New York Sports Fan Blog

For the past two games, with their backs against the wall, the New Jersey Devils have come up strong with two big games to keep themselves in the running for the Stanley Cup. After winning the first three games on the Stanley Cup Finals, the Los Angeles Kings made everyone believers that they would sweep New Jersey to lift their first ever Stanley Cup. But they have come up short in the past two games. The Kings offense has been no where to be found after lighting the lamp in game 3, scoring four goals against future hall-of-fame goaltender Marty Brodeur. The Devils were able to score twice against stellar goalie Jonathan Quick of the Kings in game 4, and then scored an empty net goal to make the final score 3-1, thus bringing the series back to New Jersey. The motto in the Devils locker room before game 4 was they have to fly back to New Jersey no matter what the outcome was in the fourth game, and they wanted to bring the Kings back with them to make them earn their first ever Stanley Cup. That is exactly what happened.

The series shifted back to The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey and the Devils got the crowd into it fast after an exciting first period of game 5. When the buzzer sounded after the third period the score was 2-1 New Jersey. The Kings now know the Devils are not going anywhere and they will come out fighting in game 6 Monday night in order to once again bring the series back to New Jersey for a game 7. All eyes are on the Kings and if they are going to be able to finish off the Devils at home tonight. If they don’t, another six-hour flight awaits them back to the east coast for a game 7, something no one in the Kings locker room wants. They want to hoist the Cup tonight, in front of 18,000+ of their fans and show everyone that they no only deserve to be in this year Stanley Cup Finals, but that they deserve to be the Champions this year.

On Monday night, the New Jersey Devils realized winning the Stanley Cup is going to be a lot harder than they thought. The Los Angeles Kings defeated the Devils 4-0 at The Staples Center in Los Angeles in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals. That victory gave the Kings a 3-0 advantage over the Eastern Conference Champions, one game away from winning it all, something they have never done. New Jersey is not on the brink of being swept out of the Stanley Cup Finals, something that has not happened since the 1998 Cup Finals. To make things worse for the Devils, only three NHL teams have ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in a playoff series and won, and the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs are the only team to do it in the finals. Wednesday night, the Devils will either make history, or be history.
The Los Angeles Kings came into the finals having beaten the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place teams in the Western Conference. They not only had a spectacular road record on their side, one in which they went undefeated, but they also had rest. The Kings only played 14 games to get to the final round of the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals, including sweeping the St. Louis Blues. The Devils on the other hand played 18 total games before reaching the final round. It should come as no surprise that the Kings are where they are, one win away from winning their first ever Stanley Cup. With the play of their All-Star goaltender Jonathan Quick, their almost perfect penalty kill, leading the NHL in the regular season with 89.6% and leading the NHL in the playoffs with 92.8% success rate, Kings fans should not have to wait too long before their team hoists the cup. The only piece of the puzzle left is another strong 60 minutes by the Kings on Wednesday night to cap off a playoff run that would see the Kings only lose two games if they sweep New Jersey.
The Devils are going to try and do everything they can to make sure this does not happen, by stretching this series out to at least one more game. But they are going to have to pick up their offense a lot in order to score against Jonathon Quick. It does not seem possible with the Devils only scoring twice over the first three games and going 0-12 on the power-play, including a 59 second five-on-three man advantage Monday night. The Devils do not have the offense to out work the solid Kings defense and they cannot seem to find any answers for solving Quick. Martin Brodeur, the future hall-of-fame goaltender is usually a core player for the Devils, but over the course of the entire playoffs he has let up more sloppy goals than anyone could have imagined. Is it time for Marty to hang up the skates and retire after a tremendous 21-year career with New Jersey, including three Stanley Cups? Only time will tell, and the Devils are certainly running out of time.

If the New Jersey Devils get past the Pittsburgh Penguins in the playoffs, they will have beaten the defending Stanley Cup champions 10 times.

If the New Jersey Devils get past the Pittsburgh Penguins in the playoffs, they will have beaten the defending Stanley Cup champions 10 times.

Whether it translates into postseason success remains to be seen.

“We hope so,” goalie Martin Brodeur said. “If it gives us any edge on them later on, well good.”

New Jersey vaulted into a first-place tie with the Penguins. Both teams have 87 points, but the Devils have played one fewer game. Fans chanted “You can’t beat us!” as the final seconds ticked down.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Martin Brodeur noted that the Olympic gold medal he picked up in Vancouver on Sunday is larger and heavier than the one he won with Canada in 2002.

That’s because he sat on the bench as the backup to Roberto Luongo for the last four games, including Sunday’s 3-2 overtime win over the U.S. in the gold-medal game.

“It’s hard,” Brodeur said Monday after rejoining his Devils’ teammates in San Jose to prepare for tonight’s season reopener against the Sharks. “When you don’t play, you don’t feel as much a part of the team. I really embraced it as much as I could because I think this was the right thing to do.”

It might be difficult for some to come back from the emotional experience of the Olympics, but Brodeur doesn’t believe that will be a problem for him.

“It’s been over for a week for me, so I’m not in an Olympic mode, that’s for sure,” he said. “I’m excited to get back. This is our family. This is what we do.”

Click here to read the full article – By Bergen Record

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The Devils will return a different team than the one that skidded into the Olympic break. Whether they’ll be better depends on whether coach Jacques Lemaire can restrain himself and un-burn them out.

They’ll be better just for the returns from fractures of Paul Martin and David Clarkson, better for the further acclimation of Ilya Kovalchuk, and better for the trade that sources told The Post general manager Lou Lamoriello is still pursuing for another center.

Lamoriello, sources say, was in the hunt for Matt Cullen, who went to Ottawa from Carolina, and has made inquiries about Matt Stajan, who left Toronto for Calgary. His interest in a center is a certainty.

Another forward, Alexei Ponikarovsky, who plays like a center, is likely to be moved out of Toronto, and he may be the best they had. There has been speculation, idle or not, from NHL team officials that he could be Jersey-bound.

Click here to read the full article – By New York Post

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Devils left wing Ilya Kovalchuk grew up in Russia, so he knows what big snowstorms are like.

“All the schools [in Atlanta] were shut down for a week, so it’s a little different,” Kovalchuk said before the Devils’ game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night at Prudential Center. “But there’s a little bit more snow here. It’s like back in Russia, so it’s good. Nice hockey weather.”

Fortunately for Kolvalchuk, he did not have to drive in the storm. Only a week has passed since the trade that brought him to the Devils from the Thrashers, and he still doesn’t have a car in New Jersey.

He got a ride to Prudential Center on Wednesday afternoon from rookie right wing Vladimir Zharkov, a fellow Russian.

“We’re in the same hotel, so he’s a pretty good driver,” Kovalchuk said. “He’s got a Porsche Cayenne sports car. So I told him, ‘Just be careful. Relax.’ ”

The day was somewhat reminiscent of Jan. 22, 1987, when a blizzard brought 15 inches of snow to the area and only 334 fans made it to the Meadowlands to watch the Devils defeat the Calgary Flames, 7-5. The start was delayed 1 hour and 46 minutes because only 13 Devils had arrived by the 7:30 p.m. game time.

Click here to read the full article – By Bergen Record

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The Devils experienced something they never see in New Jersey.

The team will experience another oddity Tuesday night when Yann Danis starts in goal for the Devils against the Leafs in place of Martin Brodeur.

Brodeur, who had started the last 33 games and played in 40 straight, couldn’t remember the last time he did not start a game in Canada.

“It’s been a while,” Brodeur said. “Especially here. I don’t know where I’m going to sit. I have to ask the trainer.”

Nov. 6 against the Islanders was the last game this season in which Brodeur did not see action either as a starter or in relief of Danis.

“There are a lot of games coming up. This is a great time for me to rest,” Brodeur said. “We’ve got two days off after this game. After that it’s a full week of playing games every couple of days. This will give me time to rest and work on my game.

Click here to read the full article – By Newark Star-Ledger

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November is done, and so is the Devils’ six-game month of home perfection. Jacques Lemaire says December’s 0-1 Devils will skate, skate and skate some more today after last night’s flop.

“They need a good practice. We’ve been taking it easy on them, thinking they might be getting tired. Christmas is coming, everybody’s mind is somewhere else. We’ll try to put their minds back on the game,” Lemaire said after last night’s 5-2 loss to the Canucks in Newark.

Giving up a handful for only the third time this season, the Devils allowed the first three in the first 12:32 of play and never caught up, losing in Newark for the first time since Oct. 28.

“They played well, we didn’t, and that makes an ugly outcome,” Andy Greene said after the loss snapped New Jersey’s three-game overall winning streak.

The Devils fell behind 3-0 for the first time since losing 5-2 in their season opener to the Flyers Oct. 3 in Newark. They hadn’t allowed three goals in an entire game in Newark since that Oct. 28 4-1 loss to the Sabres, and the night’s five were most of the six-victory home streak’s total of eight goals allowed.

Click here to read the full article – By New York Post

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Devils coach Jacques Lemaire has spent weeks waiting for various injured players to get back onto the ice, and they are finally beginning to return to the lineup.

Center Rob Niedermayer should be the first reinforcement. Niedermayer is expected to play tomorrow night against Vancouver for the first time since he suffered a separated shoulder Nov. 4 against the Capitals.

“We’ll see [today],” Niedermayer said after yesterday’s practice. “Hopefully it feels good again. I’d like to get back in the lineup as soon as I can.”

Niedermayer, who began practicing last week, wasn’t the only recuperating player on the ice yesterday. Left wing Jay Pandolfo, who has been out of the lineup because of a dislocated right shoulder that he injured Oct. 24 against Pittsburgh, participated in his first full practice. Pandolfo was less optimistic about being able to suit up for tomorrow night’s game.

Click here to read the full article – By New York Post

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The comebacks are coming.

It also means the temps who helped the Devs work that miracle will soon have their stalwart efforts repaid by diminished roles or downright demotions.

And, too, it means the Devils will have full shelves of credible youngsters for trading when it comes time to rent playoff help.

Johnny Oduya (hip/groin) and Jay Pandolfo (dislocated shoulder) are likely to join the team in practice today, while Rob Niedermayer (shoulder separation) already is practicing with the varsity.

Click here to read the full article – By New York Post

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and other New Jersey Devils Gifts and Collectibles
Below are links to memorabilia available for popular New Jersey Devils players.