseason, stepped down the right side and took a shot to the net that deflected off Kreider in front and past Brodeur giving the Rangers the lead.

4) The Rangers couldn’t escape the second with the lead. Early in the sequence, Marian Gaborik had a chance to clear the puck, but couldn’t get it out. The puck was kept in the Rangers zone, and worked its way back to the point. A shot from the point deflected off Carter in the slot and may have hit Zajac right on top of the goal crease past Lundqvist tying the game at 2.

5) Early in the third the Devils were buzzing. They were working the puck well and Marek Zidlicky took the puck deep around behind the Rangers net. The puck worked its way back to the point where Henrique was covering for Zidlicky. Henrique let a soft shot go that was deflected by Clarkson with his stick right below the crossbar giving the Devils a 3-2 lead.

6) The Rangers were flat in the first. Very flat. Tortorella was seen a few times on screen giving his team a stern lecture. Whatever he said must have worked because the team was much better in the second.

7) Following his gaffe that lead to the Devils second goal, Marian Gaborik didn’t have a shift for the next 12 minutes of hockey.

8) I fully expect this team to come back and have a very strong game three and win.

9) After Zajac’s penalty and the box wouldn’t open, was anyone else waiting for that guy dressed in the Rangers clothing to absolutely destroy that door? He was putting some serious force into that door. One of the funnier moments this playoffs.

Devils at Rangers: Game 2

Tonight, the Rangers take on the Devils in game number two of the best of seven series. The Rangers lead the series 1-0.

Leading Scorers
NJD- Ilya Kovalchuk
NYR- Brad Richards

Starting Goalies
NJD- Martin Brodeur
NYR- Henrik Lundqvist

Prediction
The Rangers come out with another strong effort and best the Devils 2-1.

ECF Game 1 Review

Last night the Rangers defeated the Devils 3-0 to take a 1-0 lead in the ECF.

1) Some people may have thought the first two periods of the game were a snoozefest, but that’s normally how it goes in game 1. Both teams are feeling each other out. I thought the Rangers looked good for having just 1 day off compared to the 5 days the Devils had.

2) That Ryan McDonagh guy is pretty good, huh? I’m not sure there are many players in the league who could have caught up to Parise and knocked him off the puck like that or forced Kovalchuk to take a weak backhand instead of being able to cut to the net.

3) Dan Girardi had a pretty strong game. Except for that gaffe that almost allowed Zubrius to tuck the puck in past Lundqvist.

4) On that first goal, a couple lucky bounces for the Rangers. First, Del Zotto looks to go off the glass and it hits a divider and comes off at an odd angle. Then, the puck hops over the stick of Salvador and Kreider was off to the races. He got the puck and fed a slow, flat puck right to Dan Girardi, who had come off the bench to replace Del Zotto, and he fired a puck past the blocker of Brodeur.

5) Kreider and Girardi weren’t done just yet. At the end of a powerplay, Girardi went to pass the puck cross ice in the Rangers zone and Kreider wasn’t expecting it, so he kicked the puck to Del Zotto, who fired it back to Girardi. He made a great pass to Anisimov, who caught it, crossed the blue line and laid it over to Kreider who stepped in and scored a goal fairly similar to his game 1 goal against the Caps.

6) I thought Brodeur had a okay game. Aside from Brodeur’s huge glove save on Staal, I didn’t think he was that spectacular. He had a few bad giveaways handling the puck, which is supposed to be his strong suit. We’ll have to see if that’s a trend going forward, which would be a huge break for the Rangers.

7) What can you say about Henrik Lundqvist that hasn’t already been said? The best goalie in the world. His back-to-back-to-back saves on Parise were fantastic. The glove save on Henrique, as well as pushing Zubrius’ shot over the net. Great goaltending.

8) I thought the Gaborik-Richards-Hagelin line was good for the Rangers. They all were working the puck well and generated a few scoring chances along the way.

9) A final note. Has anyone else noticed the coverage on NBCSN has been terrible? The replays are terrible, the play by play call is inaccurate, the intermission reports are intolerable. C’mon NBC.

Thank You! / Kovalchuk News

I want to thank each and every one of you who read the BSPS Blog for making July the most successful month in BSPS history.

In hockey news, the NHL and NHLPA have agreed on an independent arbitrator for Ilya Kovalchuks case. I believe the arbitrator has 48 hours to make a decision if I remember correctly.

NHL Says No To Kovy

The National Hockey League announced moments ago that it has rejected Ilya Kovalchuk’s 17 year contract on grounds that it circumvented the rules of the salary cap.

Finally the NHL has stood up and said enough is enough to the ludicrous contracts that are designed to exploit a loopholed CBA.

I’ll have more on this subject later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Ilya Gets What?!

According to ESPN who cites an unnamed source Russian winger Ilya Kovalchuk will sign an unheard of 17 year, $150+ million dollar contract.

The deal will keep Ilya a Devil until the Chelios-esque age of 44. Now, you, me and the guy who sells peanuts at the Prudential Central all know that Kovalchuk won’t be playing until he’s 44. It’s just another team taking advantage of a loophole in the current CBA.

By adding years onto the end of the contract at the leagues minimum salary it lowers the overall cap hit an helps a team with cap space issues.

I’m not sure this was the smartest move for both the Devils and Kovalchuk.

Marty Brodeur isn’t getting any younger and may be close to retirement. All-Star goalies don’t just grow on trees and you have to wonder who will take over after Marty hangs up the skates.

Another point to consider is the fact that talented forward Zach Parise will be a free agent after this upcoming season.

With Kovalchuk’s hefty salary and subsequent high cap hit and Brodeur’s salary still on the books one has to wonder where the Devils will find the cap room to sign such a highly talented player.

The third point of arguement is, why didn’t Kovalchuk sign with the Kings?

The Kings, in my opinion, would have been the perfect fit for the Kings.

The Kings already have good young scoring in Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar. The have both solid offensive and defensive defenseman in Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson.

And they have a young up-and-coming goaltender in Jonathan Quick, who won 39 games last year.

Was it the lack of a huge salary that turned Kovalchuk sour on the Kings?

Only Kovalchuk can answer that question. But it seems to me that Kovalchuk cares more about a high payout than winning Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Ilya To Sign With The Devils (For Real)

According to the New Jersey Devils official twitter account highly skilled left winger Ilya Kovalchuk has finally made a decision where he will play this upcoming year and it will be with the Devils.

No terms of the contract have been made available yet, and I will bring them to you as soon as they are known.

When Will Kovalchuk Decide?

When will Ilya Kovalchuk decide where he will play for the upcoming seasons and probably many seasons to come. It’s been reported that the Islanders offered Ilya a 10 year $100 million dollar contract but the Isles have taken that offer off the table.

The Kings were in it, then they were out, then back in again, and then today it was announced that they were once again out of it after Kovalchuk declined a 7 year, $63 million dollar deal which would pay him $9 million a year.

The only other team that appears to be in it is the Devils. And one has to wonder what the holdup is seeing as they are the only team that is interested. Could a team from the KHL be making a late push that would pay Ilya more than the $10 million he wants here?

One team that will almost certainly not sign Ilya will be our Rangers. Rick Carpinello reported yesterday on his blog that the Rangers are not and never were in the Kovalchuk hunt.

When Kovalchuk makes his decision (which won’t be as obnoxious as this whole LeBron crap) I’ll let you know right here so check back often.