The New Jersey Devils finally watched a pivotal bounce of the puck go their way as John Madden's centering attempt in overtime deflected off the Rangers Marc Staal and into the net for a 4-3 overtime win across the river at Madison Square Garden.The game was far from easy as the Devils lost leads two times before the badly needed victory.
Sergei Brylin scored early for the Devils in period one for the early lead,but the Rangers would score the next two goals for a Blueshirt lead.
Devil power plays would carry the day in the second,as Patrik Elias and Zach Parise would knock the biscuit in on the man advantage for a 3-2 lead.
The Rangers tied the game in the third,which set the stage for the Madden game winner.
The Devils trimmed the series to a 2-1 Ranger lead and the series will continue in NYC on Wednesday.
Some extra thoughts on the game.
Watch for a quiet rule on the antics of Sean Avery before next season.
The pitching a tent in front of the net and placing the stick inches from the goalies face routine will be outlawed.
It is certainly legal (for now),so one cannot scream for a penalty,but it is ridiculous that it is not.
The Devils carried the game to the Rangers in overtime,but Henrik Lundquist has played so well that I was just waiting for the Devils to get all the good chances,be denied and have a bouncing puck go the Rangers way for the win.
Glad that the Red and Black got the lucky bounce tonight.
The Devils appeared to change strategy against Lundquist and the goal increase showed its effectiveness.
New Jersey was much more aggressive in firing the puck on goal and looking for putbacks than in past Ranger games,where they seemed to do more passing around the perimeter and looking for the perfect shot.
And a special tip of the hat to David Clarkson,who seems to do to Sean Avery what he does to everyone else-Annoy him!!
Devils Pitchforks
Gold:John Madden-The game winner was a deflection,but they all count the same.
Silver:Zach Parise-Goal and could have had another one,all over the ice
Bronze:Paul Martin-Solid defensive evening.
Tom Gorzelanny worked his way through tough conditions and the Pirates burst through in the sixth and seventh innings to blow open a tight game with seven runs to give the Pirates a 9-1 win and a sweep of the series over Cincinnati.
Ryan Doumit (2) gave the Pirates the early lead with a solo homer in the second and Luis Rivas scored Nate McLouth with a third inning double for a 2-0 lead.
Pittsburgh chased Johnny Cueto with three runs in the sixth with the biggest shot being Xavier Nady's two run homer (4) and Jason Bay led the seventh inning onslaught with a three run bomb (3) to finish the scoring.
Gorzelanny was taken from the game in the middle of a rain shower as he was clearly struggling with his control with the wet ball,but it was a good outing before then in evening his record at 1-1.
I do still have some concerns that he does not seem to be throwing as hard as last season and his one strikeout backs me up somewhat.
The Pirates go on the road to Los Angeles tonight for a three game series against the Dodgers.
I will have the XM at work for the game-Vin Scully tonight!
Pirates Hooks
Gold:Tom Gorzelanny-win and only 4 hits allowed in bad conditions.
Silver:Jason Bay-homer, 3 RBI
Bronze:Xavier Nady-Homer,2 RBI.
Pitching Matchup
Pittsburgh:Zach Duke (0-0) at Los Angeles:Hiroki Kuroda (1-1) 10:10
Bullpen Notes
Tonight starts a season of schedule silliness for the Bucs.
Did you know that each of the Pittsburgh trips to the Pacific time zone this year entails a separate trip?
No California swing this season,4 separate trips to the Cali cities and Arizona.
In this day and age,that is ridiculous.
Former Boston Brave outfielder Tommy Holmes has died at the age of 91.
Holmes was a solid part of the Braves 1948 National League champions and his 37 game hitting streak was the NL standard until Pete Rose's 44 game streak in 1978.
On the Signing Front
We did reasonably well over the course of the Suns-Captains series.
The Captains only have 2 prospects in the BA Top 30 and neither have cards.
The Suns were pretty accommodating and seems like the Nationals have sent some more nice guys to the Hub City.
Michael Burgess signed both cards that I had,although he did not sign everything that others had.
Stephen King was at the game despite being on the DL to sign his 07 Suns card and Steven Souza and Jake Smolinski each signed their Bowman card.
But the early leader for best signer and neat guy may be Stephen Englund,who signed everything and chatted for a while as well.
I will be going to the Suns-Delmarva game on Wednesday to hopefully finish up the Suns stuff that I have and work on the Shorebirds.
Photo Credits
Devils-Bill Kostroun-AP Photo
Gorzo-Keith Srakocic-AP Photo
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