The last 18 hours have truly been some of the happiest I’ve had as a Devils fan since at least 2012.
I attended game seven at Prudential Center with my brother, both of us filled with nerves prior to puck drop and throughout the first two periods. Those nerves were made worse prior to the game when news broke that Lindy Ruff would be re-inserting Miles Wood & Yegor Sharangovich to the lineup in place of steady players Curtis Lazar & Jesper Boqvist.
Please God, why Lindy?
How insignificant those worries turned out to be, and how relieved I am today to have the privilege to pen another series preview post. But before we get into the 2nd round matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes, let me get this out of the way…
LET’S FUCKING GO!
No words can do justice to the collective excitement and pure joy currently being experienced by the NJ Devils faithful.
Devils fans have earned the right to be this happy. We blew out our smug, condescending rivals who were “destined” for greatness by the experts this season, on home ice in game 7.
This may be biased, but I believe it means more to Devils fans to triumph over the Rangers than it does for Rangers fans the other way around.
If you consider all that I mentioned in my last post before game 7, we unfortunately get treated by the NYC metropolitan area and the broader hockey community as the ‘little brother’ in this rivalry.
And like any big brother/little brother rivalry, when the big brother loses – there is usually an air of conceit, and a lot of excuse making. Not to mention how humiliating it is for both fans and players of the NJ Devils to watch our home arena get taken over by those same smug cunts from across the river any time they emerge victorious in these matchups.
So, yes, we deserve to be this excited. It means more for us, I think.
A few more thoughts before we turn the page…
Many of my best friends are NY Ranger fans. To them I say this: respect. It was a hard fought, bitter series, albeit a bit unorthodox. I respect the players on their roster, most notably the best goaltender in the league, Igor Shesterkin, and their coach Gerrard Gallant. I appreciate the kind words, and gentlemanly conduct all of them had with me throughout the series. Gracious and humble in defeat. I salute all of you and empathize with your pain, genuinely.
To the rest of the smug, cunty, cocaine-in-a-bathroom-stall, Wall Street variety Ranger fans who obnoxiously fill our arena, and cheer louder for the celebrities shown on the MSG jumbotron than their own team – you can all kick rocks and fuck off. Please have the shittiest time getting over this loss. I hope it haunts you for years to come as you realize the likelihood that this roster was your last and best chance to dominate the eastern conference before the new-era Devils challenge for that spot consistently over the next 5-10 years. The reality is that I’m sure you have already moved on to rooting for the NY Knicks, or preoccupied yourself with some other self-indulgent, self-righteous hobby to rejuvenate your enormous egos and childlike behavior. From the bottom of my heart: fuck you so much.
And in finality… some quick thoughts on the Devils in game 7:
- Ondrej Palat is a certified Ranger-killer
- Akira Schmid is channeling vintage origin-story Martin Brodeur vibes
- Nico was better than Mika (something that I mentioned was key to winning this series)
- Fuck the analytics – John Marino is a top-10 defensive defenseman in this league, and we don’t win that series without him
- Severson was an x-factor whether you care to admit it or not (as I predicted) – as he and Bahl were the superior 3rd pairing in this series and Damon took the risk out of his game while contributing in all three zones for all 7 games
- Meier, Bratt, & Nico are so ripe to pop the fuck off in round 2
ON TO CAROLINA…
To start, although both Seattle and Florida dealt with similar game 7 ecstasy only to have to prepare for a brand new series within 48 hours, who by the way both went on to win game 1 in their respective series last night, I am a bit worried about that factor for NJ tonight in game 1.
Carolina is perhaps the most well-coached, structured and disciplined team in the NHL. They put the bow on their round 1 matchup last Friday, giving them 5 days of rest and practice, and the chance to exclusively focus on two games of the Devils/Rangers series to digest their potential opponent.
They will be fresh and ready to play tonight’s game.
What gives me comfort is that the Devils are a young team. With the exception of Palat, not many guys on the roster have a ton of tread on the tires from recent years. Physically, we should be ready to go. Mentally and emotionally, that’s a little different considering the pervasive euphoria from finishing the Rangers off.
It’s something to watch for tonight – how do the Devils look in the first twenty minutes on the road in a raucous PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC?
I’ll use the same format to breakdown this series.
Goaltending. What a difference two weeks makes! The emergence of Akira Schmid makes this category so interesting for the New Jersey Devils right now.
During the regular season there were 69 (lol) goaltenders who played 18 or more games. The Carolina Hurricanes had three goaltenders on that list: Antti Raanta, Pyotr Kochetkov, and Frederik Andersen. As ranked by save percentage, they ranked as follows:
- Raanta: #21, .910
- Kochetkov: #23, .909
- Andersen: #31, .903
In summary, the Hurricanes had consistent, slightly better than middle of the pack goaltending.
By comparison, Akira Schmid ranked #4 in the league with a .922, and Vitek Vanecek ranked #20 at .911.
Raanta played the first five games for the Hurricanes in round 1, while Andersen started game 6 to finish the job. For what it’s worth, Andersen posted a .971 and 0.91 GAA in that game. I’d expect him to get the start for game 1, though it’s certainly possible we see Raanta or even Kochetkov during this series.
None of the Carolina goaltenders jump off the page as show-stoppers. None of them are Igor Shesterkin. They are all quality NHL goaltenders, and are effective at producing wins for the team as a result of the structured system Carolina plays and the elite defense in front of them.
As such, I give the Devils the edge here. Even with a minor regression from Schmid, he appears to be the best goalie in this series at this juncture.
- The Devils win IF: Akira keeps up the stellar play. Simple as that.
- The Devils lose IF: Akira regresses a lot, like he did in game 6 against the Rangers, Vitek comes in and looks the way he has so far in his small-sample size NHL playoff career (not great)
Defense. This is the one category the Hurricanes have a pretty clear edge. They boast maybe a top-3 league wide pair in Burns-Slavin at the top of their lineup. They are akin to Makar-Toews in Colorado in how dominant the team is when they’re on the ice. At 38, Brent Burns turned back the clock and had arguably the best all-around season of his career. A career that has featured a lot of greatness, by the way.
There is very little drop-off in their second pair of Skjei-Pesce, which features two stalwart shutdown defensemen who can matchup against anyone in the league. I’d expect them to get a lot of ice time against Jack’s line in this series.
The third pair features offensive dynamo, powerplay specialist Shayne Gostisbehere – a guy I have rooted for and loved watching play since his days at Union College. Jalen Chatfield likely rounds out that pair, with the depth of Calvin DeHaan as the 7th D-man the envy of many teams in the NHL.
- The Devils win IF: Dougie can outduel Burns, and get the Devils PP1 going, as he returns to face his most recent former team.
- The Devils lose IF: the collective force of the elite Carolina D-corps proves too suffocating to the Devils forwards, and too quick in transition to fuel an otherwise-watered down offensive attack for Carolina.
Having said all of that, while it’s hard not to give the nod to Carolina’s top 4 over our own, I still find our third pairing to be an opportunity for the Devils in this series. On paper, a trio of Severson-Bahl-Luke Hughes may be superior to Gostisbehere-Chatfield-DeHaan. We shall see.
Forwards. While the Hurricanes have an edge over the Devils defensively, the gap is less significant than the one the Devils forwards possess over the Hurricanes.
This is where I’m excited. On paper – the Rangers were so balanced, heavy, physical, and had a great goaltender to stymie our potent and fast offensive punch. The Hurricanes, while defensively elite and structured, don’t have the star power up front.
That fact has been exacerbated and well-documented by significant injuries to key players Andrei Svechnikov, Max Pacioretty, and most recently, Teuvo Teravainen. It’s really shitty luck for a team that otherwise looks like they should win a Stanley Cup right now. The Pacioretty acquisition in the offseason was meant to do just that.
That’s good luck for our Devils.
While Sebastien Aho, Martin Necas, and Seth Jarvis are due credit – they are dangerous players who have shown up big time in the playoffs so far, they really do not hold a candle to the star power the Devils top 9 possesses.
Where I’ll give their group additional credit, and what could be an x-factor for this series is the presence of multiple veteran guys who play a really gritty, greasy, down-in-the-trenches, frustrating and defense-first game. Jordan Staal. Paul Stastny. Jordan Martinook. Jesper Fast. Derek Stepan. Former Devil Stefan Noesen. Those are all guys who know how to win, they are big and physical, and they will wear you down.
- The Devils win IF: Bratt, Timo, Nico find their scoring touch. We know they are overdue. Palat, Haula, Hughes have all contributed so far, and the rest of the our top forwards will need to, and I think they will.
- The Devils lose IF: The structure of Carolina’s system, and the defensive depth of their forwards frustrate our top guys, while Sebastien Aho continues to find a way for the Canes.
I think this series is going to be awesome. These teams were separated by 1 point in the standings and duked out some of the most competitive games the Devils played in during the regular season.
What’s not lost on me, and should not be lost on any fan that has followed the Devils for more than the last 10 years, is that these two franchises do have a bit of a rivalry, which emerged in the late 2000’s. Carolina was the bane of our existence, knocking us out of the first round in game 7 at home in 2009, and in the second round on their cup run in 2006. There were some bitter and violent matchups between these two teams and I have never rooted for them despite my man-crush on Rod The Bod Brind’Amour.
Verdict. The Canes injuries to star players prove too much to overcome, and the hockey Gods smile on the feel-good Akira Schmid story and the mostly unpredicted run the Devils have started in these playoffs, giving them a chance to battle for the conference final and a ticket to the Stanley Cup Final.
Devils in 6. Let’s. Go. Devils.
Word Of The Devil 