I know that many may chide me for even saying this. But looking at history:

No NHL team has ever gone 7 games in the 1st two rounds and won the Stanley Cup.

I heard Mike Francesca mention this on WFAN, and I don't know if it applies to teams that made it to the Final and lost.

But it's a pretty big stat. People mentioned to me about the Boston Bruins in 2010, who went:

7 in Round 1 vs. Mtl

4 in Round 2 vs. Philly

7 in Round 3 vs. TB

7 in Round 4 vs. Van

But that rest in Round 2 might have been vital. I know it is for the Devils with guys like Kovalchuk, Zidlicky and Volchenkov getting more time to rest.

But two questions I'm wondering:

1) How much more important is the rest after Round 2 (halfway to the Cup) than Round 1?

2) Does the fact that both of these teams (Washington & the Rangers) going 7 compared with the Boston example make you more confidence heading forward?

If you read the comments on philly.com and Broad Street Hockey, you'll see that nearly all Flyer fans are predicting a win in this series. Not just a win, but I saw multiple mentions of sweep or "Flyers in 5" as the most common predictions. And living in the melting pot of Flyer - Devil territory, I can tell you the reports from the ground are similar. While this overconfidence may be common for opposing teams heading into any matchup, there is virtually none of that confidence with Devils' fans.

But why? Because of a series two years ago? Because of the way the Flyers manhandled the Pens?

I guess it is perfectly understandable, as the Flyers rolled through the Penguins who many predicted as the East's representative in the Stanley Cup Finals while the Devils struggled with the weaker Florida Panthers who just got the 3rd seed by winning an easy division.

But to put a spin on an old political saying from the Raging Cajun: It's the match-ups stupid!

The Flyers dominated the Penguins during the regular season and why pundits picked the Penguins over the Flyers was suspicious to me; most Flyer fans I knew weren't scared of the Penguins at all. The Devils drew a weaker Panthers team (true) but it was a Panthers' team that matched their style of play quite well during the regular season.

So now that both teams have played a playoff round, here's what we know: the Devils didn't do well against Ilya Bryzgalov, but the Penguins made him look like Swiss cheese. There's no way the Devils can score 26 goals in this series. But they're also not going to give up 30 either. The Penguins play a much different style than the Devils.

So it's the Flyers, not the Devils who will have to adapt. The Devils defense does not allow as many shots as the Penguins' D did. True, the Devils will have to adapt to the Flyers' physical play, but should we be that scared? And yes, the Flyers' Power Play was awesome vs. the Penguins, but the Devils already played a team with a killer power play. So nothing new there. And if Flyer fans concede that the Devils can bore them to death, who is to think the Flyers can adapt and play a totally different style of hockey vs. the Devils and succeed? Especially since the Devils did better in the season series vs. the Flyers than the Penguins did?

So should the Flyer fans be confident? Sure. Should we? Absolutely! It's like the Flyers just finished fighting Soda Popinski and now have to battle with Mr. Sandman. I don't know about you, but once you figured out Popinski's style, you never lost to him. Mr. Sandman took much longer.

From what I'm seeing this will be a 6 or 7 game series, not something short. The Flyers are going to have to play completely different in this series and that's not something done overnight. And of course, the Devils are now playing with house money, just being happy with advancing to Round 2. . . or are they?

As angry as everyone is, the good news is that the Devils are going home for Game 6, while our hated rivals and Bruins will be on the road. But is that good news? The Devils have been eliminated on the Prudential Center ice in every playoffs since the Rock went up.

Let's look at the history:

In 2008, in Game 5 at the Rock vs. our hated rivals, the Devils scored the 1st goal, but let the Rangers tie in on the next shift. Then, it was all down hill from there as the Rangers scored three more. The Devils battled back, but an empty netter sealed the Rangers 5 - 3 victory. Jamie Langenbrunner lead the Devils with 5 shots on goal. Elias, B. Gionta & Pandolfo had 3. Zach Parise had 2 shots on goal and Zajac had 1. The Devils outshot the Rangers 26 - 22. The Rangers were 1 for 2 on the PP and Devils were 1 for 4.

2009: In the ugly Game 7 vs. Carolina, Langenbrunner had a whopping 7 shots on goal in that game. Parise had 5. Zubrus, Elias, John Madden & Rolston had 3. The Devils outshot the Canes 35 - 31. NJ was 1 for 3 on the PP and Carolina 0 for 4.

In Game 5 vs. Philly in 2010, The Devils outshot the Flyers 28 to 21. Kovalchuk lead the Devils with 7 shots on goal followed by Zubrus with 4. Langenbrunner & Parise had 3. The Flyers were 2 for 6 on the Power Play and the Devils were 0 for 9.

In case you were wondering, the Devils only had one day off before each of these elimination home games. Now they have two this year.

Those are just the stats. And I don't think they seem to provide any indicator for anything. Using history as a guide adds some perspective, but really doesn't go beyond that. However if you do like to use history as a guide, we can probably expect that the Devils will outshoot the Panthers and probably rack up 28 SOG. And maybe the refs will be a little more sympathetic and give the Devils one or two more man advantages.

But I don't have CORSI or Fenwick for these games or line combinations, therefore it is tough to analyze what could be done differently by DeBoer's Devils. I just wanted to dig for some patterns and there's not much there.

What type of game do you expect from this team?

The 2012 playoffs may be the most pivotal time since the Devils moved to Newark. The captain is going to be the class of the free agent market and no one knows what Marty will do. Combine that with the team's financial problems and an angry mayor and I would think from ownership & the GM's point-of-view this post season is bigger than any since the strike.

I've been toying with making a youtube video for the playoffs and posting it to nj.com with the hopes twitter would make it go viral and maybe create a fan playoff mood for the Devils. Yeah, high hopes, but people could get Devils marketing to embrace it, I think it would be a helluva plan. All in all, I don't really know if I'll have the time, but wanted to at least write the idea down.

The simple mantra of the 2012 playoffs is: HERE

The goal would be to get fans to bring signs to games en masse with the main slogan being: HERE.

Why the one simple word "HERE?"

The Devils have never won a playoff series since moving to the Rock. We want one HERE.

We want to remind Zach Parise where he belongs. And it's HERE

We want the Cup . . . I think you get where I'm going now.

How viral a youtube video could go is very dependent on nj.com, the Devils PR, the Generals and people on this site tweeting all over the place.

Maybe it could be a distraction, maybe. But it would also represent some creativity from the fan base. If fans started chanting, HERE, HERE (or some other unique related chant) the announcers would have to identify it and then figure out the meaning. It would get to the press and likely find it's way to the team.

Don't know if this is something that can be done in a first round without a sold out house. But, if we're up 2 - 0 upon coming home, I don't see why not.

Whatever happens, I think it is not much to ask for ILWT users to try and hit up the Generals and make this happen. All in all, I've been really hoping for a grassroots movement from the fans for a while now. That's what the Generals are supposed to do. But, wonder if we have desire or will to rally around something like this.

I remember going to a Doc Emrick Night a couple years back and that the Penguins were the opponent, but couldn't remember when it was. Well, I found it:

Mike "Doc" Emrick Night - Devils 1/30/09 (via DevilsHQ)

It was Friday January 30th, 2009 and the opponent was the Penguins. Here is the link from that night.

I have the program from the evening and the nice insert they gave fans. I realize they were honoring Doc for some different accomplishments on both evenings. But I have to admit, I feel slighted a little bit. Just a little. Now there were "two" Doc Emrick Nights? This is nothing against Doc. I love him and have immense respect for him as an announcer and person (he responded to two emails from me years back). I just feel Vandy was "double dipping" here to get seats sold for a Friday Night Game against a Western Conference opponent. And we've followed without reservations.

Attendance last Friday was 16,480 (93.5% Full)

Compare that to the previous vs. Anaheim Friday's game 15,312 (86.9% Full)

The first Doc Emrick Night , back in 2009, was a sellout.

I don't know if some fans saw through the double dip or just interest in the Devils has waned since 2009. But the bottom line is to see how ownership will use nights like these to keep attendance numbers high. I have no objection for aggressive marketing, just some authenticity is nice.

OK, many will point out how Emrick was honored for two different accomplishments. OK. But should they have given Scott Stevens another night after he got into the Hockey Hall of Fame a year after his number was retired in New Jersey?

Just keep in mind, this past Friday could portend a lot for the future: those of you who want Sergei Brylin Night in 2013, may very well get it.

This is really something special. If the Devils were short on money, it's an excellent way to try and make some extra.

The Devils are holding "Game Day Camps."

The Men's Camp is on Friday February 24th.

The Girls' Camp is on Sunday Feb. 26th.

Ironically, I will be in Vancouver when the Devils play the Canucks during this event. The wife already said she would have let me go. I guess she figured, like me, that $300 would've been worth this experience.

Too bad I can't go, but if you can, for those of us that complain about promotions, eat this up.

NJ Devils Dream Camp (via nsjersey)

There's been a lot of noise lately about the 4th line. The 3rd line has gotten the most attention and will continue to, even after the Ponikarovsky trade.

The difference between the teams in the East above the Devils is their offensive depth (I am punting on the D in this post). Right now, the Devils, after 2 lines, can't match most teams ahead of them. After the All-Star break with Zajac back and Poni now on the team, the Devils should have 3 deep lines and be able to better compete and improve their abysmal record against these teams.

However, after the 3rd Bruins game and noting how the B's 4th line was the catalyst in their win, I wanted to look back at the Devils' history.

To many old timers like myself, we kind of got used to listening to so many announcers saying "New Jersey's strength is that they can roll 4 lines."

When did this stop?

Not surprisingly , we start to see a deterioration after the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons, and they won the Cup in the latter. In 2002, the Devils had Madden, Pandolfo, and the young upstart Brian Gionta, but also veterans like Nieuwendyk, Nemchinov and Kamensky. In the last Cup year, the Devils still had Madden, Pandolfo, Brylin, T. Stevenson, with rotating guys, notably catalysts like Marshall and Rupp.

Then, the next year, in 2003-04, the 4th line seems to disappear. Marshall's magic is gone. Rupp is traded. Eric Rasmussen, Jan Hrdina and Viktor Kozlov appear. While the latter two had decent NHL careers, they were not with the Devils.

After the strike, in 2005-06 the rotating fourth liners included Cam Janssen, Jason Weimer, Rasmussen, Kozlov and Marshall.

2006-07 - Rupp & Dowd returned, Rasmussen & Clarkson now, while 2007-08 had Rupp, Asham, Pelley & Clarkson.

Then, a lifeline and uptick. In 2008-09, I think this team had the most potential. If the Devils got past Carolina, I think they would've really done something. NJ was pretty deep and if memory serves well - they were healthy. The 3rd & 4th lines included: Clarkson, Rolston, Madden, Shanahan, Pandolfo, Holik & Rupp. Many veterans who weren't at the top of their game, but who knew their rolls well enough.

Then disaster. The 2009-10 lower forwards: McAmmond, Pelley, PL3, Zharkov, and an aging Pandolfo (how could I forget Ilkka Pikkarainen?)

The lost season of 2010 - 11 had a lot of younger players rotating. And now we have Boulton, Carter & B. Mills with a rotating Albany bunch again.

The Devils depth woes were due to the aging and inability to replace what Pandolfo, Madden & Brylin did for the team. Then, when Gomez & (more importantly) Gionta left and the Devils received nothing for them, it affected depth even more.

So I see two falls from being able to roll 4 lines effectively, in 2003 and 2009. The Devils upgraded in 2009, but fell again notably with Gionta and Madden's departure with Pandolfo's aging.

So what can the team do from here?

If I were Lou, I would try to play a NHL version of Moneyball in February. If the Devils stay healthy on offense, Lou may have locked up the top 3 lines with the Poni trade. Nice job.

But I now look at the fourth line and see the need to add a veteran or two, like a Nemchinov or T. Stevenson type of player. A guy who will help the locker room and know their role. If arguments could be made to pay spark plugs/ locker room personalities more, this one by Adrian Dater is one of his best. This article is excellent and worth your time . . . but how do you measure a locker room personality? If it can be figured out, it seems that skill can be bought cheaply. But what veteran out there can be obtained cheaply?

How about a guy like George Parros? He grew up in New Jersey and went to Princeton. He has brains, would be a great locker room addition and could be that 4th line catalyst we're looking for from a team who will undoubtedly be sellers. Don't let the Canucks get him. Maybe we can even give the Ducks Kurtis Foster back?

There are many ILWT fan posts about the New Jersey Devils and their marketing. I maybe wrong, but I believe the consensus is that a positive campaign has been the Diablos. Having some crazy fans constantly cheering with discounted tickets is a good move for the Devils. However, recently I've noticed the Diablos seem to be less loco. Don't know if the novelty has worn off or not.

Then I thought, indirectly, what would the Devils have to lose by more aggressively targeting an atypical hockey demographic? Maybe one that has a tradition of being loud and crazy at sporting events?

New Jersey has an extremely vibrant Indian (Asian) American community. Many are affluent and located centrally, especially in Middlesex and Mercer counties along the Northeast Corridor train line. Even one in Jersey City. I think the Devils would have a lot to gain by targeting this community directly.

PR people look at demographics all the time, but they rarely speak of this information openly. However, when I saw photos from the Atlantic Monthly's In Focus covering India's cricket win I thought that this could be a potentially awesomely crazy fanbase. It's worth the click to see these photos. I know John is for more direct target marketing, but don't know if this would fit into his perspective.

For instance, I went to a Trenton Thunder game this summer when they had Jewish Appreciation night. They did the Israeli National Anthem and had an awesome food stand - pastrami, knishes, etc. Why not do an Indian American night? Then subtly say (to the younger crowd) hey . . . if you want to yell the entire time, there is this Diablos section.

I understand I'm leaving out a ton of other untapped New Jersey demographics. Newark has a good amount of Brazilian and Portuguese residents and that would seem like an obvious target. And bringing soccer fans and their traditions would be a benefit to the Rock.

But I would target the Indian community first because it is an untraditional hockey market, but, overall, an affluent one. I understand that this post could be misunderstood as stereotyping, but I think the Devils would have a lot to gain and at the worst, it would grab headlines.

If I were in Devils PR, I would do it. And I would also ask Monmouth County native Kal Penn to help out.

What do you think? Would the Devils have anything to lose by unapologetically marketing to different demographics? Or would this be seen as offensive and backfire?

Kovalchuk has had countless defensive mishaps that have lead to goals or high quality chances against. We know this and rant about it a lot. If your memory is short, and you need examples, one just needs to think of Grabner's shorthanded goal in the Islanders home game, some goals in Minnesota or last night, you may choose to focus on Winnipeg's 2nd goal (a SHG). However, that was not Kovalchuk's worst play of the night. The Hedberg to Kovy bad pass happens. If you've ever tried to control a bad pass, it is not easy. It's on Hedberg to make a good pass in that situation which lead to Winnipeg's 2nd goal. Kovalchuk was much more at fault for the GWG against, but it was subtle. You have to really break it down compared to his other blunders. And once you notice it, it was his most deplorable recent error IMHO.

Kovalchuk's defensive miscues can be called stupid. But stupid can be practiced and learned out. Lemaire was good at fixing stupid. But much worse than stupid, much worse, is laziness. Laziness if unforgivable. And Kovalchuk got caught being lazy last night.

If any of you ever coached, you know exactly what I mean. Laziness in the 3rd period, in a tie game, is hard to move on from. Allow me to breakdown Winnipeg's game-winning goal last night to showcase Kovalchuk's laziness:

1. Kovalchuk is skating right at Stuart #5, the Winnipeg defenseman.

2. Kovalchuk widens his stance, everything is still good if he continues to pressure Stuart #5.

3. Kovy decides to pull up, the fatal mistake, while Stuart is patient with the puck.

4. Kovalchuk is now in la-la land.

5. Stuart #5 now has a clear lane to the net.

6. Stuart #5 makes his move.

7. Stuart #5 drives to the net.

8. Elias #26 puts pressure on Stuart by forcing him wide.

9. However, the puck bounces in. Kovalchuk is now exposed to what he really is.

You could say Kovalchuk was covering Elias's guy, but in a 4-on-4, players need to adapt and switch. Kovalchuk didn't really cover either D. Elias at least forces Stuart wide. Coaches preach how these are low percentage lanes, force the guy wide, it's a lower percentage play.

But the point of this is that Stuart never should have been allowed to skate forward or had an open lane to pass in the first place. Pressure forces a defenseman to make a lower percentage move or pass in that situation. Kovalchuk never exerted that pressure because of laziness, or in hockey coaching terms: gliding.

"Gliding" is a bad word in hockey lingo. Gliding toward a guy who assisted on the GWG while your team has lost three in a row is bad. Perhaps the offending player must be benched? This error can be overlooked after a video replay, but if you see it, there must be consequences. I hope DeBoer has the backbone to level with Kovalchuk somehow.

The best thing about this blog, IMHO, is the many fan posts, shots and stories about attendance related issues.  Chere and Gulitti tend to not write about this as much as we do and this frustration is what made me find this blog in the first place.  Maybe it's because many fans here do have the Chicken Little "Sky is Falling" mentality when it comes to our team's financial and attendance woes (this blog's favorite metaphor for the rapture).  Others are not as worried.

Matt V. has been an excellent provider of numbers over the past couple years and offers context and analysis.  We've theorized on a myriad of potential solutions as to what we think would improve attendance at the Rock.

Looking at last night's games the Devils has the 3rd worst attendance on a Sat. night.  Phoenix was the lowest and the Devils just edged out the Islanders, no doubt helped by Nordique Nation (who conspicuously decided to come to the Rock instead of going to Long Island . . . I know the Rock is likely an hour closer and the arena is nicer, but still).  To be fair, Nordique Nation are now going to stalwarts like Detroit and Boston, probably representing a shift in strategy, but they chose to come here first.  

I just have a simple suggestion vis-à-vis attendance:  Let's get the members of this blog together for a game on a weekday.  I know many of you go already.  I live an hour plus from the rock now and admittedly, it's more difficult than it was previously.  But why not meet up at the Goal Bar on a Tues. - Thurs. game or one of the other spots before the game and have an ILWT discussion?

There are no Monday night games scheduled.  

There are 4 non-Ranger Tuesday games scheduled (the Devils play the Rangers at home 3 times on Tuesday!  That is a big hand from Bettman there for those of you who say he hates the Devils).

There are 3 Wed. games remaining, two of them are over holidays (Wed. before Thanksgiving, Wed. over Christmas break).

There are 7 Thursday games.

Many other SB Nation blogs have meet ups, Broad Street Hockey has street hockey games as does Japer's Rink. Would it be so impossible (or worthwhile) for us to vote on a weekday game, where we get together, try to show our numbers and talk hockey?

I probably should've timed this for June, but just thought about it now.  It's been 10 years now that our New Jersey Devils came awfully close to repeating as Stanley Cup Champions.  

To this day, I remember where I was for every game of this Final.  And I also feel if the Ray Bourque factor aura was subtracted from it all, the New Jersey Devils would have four Stanley Cups today.

That being said, I do believe the Avalanche was the better team and that Roy outplayed Brodeur.  Even with that, the Devils still did almost enough in this series to nearly keep the Cup.  Despite the loss, I regard this Devils team as the most stacked in their history, save Ken Sutton on defense.  

Game 4 was the most memorable: the late Sykora goal and the Roy gaffe.  I was in downtown Chicago, standing in my cousin's wedding and dealing with his groomsmen, 2 of whom were from Denver.  We skipped out and watched the 3rd period in the hotel lobby.  

After game 4, I bumped into Claude Lemieux at O'Hare (he had been let go after the 2000 Cup win).  He seemed surprised New Jersey fans would recognize him after I approached.  I got his autograph; my mother cried a little as she thanked him for everything he had done for the Devils.  He held back some emotion, looked down, and said he thought the Devils would win again.  I can't help but feel he had some personal satisfaction the Devils didn't win that year after being let go.

Game 5 I celebrated from home and was at Game 6 in the Meadowlands.  I'll never forget the Gomez disallowed goal which seemed to the the beginning of the end for the Devils in the series.

Game 7 was a raucous loooong night with my friends down the Jersey Shore in Sea Isle City.  When the band went on, they heard the Devils lost.  The lead singer went onto the microphone and noted they just heard the Final results and gave a "big FU" to the Devils.  The guy went onto discuss how much he hated them.   There were many cheers of approval from the Philly crowd down the South Jersey Shore.  Maybe that was the start of my North-South Jersey theories.

Anyway, I still rank this year as one of my favorites.   From Oct. - May the Devils were invincible, no questions.  That wasn't the case in 2000.  The MapleLeafs series scared me, but this team almost did it all again in 2000-01.  That night, after Game 7, remains the lowest point for me as a Devils fan.  It was salt in the wound that I was hanging around all Flyers fans who made fun of me (but at least they bought me some drinks).

A year with a lot of highs and one BIG LOW has to have a "silver lining."  

What are your memories of the 2000-01 Season and Playoffs?  Feel free to add anecdotes from where you were for the Game 7 Final.

I originally became attracted to this site because of John's posts & others' comments about how the Devils market themselves & the attendance woes over the years.   Matt V scored his audition win on this subject and he's done a lot on the issue since.  John had posts last summer from the Jersey Tour as well as updates on the Supporters Section, which I think many of us agree was a brilliant marketing move.  It's posts like these that are the reason I separate this site from the others.  It's frank honest discussion and we usually don't downplay anything.  You won't see Chere or Gulitti or other bloggers get into the depth on this topic as much as we do here.

That being said, I think the death of the Trenton Devils here was not given the same candid, frank discussion platform it deserved.  I could only find two fan shots on it.  One announcing their death, the other notifying us that the Flyers got the team and brought back their original name.  

It is very relevant to the overall discussion on attendance & support for the New Jersey Devils in our state, albeit indirectly.  The problem remains the same it was when I came to this site years ago: There are still too many North Jersey Ranger fans  . . . and in the border areas of Mercer & Hunterdon, too many Flyer fans.  We reluctantly accept it, as they are older franchises.   We coddle ourselves with this paraphrased mindset: "Wait a couple years for the younger generation to grow up and we'll see the change."  Vanderbeek even cited this to ESPN's John Buccigross that the team has "demographic surveys" that the future looks bright.  

But what if Vanderbeek's wrong?  He spent a lot of time trying to give the Albany and Trenton Devils exposure in our state by having them play in Atlantic City, something Travis at Broad Street Hockey liked to an "invasion" of territory.  It is now apparent that management's strategy failed with the Trenton Devils (some of my beer league hockey guys said that the final straw was the T-Devs disbanding the old Titans fan club).  Not a good first impression.  Travis's summary of the reconquista of Mercer County by the Flyers can be found here.

So where do we go from here?  Just wish the Devils Generals and Supporters Section keep growing?  Take more friends to Newark to show them the city?

I'd be really open to your comments on what you feel the New Jersey Devils can do better to make New Jerseyans feel that they are missing something by not supporting this team.  I will challenge any New Jersey Ranger fan by simply saying I have more Jersey Pride than them.  It's that simple.  Why can't the Devils somehow market that?  

Here are three of my ideas:

1) Put a New Jersey Devil recap or fan program on the new NJTV.  

2) Keep reaching out to the fringe areas in NJ.  That means Hunterdon, Mercer, & Ocean.   I don't think it was a mistake by the Devils to change the Titans name & make it Devils.  It was an aggressive gamble.  It failed.  So did the economy . . .  and the team stunk.  Would it have worked if done in 2003?  Learn from past mistakes and don't surrender easily. 

3) Draft Nick Ebert in 2012.  Who would have thought this Livingston, NJ native would go from obscurity (I coached against him his freshman year) to one of the top potential prospects for next year's draft?  While the Flyers grabbed Jersey native, James Van Riemsdyk, he was a Ranger fan.  Ebert has gone on record saying he's a big Devils fan.  It would send a message to every NJ hockey player - your state's team cares about you.  I know the Devils will draft the best player possible.  But thinking of the Flyers or Rangers grabbing Ebert makes my stomach churn.

When I saw these on youtube (taken from NHL Network) I'll admit I got pumped.  Not including the 1988 playoff run, the 1991 Patrick Division Semi Final against the Penguins was a classic Devil series vs. a team that would go on to win the Stanley Cup.  This is prime Christmas tree Devil history.

It was a year where the Devils had some greats as their core, before new ones would arrive:  Shanahan, Muller, C. Lemieux, Stastny & MacLean (he scored 45 goals this year & it was before his injury.  He would never be the same again).  Add to that a sparkplug penalty killing unit of Doug Brown & Pat Conacher.

Also of note for the Pens,  this was the first playoffs ever for Jagr & Recchi.

If there was ever a New Jersey Devils team that had the potential and just missed it; it was this team (my runner up being if the 2008-09 Devils got past Carolina, we would have seen them excel).

Games 1 & 2 - They split.  The Devils win game 1 with two Peter Stasny goals, Pens game 2 in OT with a Jagr goal.

Game 3 - Penguins win - Shanahan scores two; but I'll always remember Doug Brown (the little runt) scoring shorthanded to tie the game before the Devils lost it in heartbreaking fashion in the LAST MINUTE.

Game 4 - New Jersey Devils win.  Gotta love the Shanahan assist & MacLean multiple fist pumps after.  Claude Lemieux scores two goals.  Crowd goes wild.

Game 5 - New Jersey Devils win - AT Pittsburgh  - and emphatically.

Game 6 - Penguins win - Devils down 4 - 1, come storming back with 3 goals, 2 goals.    I made a parody of the Boschman goal for Puck Daddy.  I strongly feel if instant replay was around, the Pittsburgh Penguins would have never won in 1991.  One guy commented that the call could have saved hockey in Pittsburgh.  Not off base at all. 

Game 7 - Penguins win.  The Devils were dwelling on that disallowed goal.  They were mentally beat up & got pummeled in this game.

In this series, the Penguins faced elimination twice.  They would never face it again on their way to the first Stanley Cup in Pittsburgh history.  The series is notable for the many disallowed goals against the Devils.  I believe this matchup was the clincher in NHL offices for instant replay to proceed the next year (IMHO.  I have no link to back it up).  

But as the announcer said at the beginning, "What is often forgotten is how close the Penguins came to missing the final."  

Enjoy, I just wish they had the original Sports Channel commentary with Gary Thorne & Peter McNab

When I saw that the Philadelphia Flyers acquired the rights to Ilga Bryzgalov, I immediately thought of this excellent fan post by Devilssection21fan.

His conclusion is that the Devils and Flyers would be the heavy favorites for wanting to pull Pekka Rinne away from the Nashville Predators when his contract is up after the 2011-12 season.   He then predicted where each team would be and his rationale was very persuasive whittling it down to two teams.  If there is something I love in a fan post, it's predictions . . .  based on stats and analysis.  However, despite some goaltenders being locked up in contracts, there are always changing circumstances and  I wanted to look at what has changed since. . . if the Flyers are able to sign Bryzgalov.

He points out the Lightning and Coyotes would not want to do another "stop gap" - getting a veteran journeyman to fill in for a year.  I could definitely see Tampa retaining Roloson for another year with the way he performed.  But an injury and they will need to shop early.  The Coyotes may not be in Arizona after the year, meaning a long term prospect might be hard to coerce to sign there.  (I could see Moose on these two teams easily).   Also wondering if Winnipeg might be interested. . . and he might want to stay in Nashville.  But if Marty indeed retires after 2011-12, could Pekka Rinne be in Lou's vision?

Speculation on Parise definitely affects this too.