Triumph

I turned off the game after the Rags scored the second goal and didn't watch the rest of the game.  I just couldn't do it, and might even not even watch game 6 or 7 if it gets that far.  Just way too nerve-racking, not to mention that I consumed about 10 cigarettes from 8 to 11 last night.

Why couldn't I have gotten into poetry instead of sports?

Because poetry doesn't produce that kind of exhilaration?  But yeah, like DM84 said, it has to be the stupid Rangers.  If this were against any non-Flyer, non-Ranger team, I could watch this series with some measure of 'Hey, they're in the ECF, people didn't expect this, I love playoff hockey'.  If the Devils made it to the ECF and lost to the Bruins, say, I think we'd all be on board for that - obviously there'd be missed opportunities and no one would be 'happy', but hey, it was a fun ride.  But it has to be the goddamn Rangers.  Still, Friday...

Devils spent so much time in the Rangers end that they were asking how the schools were and what the parking situation's like.

Their consolation prize will be retiring Jeff Beukeboom's jersey next year.

I hope they have the streamers and fireworks for that.

That's interesting. I did notice there being a woman sitting behind the Devils bench who at one point was making some animated gestures. I thought maybe she had been yelling at DeBoer, but I wasn't sure because I had only caught the tail end of it. I even mentioned it to my wife who was watching the game with me but hadn't been paying attention at the time.

Oh, now that you mention it, I also saw this.  I figured she just realized she lived in or around Philadelphia.

Good thing about Sestito, like you've all said, is his grit and intensity. He doesn't take too many penalties but does play hard. And I think he'll DRAW some penalties out of the Flyers. He's like a Clarkson from 3-4 years ago, could be good, could be bad... We'll see.

Just trying to stay optimistic.

The guy has 0 goals in 64 NHL games.  He's like Clarkson if you removed the goal-scoring talent and added more falling down.  The 4th line will get annihilated tonight, it's just a question of whether Brodeur can make the stops.

I wanted to say this earlier - I don't think the Devils are a mentally fragile team.  I think Devils fans are a mentally fragile fanbase.

Like everyone said, Gionta was not an emergency callup because Boulton is still healthy.  I hadn't realized that either.

I like Harrold over Larsson in Games 1 and 2 - maybe in Games 3 and 4 the Devils can get the right matchups for Larsson and he can be out there; I did think he looked very good yesterday with some great breakout passes, but I'm not sure he can be trusted in the postseason.

I think they'll go with this:

Parise-Zajac-Kovalchuk
Sykora-Elias-Zubrus
Ponikarovsky-Henrique-Clarkson
Carter-S. Gionta-Bernier

Greene-Fayne
Salvador-Zidlicky
Volchenkov-Harrold

Then these same suburban families who go to the South Bronx, Flushing and even MSG should feel displeasure going to those places as well.

And sans MSG those places/cities I listed aren't just a little worse than Newark. They are alot worse. Stats don't lie. Bottom line is if you don't like it boycott the arena.

Like I've said every time you bring this up, Yankee Stadium has been in the South Bronx for nearly 90 years.  4 generations of Yankee fans have gone there to see the Yankees.  It's where you go to see the Yankees.  And yeah, the Yankees had problems drawing in the 80s and early 90s as the team declined both in prestige and as the neighborhood surrounding Yankee Stadium declined.  But while the neighborhood around there isn't exactly Beverly Hills even now, I don't feel unsafe there.

I don't think the area surrounding Prudential Center is that bad either - in my experience, there's more panhandlers, but that's about it.  Still, it's not the reality, it's the perception, and it will probably take a generation for that to go away.

Well Ottawa is just 2 points out of 6th now.  

Guess that 6th spot isn't exactly a lock now, is it?

Care to wager on that?  I'll bet at even money.  

Win tomorrow and the Devils are up 4 points with 5 games left to play - not impossible to blow that lead, but it's not easy, either.

Actually, what Volch did should have been a penalty shot (squeezing the legs to cover the puck), but the ref missed it.  Kerry Fraser explained today on TSN:

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=389080

Meh.  Even if it had been awarded a penalty shot, the Rangers player probably would've just dumped the puck in and went off for a line change.

I'd rather trade Parise for Rick Nash.  Personally, I'd rather trade Kovalchuk for Nash so we can keep Parise, but that is NO secret!  Rick Nash has what the Devils are missing up front.  It won't happen, but a fun "What if"... Then the Devils could concentrate on a VERY GOOD D-man and hopefully/more importantly go after a solid goalie.  I can't wait to see the fiasco next year with goal.

You're still here?  I thought you and MantaRay were hiding in a bunker together swapping Kovalchuk turnover stories.  Hate to break it to you, but Nash isn't any better than Kovalchuk.

Oh, and let's not forget:  the Devils scored 6 goals today.  6.

I don't like NJ's 3rd period play but it was one of those things.  The refs put their whistles away and helped out the Flyers.  The Devils were resting their best players.  Then the Flyers put in 2 quick goals with the Devils' two top defensive D in the box and the game is close.  Should NJ have gotten a few more shots?  Sure.  But I don't think protecting 4 goal leads is a priority of this team.  Once it got to two, the Devils played a little better and probably allowed at most 2 or 3 scoring chances.

I thought Elias' play was fairly dirty, and probably deserved a game, but I think even Shanahan realized he passed on too many questionable hits on Devils' players. Devils were lucky to only get a minor on the play.

Still confused how the boarding hit on Clarkson has, not escaped punishment, but any review whatsoever.

Which one?  There were two.

I hope that Shanahan took the context of the game into account - that three Devils had been run with 0 penalties called.  Elias just figured boarding was legal now.

That list should be titled 'Players NHL players are jealous of'

Also Kovalchuk has been doing a phenomenal job killing penalties so far this year, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss his ability there - I would be quick to dismiss his ability at 5 on 5 defense though.