2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs 1st Round, Game 1: New Jersey Devils vs. Philadelphia Flyers
by John Fischer on Apr 14, 2010 2:30 AM EDT
in Devils Game Previews
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PrintThe Time: 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT
The Broadcast: TV: MSG+(HD); Radio: 970 AM The Apple
The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils vs. the Philadelphia Flyers
The Outside Party: NHLTweetup is meeting in NYC, so if you're over 21, use Twitter, but can't get to the Rock to support the Devils, follow the Devils there. Details and deals here.
The Key: Momentum
I have a few quick thoughts about tonight's game after the jump. It's a bit short as with all the previews out there, the ones I linked, all the stuff Tibbs has linked, and so forth; there's not a whole lot of new ground to cover. Do check out Broad Street Hockey if you'd like to learn more about the Flyers.
Who to be Concerned About: Chris Pronger. And not just because he's known as Captain Elbows.
As I noted here in breaking down the on-ice/off-ice even strength numbers, I felt Chris Pronger stood out the most. He clearly did among his fellow defensemen. He has the highest total average ice time (25:55) and when steps on the ice, the goals against and shots against rates significantly fall. He may have a reputation and may take too many minors for one's liking, but he's an excellent defenseman. It's going to be a big challenge for Zach Parise, Travis Zajac, Patrik Elias, and Ilya Kovalchuk to get past him - much less the rest of the Devils' forwards. If they can break him and/or force him to take a few calls, then that would be great. Otherwise, he's going to be a big obstacle along the way to try and beat Brian Boucher.
What Not to be Concerned About: Rod Pelley. In practice on Wednesday, Rod Pelley skated at right wing with Patrik Elias and Ilya Kovalchuk. Needless to say, those who saw that online may have performed some form of a double take or a disgruntled groan. Surely, Jacques Lemaire isn't going to go with this kind of experiment, right?
Well, I don't think so. I don't have any reason to believe that Rod Pelley is going to start on the top 6 unless he has some magical power to stop Flyers in their tracks. Expect him on the fourth line where he's been the most useful as an energy player who can throw some hits and just drive the net on offense.
What Could be a Worthy of Your Concern: Lemaire may be changing the lines but unlike Brent Sutter's 2007-08 season where he seemingly made changes for the sake of making them; there's some rationale behind them. Lemaire's not a dummy, I mean look at where the team finished for proof that he knows what he's doing. More recently, in the final few games of the season, Lemaire has made some in-game changes among all four lines. So the starting lineup should be written in pencil or some kind of erasable ink regardless. I feel that Lemaire will look for a match-up and exploit or defend against it as much as possible in Game 1 - that's the concern. Will Lemaire find it in time? Will he have the "right mix" out there to start? And if not, will he find it before the Flyers take advantage?
Either way, take this wild guess at the line up with a big grain of salt. I'm calling for Leblond to play because some beef is necessary against the Flyers and he's had a good run of games being, well, beefy. If not him, then Jay Pandolfo as he's been the team's 13th forward in the last stretch of the regular season.
Zach Parise - Travis Zajac - Dainius Zubrus
Ilya Kovalchuk - Patrik Elias - Jamie Langenbrunner
Brian Rolston - Rob Niedermayer - David Clarkson
Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond - Dean McAmmond - Rod PelleyPaul Martin - Martin Skoula
Colin White - Mike Mottau
Andy Greene - Bryce Salvador
Keep an eye on that second line. Unless the Flyers want to double-shift Pronger (and they might), they're going to enjoy not having his presence. Whoever is there better take full advantage when he's not on the ice. The big mitigating factor as to why you may not want to worry are these quotes by Jamie Langenbrunner and Ilya Kovalchuk from yesterday's post by Tom Gulitti:
"I’m sure it will be the same," [Jamie] Langenbrunner said. "I think it will probably change game to game and definitely home and away."
Because the players are used to it, Langenbrunner doesn’t believe the line changes are that much of a disruption.
"It was at first, but I don’t think we’re surprised by it at all anymore," he said. "I joked about it in here that it’s doubtful that the lines we practiced with today are the ones will be playing with tomorrow. So, that’s the way it is and I think we’re used to it. It’s going to change and all of us now have a familiarity with everybody because of it."
[Ilya] Kovalchuk also said it could be a positive.
"You play with somebody better than others, but you’ve got to be capable of playing with anybody," he said. "Sometimes it takes a little thing to make a big difference, especially in the playoffs."
What Not to be Concerned About: Ilya Kovalchuk. And not just for the interesting and mull-worthy quote above. The Associate tipped me to this Rich Chere story on Kovalchuk, and it's a great one. He wants success and frankly, I don't doubt his desire.
A Final Point: The dreaded Game 7 loss of 2009 to Carolina was brought up by Tom Gulitti yesterday. Here's what Jacques Lemaire had to say about it:
"They know why they didn’t win, probably, so they will try not to repeat it," Lemaire said. "I don’t need to talk about the past. I don’t need to talk about that at all."
Lemaire's right. This is not the time to look back and focus about the past. Nothing back then can be changed and it would only serve as a distraction for this series. The Devils need to take the momentum they generated in the first two weeks of April and turn that into results tonight.
Everyone, please be on your best behavior. Please read the rules if you haven't, they're on the front page on the left sidebar below the More SBNation Blogs box. Or just click here for them. Please be civil lest you want be a stereotypical "dumb fan." Please leave your comments about tonight's game in advance of the GameThread in this post. Go Devils!
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My perception is that Pronger will be out against Parise’s line. Not just because he was throughout the season series, but because Ilya and Elias are just too fast for him. Pronger got burned by speedy players all Olympics long.
If they want to double shift him, that’s fine by me. That just increases the likelihood of his A) tiring out as the series wears on and B) taking a penalty.
I would love to see Kovy sign a long term contract. However, I feel that the Devils need to go far in the playoffs to convince him that the team has the goods to win the cup, if they don’t win it this year. Kovy wants to win, and he wants to win NOW. If the Devils get bounced early on I think Kovy walks.
You're Next!
I’m counting down the hours until tonight’s game, ever since the Sabres game ended on Sunday. I couldn’t help it – I picked up tickets for tonight’s game yesterday. It’s crucial that the Devils have a quick start in this series and win Game 1 and Game 2. I expect a big game from Kovalchuk tonight. I think Kovy and Elias are going to take it to another in the playoffs, and it will begin tonight. For the Flyers, it will be a question of containing the depth that the Devils will bring forth in a seven game series. If all three lines are clicking early on in, it will be quite difficult for Philly to contain as the series progresses.
Also, a side note. It appears that Pandolfo was practicing with the extra forwards. Thus, he might be a healthy scratch tonight. That would mark the first playoff game since 1998 that Pandolfo has missed a game, I believe. Interesting stuff.
LETS GO DEVILS
"We aim above the mark to hit the mark." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Yeah, he's not surprised
Neither am I, given how little he’s been used. Both teams have some crazy line depth. The expected Philly forward lines are pretty impressive. Pronger ‘s going to get a lot of icetime. I think there’san edge for the Devs in that Philly rolls 7 Ds and not 8. If the Red manage to get 35ish SOG a game and sustain some pressure as they have in the past half dozen games or so, it could be a rough third for the guys in orange.
I hated the line juggling for a while, but it’s starting to grow on me. Pelley was playing with Kovy and Elias in practice. I was all WTF?! until it clicked. Maybe the whole thing is about deception and uncertainty. We’ve seen that the forwards play at least passibly well with each other, with inconcistant flashes of brilliance coming from several different combos. Keeping the line a secret to start a playoff game, and then mixing them up as the game goes on could be the answer to Cap’n Elbows and Col Butt-to-the-Face.
I’m doing my best to mold the 15 month old into a Devs fan. The wife’s family is from Pitt, and I outlawed that crap from my house after “Steeler’s Christmas ’09.” She’s the reason daddy is missing this year’s playoff run at the Rock. Good thing she’s cute or I might consider trading her for some black seats. :P
Yeah, I wasn’t too surprised by the Pandolfo decision either. I guess I was more surprised by the fact that he hasn’t missed a playoff game with this team in more than a decade. That’s incredibly impressive and I’d be interested in seeing how many players in the NHL can claim the same feat.
I agree with your opinion on the juggling. It definitely throws different looks at the opposition on a consistent basis. When four lines are pretty much set and each player knows where he’s going to play every game, I believe the game becomes more like a chess match. Lines are designated for certain roles; top lines will be met by the opposition’s best defensive line. Lemaire’s approach is fresh and at least attempts to throw the opposition off. It becomes a lot more difficult defending four lines that are equally spread out in talent as opposed to two lines that are front-loaded. Of course, there are pros and cons to this. For example, I think the ZZZ line players fit perfectly with one another. I sometimes get frustrated when I see these three players on different lines because I feel as if they compliment each other perfectly. Especially towards the end of the season, they have been a consistent scoring threat. I hope we see this line in action for the majority of the series.
And excellent news on the little Devs fan!
"We aim above the mark to hit the mark." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Can't wait for tonight...
AS long as the lines are at least something we have seen before, I’ll be happy with them. I feel Lemaire and Co. know what the lines are but are keeping them a secret until the puck drops, which like a few above said is going to be an advantage.
A few things I will be looking at during the first game to see how this series will go:
1. Which team will play their game more and better? – Does Philly control the game with hitting, being physical, and crashing the net? Does Jersey control the game with puck possession, forechecking, good neutral zone play on both sides of the puck, and winning battles along the boards? Each team has advantages against the other. I think the board play is important for the Devils; whoever is lined with Parise need to play exceptional in the corners (hopefully Zajac and Zubrus IMO).
2. Shots ON NET – Philly is big, they block shots, they make players shoot in a tough areas that usually result in missed shots. The Devils and most importantly Kovie need to shoot when they have that open shot. Be simple and effective. Boucher let up some big rebounds the last 2 games against the Rags. The Devils should shoot low, and hopefully the quick players we have will be able to outmatch the big bodies of Philly to get some rebounds. The last 2 games vs. PHI the Devils had more Blocked and Missed shots than Shots on net (MS+BS > SON to clarify). Get shots to Boucher. I feel this also has a lot to do with point #1.
3. Penalties – Need to take advantage when they are in the box. They will be in there more; we are more disciplined; their style of play come with it. If the Devils show their PP is effective (scoring goals, keeping the puck in, getting numerous chances), it may cause Philly to change their style to stay out of the box (advantage!). While on the PP, point 2 should be an absolute necessity, because it will ultimately change point 1 (see how this is all just meshing an each one will effect the other).
Play smart, play together, play with confidence (kudos to Lemaire), play Devils hockey…
by Matthew Ventolo on Apr 14, 2010 12:36 PM EDT reply actions
Many are making a pretty big deal about the season series standing at 1-4-1 against the Flyers, but that overlooks two simple anomalies:
Games 4 and 5 were both 3-2 losses in which the Devils uncharacteristically gave up a lead (.733 W% when they score first, .813 when leading after 1 period, .943 after 2) AND in which the Flyers uncharacteristically won a game they didn’t score first in (they had a .242 win percentage when being scored on first, 25th worst W% in the league).
Somewhere between Claude Lemieux and Mahatma Gandhi...
I believe for the Devils to win this series they will have to maintain a certain degree of balance throughout. If they can keep a fast pace throughout all areas of the ice….bring the game to the Flyers with edge and persistence yet not cross the “penalty line” in initial or retaliatory actions..they will have a good chance of winning. The Flyers have shown over the decades/years/last few games…that they will not back down to threats both physical and mental on the ice. Hence they will take penalties for little or no reason. The Devils MUST use this to their advantage…so the very players that the Flyers are hoping for energy and spark to their success must be used against them. (Chris Pronger,Hartnell and Carcillo being repeat offenders of having little discipline in this area) Of course for this game plan to actually help the Devils win the power play will have to have some success as well. But that’s a whole different post all together….
pandolfo
i would expect that pandolfo won’t be playing at all in this series, that they are going to dress PL3 and if peters becomes healthy, he will dress rather than corrente, not pandolfo
by don in central jersey on Apr 14, 2010 5:08 PM EDT reply actions
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