Devils @ Rangers OGT: 3PM Game 4

[annabelle]

It's too bad Jagr went down so early, i would have loved nothing more than to sweep them with him in the lineup....I'm still pissed i let my brother take Elias AND gomez in our playoff pool

[thefiestygoat]

Great series victory by the Devils. The great thing was everyone played together on defense well and scoring game from all different guys, not just Elias, Gomez, and Gionta. Great job everyone! The rest should help this team rather than hurt them.

Hopefully whoever they play next is nice and tired. Go Devils!

[UnderDogX]

Did anybody catch Elias on the TV after the last goal? He was like, "what happened?"

That's great...unfortunately I didn't catch it...That right there though seems to show what a great leader he's been...I mean he was a Rags killer in this series...wow...look at his stats 5goals, 6assists, +5...he even led the team tonight in hits with 6....just amazing....Here's hoping he keeps it up!!!!

[bostondevil11]

Great pic!! what site are you getting those from??

I got that one from yahoo.

I just bought a ticket for game two in NJ. I can't wait!

[UnderDogX]

http://www.modsquadhockey.com/phpbrowser/NHL_Gallery.htm#

That site only has like 2 Devils pics...and one is Jagr....specifically what site did that Elias pic come from??

EDIT: AHH...thanks!!!

Edited April 29, 2006 by UnderDogX

[gogonjdevil]

Ahh....I can finally relax! What a Sweep Birthday gift! Now all I want is a big silver cup!

[devils26]

Did they say the dates for Round 2 yet? If so, where are they posted?

[landofvanilla]

Don't worry, all the high resolution devils pictures will show up on that site momentarily... they even go up DURING the game. Sometimes a little late. Pretty sure yahoo uses the same source modsquadhockey uses. They're AP photos

That site only has like 2 Devils pics...and one is Jagr....specifically what site did that Elias pic come from??

EDIT: AHH...thanks!!!

[CaptainScotty]

whew, that's one albatross off our backs. Next up, winning a cup without stevens or niedermayer...

[Schenley]

Man, what a game!! 15 in a row!!

The 3rd and 4th goals were things of beauty!!!

It was good to hear some Devil fans in the building today. I guess some Lameger fans sold their tickets for today - there weren't that many Devil fans there in game 3.

Unfortunately, I wasn't there, but on TV I think I even heard Beauman trying to get his chant going when it was 4-1. It turned into a NY chant of "A$$hole" - but I was laughing my ass off!

[devilsrule33]

I felt like the grinch at the end of the game. I was thinking to myself...these fans are still cheering? They are still chanting Lets Go Rangers? We didn't break their spirits with the sweep?

Good for the Rangers fans for cheering them at the end.

Time for the Devils to move on and actually face a test. The Devils might be surprised when they play Carolina, Philly or Buffalo.

[MantaRay]

I felt like the grinch at the end of the game. I was thinking to myself...these fans are still cheering? They are still chanting Lets Go Rangers? We didn't break their spirits with the sweep?

Good for the Rangers fans for cheering them at the end.

I really respected the Ranger fans for that. Say what you want about thier fan base, they are passionate/

[Schenley]

I'm watching the wrapup on MSG now.

Kenny Albert looks like he's going to cry. Perfect fit to follow the Lamegers crying all series.

[Z-Man]

http://www.sportsline.com/nhl/gamecenter/p...20060429_NJ@NYR

Pictures ahoy!

[pattyelias]

I really respected the Ranger fans for that. Say what you want about thier fan base, they are passionate/

I give Rags fans plenty of credit. They still showed up at MSG and talked smack in Jersey during their 7 year misery spell and I'm sure they'll continue to talk smack next year regardless of the outcome of this series. I actually pity them for their franchise's miserable history (I'm certainly being objective here), and you can't call them bandwagon fans.

[Z-Man]

[LucifersDog]

And the Broom Sweep Clean. Great game. Go Devils

Elias MVP

[DevilMinder]

This thread needs more cowbroom

[Derek21]

Well, I did go to this game. I wore my Ortmeyer jersey proud. And of course, he'd be the guy who gave the Blueshirts their only lead of the series. Maybe if Mr. Softee Michael Nylander was paying attention, he might have learned something instead of skating in circles away from contact. He was a joke the whole series. Heck. I even saw Straka throw a clean hit today. I can't even kill Sykora. I saw him throw another hit and once again hit another post. Man was he hexed. Jagr plays one shift and then reinjures his separated shoulder on a hit. That's how the whole series was. Like a recurring nightmare.

The turning point was the Rasmussen boarding call. It was a 1-0 game at that point and he destroyed Hollweg. How that's not at least a doubleminor I can't understand. I'd love to hear an explanation from Bettman about how inconsistent the boarding calls have been all season. The league needs to address that. Not that it would have mattered much. Anyone who followed the series knows even if the Rangers somehow got a 4:00 or even 5:00, they would've skated around on the perimeter and overpassed the puck driving fans even more crazy. I still can't believe Renney didn't put out the grinders to start one when it was painfully obvious our skill guys wouldn't do what it took to score.

Meanwhile, the Devils got two on theirs by being more simple. Gomez scored another one that Lundqvist wouldn't have allowed if he was right. That really swung the momentum. Then Elias redirects a Gomez pass and suddenly it's 2-1. That's how it's been.

The Rangers were only down one but as usual did its best to finish the job. Whoever gave the puck away to Gionta that summed everything up. Four SHG. The Rangers allowed 3 all season.

Also saw Tyutin get lit up by Elias. That was a nice goal. He was the best player in the series. Guess it's fitting he ended it.

I ran into Roland Dratch and Larry Gaines as I was heading back to my seats. At least that was nice.

Anyway, again. Congratulations to your team. The Rangers were outclassed in this one from the drop of the puck.

I give Rags fans plenty of credit. They still showed up at MSG and talked smack in Jersey during their 7 year misery spell and I'm sure they'll continue to talk smack next year regardless of the outcome of this series. I actually pity them for their franchise's miserable history (I'm certainly being objective here), and you can't call them bandwagon fans.

Thanks a lot. It's tough sometimes being a Ranger fan. But I wouldn't trade it for any other team. Ever.

P.S. Where was Larry? Some fans chanted at the end. LOL

[ice dog]

excellent 1st round series, that win in monteal was huge...devils can rest up and start fresh round 2.

[sandman441]

I'm listening to WFAN and they keep saying the Devils game will be on at I think 2:30 and that the Devils hold a 3-0 lead on the rangers. I think I am going to turn it off they've been talking football for atleast 3 hours.

[LizDevil30]

Any chance of the game being replayed?

[langs15]

Yeah devils!!! SWEEP!!

[NJDevs4978]

Kudos to the Devils and especially to Martin Brodeur. He played like a man on a mission and though the Devils only trailed in the series once he still was the biggest factor in winning. He totally demoralized the Rangers, particularly in the first two games when they had long stretches of good play but could never cash in. He never let them get that goal that might have given them some momentum and kept them in the series, and conversely gave his team the confidence to play their game. And I feel like adding because he's always been one of my favorites; maybe NOW Devil fans can finally appreciate Brian Rafalski. I'm the guy's biggest fan and I admit he'll probably never be as good as Scott Niedermayer but I'm glad people are finally starting to recognize he's a damn good player in his own right. Maybe even more than Marty to an extent, he saved the team in the critical Game 2 with the game of his life. And what can you say about Elias except

I never, ever thought it would have been this easy. 17-4 in four games is frigging awesome. Then again how could I know Jagr would hurt himself, Lundqvist hadn't fully recovered and Renney would totally revert back to the coach that Mess got fired in Vancouver? I had no doubts about the Devils throughout the series though. Before that? Most of the season this series scared me only slightly less than death...but with the way the Rangers swooned at the end of the season and especially with the way the Devils finished the season I did figure they'd find a way to win - I haven't seen a combination of talent and determination this lethal from the Devils since the last nine games of the 2000 playoffs. For me, 2003 will be the gold standard as far as a team showing heart for a very long time if not forever, but this team just looks scary good right now.

Fortunately the Devils dominated to such an extent that I really don't think the injury excuse is a factor. When you get your butts handed to you the way the Rangers have it's not even worth discussing. Then again even if the Jagr injury 'was' that big a deal, I could care less. First of all nobody was crying for the Devils when they missed Elias for half the season (prorate the team's record in the second half with Elias and they would have been the #1 seed in the East if not challenged for the President's Trophy with a healthy Elias for the whole year), nor would they have been crying for us if White's injury was the only major one of the series and contributed to us losing. Second of all Jagr hurt HIMSELF trying to cheapshot Gomer, so the Rangers deserved what they got from that perspective, when they took the low road at the end of Game 1 Plus the Rangers always had that 'you never beat us in the playoffs' hanging over us, now they don't even have that anymore. I don't care if they were playing the damn Wolf Pack in Ranger uniforms, they can't ever say we never beat the Rangers in the playoffs again.

If one thing shocked me this series - besides how easy it was - it was how Renney totally wilted under the playoff glare like no coach I've seen at least since Therien's meltdown with the Habs against Carolina. First game he has Jagr killing penalties late in a meaningless situation; he can say what he wants about getting Jagr practice on the PK, he wanted Jagr to end his goalless drought against the Devils (at five games at that point), that's the only reason to have him in at that point and it was a foolish reason. Granted, it's not Renney's fault Jagr hurt himself since he's such a 'classy' coach and would never have sanctioned Jagr rabbit-punching Gomer

Second game he plays the Weekes card too early and sends a premature panic message. I understand they don't want to play him at the Garden because he's almost as big a fan FAVORITE as Bozolinsh but in that case just live and die with Lundqvist and let him shake off the rust, he's been your meal ticket the whole year. Or go with Weekes from the start if you're that worried about Lundqvist not being right. By making the switch there you just send a message that it's now or never and down 1-0 that's not the message that needed to be sent.

And of course before Game 3 HE takes the low road and tries to goad the Devils into going apesh!t and the refs into making a gillion calls, and the Devils respond with their best game of the series and Renney never got a gillion power plays As Liz said at one point, Renney was too worried about playing head games; maybe a good old-fashioned ass-kicking towards his own team at some point during the swoon would have done more good. Not to mention his unconscionable decision to play Ozolinsh again in Game 3...Renney was so worried about playing Weekes in front of the home crowd and yet he allowed Ozolinsh to see the light of day at the Garden after his Game 2 disaster, the crowd was all over him from the start and he played another bad game. It's as if he was more worried about giving Ozolinsh a chance to feel better than about winning the game, he definitely let feelings override logic with both of those decisions.

Anyway, whatever happens from here on in, the Devils have already given me much more than I ever could have expected from the season. I'm not a negative nelly by any stretch but frankly for most of the season my only concern was MAKING the darn playoffs. Winning the division and destroying the Rangers were out of the realm of possibility. But other than the Cup-winning seasons and I guess '88 this is definitely the sweetest season in Devils history

The one addendum to the above: Losing to the Flyers would still sting somewhat...but I can't complain whatever happens, with where this team was for most of the season and where they were expected to be. And I do think this team is capable of more especially given how well they've been playing.

Edited April 30, 2006 by Hasan4978

[4Stevens4]

He has exorcised the demons!