Quarterfinals, Devils VS Rangers: Game One.

First Intermission:

Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen hockey in over a year, but that was a good first period. There was a lot of back and forth. Not really too much sustained pressure by either team. A lot of hesistant plays. Personally, I didn’t think either team was finishing their checks. Rangers seemed to have a bit more aggressive forecheck. All of the penalties seemed like good calls – except for the first one called on the Rangers which resulted in an Elias power play goal.

Coverage is horrible. Now, this isn’t a knock against Emrick. He’s an awesome announcer, all things considered. But who the hell is operating those cameras? The puck moves off screen. As in, they’re talking about someone, and YOU DO NOT SEE THE PLAY. Was this person covering a different game? If the puck moves to the point on a power play, MOVE THE CAMERA. Shit, I could do that myself! I’ve been in that building, and I’ve seen the guys working the cameras all by their lonesome selves.

Maybe it’s my imagination, but they kept trying wraparounds on Brodeur.

And the Devils need to stop shooting wide. : D

Second Intermission:

Devils up 3-1.

Still a ton of power plays. Very entertaining game. Devils are down to five defensemen without White. Which hurts them muchly, because I like physical defensemen. Mmm, whiteout. I’d expect Paul Martin to step up, though it’s expected for Rafalski to play half the game.

As good as Jagr is playing, I’ve seen him play better games. Trust me. I remember that series with Pittsburgh in the first round when he totally dominated the games despite injury. After two periods, it has been relatively even.

Post-game:

An entertaining game, to say the least. I’d love to say that it was a close game, but something tilted in the third. Lots of elbows to faces. Physicality rose a little. One fight. Cam Janssen was winning the fight, got the Ranger player’s helmet off, but effectively lost the fight when he lost his footing.

Lundquist, the rookie goalie for the Rangers, didn’t lose the game for them. Some of the goals were simply slick passes into wide-open nets. Only memorable save I remember Brodeur making was when he stacked the pads. For all the hype around Jagr, I’ve seen him play better. Also, I didn’t see anybody else among the Rangers have any sort of presence. Jagr left the game in the third period with an “upper body injury”. Gotta love hockey rhetoric.

Every single goal the Devils scored was on the power play. Well, there was one that was scored by Ken Klee one second after a power play expired, but you get the idea. It is just one game. Anybody remember that blowout in Game One of the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals against Dallas? Eddie the Eagle was high on cough syrup and blew the game. Devils scored something like seven goals. Devils won in seven games, after losing Petr Sykora to a clean Hatcher open-ice check.

You have to win four games. I’d like to see them finish this series fast so White has a chance to recover. We’ll see whether the Rangers feel like showing up to play in Game Two on Monday.

Final: Devils 6, Rangers 1
Devils lead 1-0, best of seven.