Wild stuns Colorado 3-2 on Brunette's OT goal

Minneapolis Star Tribune ^ | 4/23/2003 | Chip Scoggins

[Timocrat]

I think Detroits exit is the biggest shock of the season. Going out four zip was completely unexpected. My son is an avid Detroit fan and was mortified by their performance. I think the Ducks goalkeeper was the difference in those games and could give the other teams a lot of problems in the next rounds. Is he the Canadian national team goalkeeper?

[discostu]

I wouldn't say they were overhyped, they just blew it. Detroit ran into the legendary playoff killer: a hot goaltender, 165 save on 171 shots is just not something you can plan on. They averaged over 43 shots a game, that would ensure victory 99% of the time... the other 1% being the times you run into a hot goalie. Now the Detroit coaching staff does deserve a scolding, they never changed the style of play. Scotty always mixed it up in a playoff series even if his guys were winning because you don't want the opposition to know what to expect, this year's Wings have played the same (usually winning) style all year.

Colorado has been bitten by the 7 game series bug for a while (at one point the commentators said this was their 11th series to go to 7 in a row). When you can't finish opponents off you're asking for upsets, especially if it goes into OT then it's all about one lucky bounce. They're still a great team but somewhere during the quest to get Ray Borque a ring they lost the killer instinct.

Right now the finals are probably Stars - Devils (note the Devils are the only Eastern Conference team to win since 95... the east really sucks). But if I'm the Stars I'm looking at a conference semis containing two giant killers and I'm scared.

[discostu]

There really are no underdogs in the west, it's a brutally even conference.

[discostu]

And let's not forget: no upsets in the East. 1-4 all advanced, usually it's the East with all the upsets and the Western semis are Stars Lanche Wings and who-ever played Phoenix.

[Alberta's Child]

I saw a few of those Detroit-Anaheim games, and for the life of me I can't understand how Detroit lost that series at all (let alone in four games!). Detroit dominated those games for about 58 minutes, and I actually think Giguere's performance was somewhat overrated -- he was out of position quite a few times, and gave up a lot of awful-looking rebounds.

I think Detroit's problem was that they had too many finesse players on their roster. The grinders who usually make a difference in a playoff series were either too old (Yzerman), too soft (Shanahan), or too focused on their checking duties (their entire third line).

They may also have too many aged bodies on the blue line. The Devils are the only team in the NHL that can get away with three defensemen aged 37 or older. I'll see if there are any true hockey experts out there who knows why!

[discostu]

On a technical level Giguere wasn't that great, but being a hot goalie isn't about technical skill it's about getting the bounces. Regardless of rebounds and position it's hard to argue with a 96.9 save percentage.

That's what Chicken Parm pointed out, that Detroit isn't a tough team to play against, they don't beat people up throw brutal corner checks or otherwise make you pay a physical price to play them. But overall I think it boils down to coaching. Scotty actually told the guys where to aim their shots (I remember one series against the Av's they kept the puck on the ice the whole first game, then went topshelf the whole second), if he'd still been around by the 3rd game they'd have been shooting everything stickside (all goalies suck stickside) and done other things to mix it up. Instead they played the same way 4 games in a row, convinced that the losses to date were just flukes (and they probably were, but 4 flukes ends a series).

There's a couple of reasons the Devils (why don't they ever trade for Satan? whenever I play them on the computer goal #1 is getting Satan from Buffalo) can get away with having antiques on the blue line. First and foremost is Brodeur, if you compare career year stats Brodeur shows to be on a pace to beat most if not all of Patrick Roy's records (but since Roy beat him in the big dance those records will get an * of sorts), you don't have to be nearly as afraid of defensive breakdown when he's between the pipes. And yet the Devils do fear defensive breakdown, play one of the soundest defensive games in the league, and generally don't send defensemen into offensive play (which can result in them having to catchup to play going the other way, something 37 year old legs don't do well). They also have the offensive might to put points on the board when they need to, they just prefer not needing to. Or are you refering to some "Jimmy Hoffa's body" type thing you need to be from Jersey to know about?

[Alberta's Child]

Your comments about Detroit are right on target. This year's team looked a lot like the one that got swept by the Devils in the 1995 Cup finals.

With regard to those fossils on the Devils blue line, their ability to play well in their old age is directly related to Brodeur's goaltending -- not so much the quality of his play, but his style. Because he handles the puck better than any goalie in the league (side note -- in the Devils media guide back when he was first drafted in 1992 or 1993, it was pointed out that he "needs some work on his puck-handling" LOL!), he saves the Devils' defensemen a lot of wear and tear by clearing dump-ins and making break-out passes himself instead of having the defensemen do it. As a result, the typical New Jersey defenseman probably skates about 30% less distance per minute of ice time than the league average, and gets his @ss banged against his own end boards about 50% fewer times.

What is most interesting about the New Jersey "system" is that it is based primarily on defensemen, but not on defense. The key to their success is not their defensive abilities, but their transition game and their perfect chemistry in their defense pairings. Consider this:

1. Their original success in the mid-1990s can all be attributed to Joey Kocur of the New York Rangers. He was the one who was involved with a collision with Ken Daneyko in 1995 that resulted in what was thought was a season-ending knee injury for Daneyko. The Devils panicked and made a late-season trade to get Shawn Chambers from Tampa Bay, but Daneyko eschewed knee surgery and rehabilitated his way back into the lineup in time for the playoffs. Because of this, the Devils were able to sit a young Jason Smith for the post-season and went into the playoffs with three perfectly matched pairs of defensemen -- three stay-at-home types (Scott Stevens, Ken Daneyko, and Tommy Albelin) and three who were more offensive-minded (Scott Niedermayer, Bruce Driver, and Shawn Chambers). Result: Stanley Cup

2. These three pairs were broken up when Driver signed with the Rangers and Albelin was traded the following season. The team went through a dismal period of several years in which they failed to make the playoffs in 1996, and won only a single playoff series (against Montreal, in 1997). After they were eliminated by Pittsburgh in the first round in 1999, general manager Lou Lamoriello noted how slow the team's defensemen looked against Pittsburgh's vaunted offensive machine and ordered his scouting staff to find him some quick defensemen -- anywhere.

3. In training camp before the 1999-2000 season, the Devils trot out a 26 year-old U.S.-born rookie named Brian Rafalski who had been languishing in Finland for a few years. Nobody had ever heard of him, yet he went on to become the best point-man on the power play that the team had seen in years. Vladimir Malakhov (baggage and all) was acquired from Montreal late in the season for Sheldon Souray, and the Devils once again went into the playoffs with three perfectly-matched pairs of defensemen (Stevens, Daneyko and Colin White as the anchors, and Rafalski, Niedermayer, and Malakhov as the "transition" puck-movers). Result: Stanley Cup

4. Malakhov signs with the Rangers before the 2000-2001 season, a move that nobody paid much attention to because he was not seen as a key player in the team's future. Despite appearing in the finals for the second year in a row before losing to the Avalanche in seven games, it was clear to me that the team sorely missed Malakhov. He was no better than an average defenseman, but without him the team was forced to have Scott Stevens log a lot of ice time down the stretch (especially on the power play). Defensively, the team simply ran out of gas. In 2001-2002 their decline was even more pronounced, losing to Carolina in the first round in a series that was reminiscent of their failures of the late 1990s.

5. On the blue line, only one change was in store for the 2002-2003 season -- but it was a big one. Once again, the team headed into the playoffs with three perfectly-matched defensive pairs of "anchors" (Stevens, Daneyko, and White) and "puck-movers" (Niederayer, Rafalski, and Oleg Tverdovsky). Forget all the changes up front, and all the concerns about the lack of production from some of their forwards. You heard it here first . . . Result: Stanley Cup!

[discostu]

I forgot about Marty's puck handling, which probably has a lot to do with him breaking Roy's records since they both like to handle the puck but Roy sucks at it (but if you don't let him he totally gets out of his game). Brodeur is a joy to watch and I loved the Stanley Cup final between him and Roy (something I'd been hoping for the years before as both teams kept making the conference finals, but one or the other kept getting knocked out).

For the Devils slump in 96 let's also not forget that the got rid of Claude that off season. You can say a lot of bad things about Claude but he's a charcter player that will make momentum changing plays. Didn't they bring him back for the last Cup run? Memory is fuzzy. I do remember he has 3 rings gotten his first year with a team, definite evidence that he's one of those players that puts teams over the top... and this is his first year with the Stars.

[Alberta's Child]

Lemieux was on the Devils in their 1999-2000 Stanley Cup season, but he wasn't nearly the impact player he was back in 1995. He's past his prime, so I'm not sure how effective he will be this year anyway -- you didn't hear much from Phoenix the last few years.

I wasn't aware of his three Stanley Cup rings in his first year with three different teams. You must be counting his 2000 ring with the Devils as a "first year" for him -- when they won in 1995 it was not his first year with the Devils.

[discostu]

Nobody could save Phoenix, they got rid of everybody that was worth anything (including Lemieux, though I think that was a favor from Gretz to make his unretirement worth while with another run at the Cup). Phoenix is actually the team that broke his streak (didn't even get him to the playoffs in his first year, forget the ring).

95 wasn't his first year with the Devils? I thought it was. I was counting his rookie year in Montreal, the 95 run with the Devils and the 96 run with the Lanche (the 2000 Devil run sort of counts, but sort of doesn't). Well maybe the Stars will pull it out and I'll be right anyway. Either way one hell of a player with a great career and a lot of hardware to show for it.

[Alberta's Child]

I know that Lemieux was on the 1993-94 team that lost to the Rangers in the Eastern Conference finals in a series that will go down as one of the greatest in NHL history. And I'm pretty sure he played at least part of a season for the Devils when they had their old green and red uniforms, which meant he must have been there in 1992-93 as well.

[discostu]

I'll bow to your expertise, I'm a Western Conference dude. Oh God, the peterpans. Those were some nasty uniforms. If it wasn't for the 80s Astros the NHL would be the most fashion impared league in America (Tucson's AAA team was owned by the Astros back then so our uniforms had to "compliment" the rainbow puke... ugh, I avoided all publicity appearances until the Astros sold our team).

[Alberta's Child]

Speaking of Lemieux, do you remember how close the Devils came to securing the services of Mario Lemieux back in 1983? The Devils and Penguins were competing for the worst record in the league at the time, and the Penguins tanked their way through the last few weeks of the season while the Devils made a valiant effort to win a few games. As a result, the Penguins picked Lemieux #1 in the draft, and the Devils settled for Kirk Muller at #2.

[bneal]

I see another Stars/Devils Cup series. I'm a Stars fan. If you had told me two weeks ago that Detroit, Colorado and St Louis would be eliminated in the first round, I would have laughed. The Stars have a golden opportunity, even with these upstarts. I think the Devils will roll over anyone in the East. It's definitely going to be interesting.

[discostu]

I'd have believed it about St. Louis, they're fondness for choking in the playoffs has been what's kept them from joining the Stars lanche and Wings at the top of the conference. Gotta watch out for those giant killers though. I think the Duck have had too much time off, no way they have the hot goalie having not played for a week and a half. But the Wild are serious, unbeaten in the regular season and playoffs when leading after 1 that's a record to fear.

[dfwgator]

It is destiny that the Stars will meet Hitch and the Flyers in the Finals.

[bneal]

If the Stars don't make it to the Cup, they have no one to blame but themselves. A golden opportunity missed.

[discostu]

A rare instance where getting the #1 pick by sucking (rather than by trade) actually lead to dramatic improvement. Speaking of draft picks, it's time for my favorite football joke:
So you think the Bengals will be any better this year?
ROFLMAO

[The Thin Man]

Peter Forsberg For Best Actress

LOL! I'm glad to see that I wasn't the only one annoyed by his antics.

[dfwgator]

Something tells me Rob Blake won't be back.