ndly ice that was anything but in a 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers.The Rangers will not know their opponent until the Montreal-Boston series ends.
The Devils scored first on a Brian Gionta goal,but the Rangers responded with three first period goals and stretched the lead to 4-1 early in the second period.
That goal looked to be insignificant at the time,but proved to be the game winner.
Bryce Salvador scored a fluke goal in the period to cut the lead to 4-2 and Patrik Elias scored on a 5 on 3 power play to cut into the lead even further.
But despite a frantic 3rd period attack,the Devils would get no closer and after Henrik Lunquist stopped John Madden's penalty shot,one knew the end was near.
Our Devils season in review will go up sometime in the next few weeks,likely after the NFL Draft,but a few quick thoughts on the Devils season.
It is clear that this was a successful season.
It is hard to say that about a first round exit to your rival,but when you consider these obstacles I think it was.
With a new coach,new style of play,the murderous road trip that started the season due to the touch ups to the new arena in Newark and the losses of Scott Gomez and Brian Rafalski, the Devils making the top four in the East makes it successful in my opinion.
The easiest cop-out in the hockey world is the myth of the Devils being a slow and defensive team.
Anyone that still uses that one simply has not watched many Devil games this season.
Are they high flying yet?
No,it does not suit the personnel,but I think Brent Sutter is going to continue to refine the team in the style that he wants to play and this Devils team will look a bit different from the team that takes the ice in October.
The Devils have some work to do in the downtime.
They are not as talented as the teams that they have to beat and are a victim of their own organizational success over the last 16 years.
More scoring is needed and a defenseman to run the powerplay and give them a scoring threat from the blueline is a huge need as well.
This season is not what Devils fans expect from an organization that is committed to excellence,but the team is rebuilding on the fly and unlike the other teams (Pittsburgh,Rangers,Philadelphia) the Devils do not fall through the floor when they rebuild-they keep on going with quality teams.
Looking forward to 2009-09 already!
Ian Snell had one bad inning and the insistence of John Russell of shoving Luis Rivas down Pirate fans throat cost them the game in a 3-2 loss to the Cubs.
The Cubs scored all 3 runs in the 4th and scored the final run on a double play ball that would have ended the inning with only two runs in,but Rivas double clutched the ball before tossing to Freddy Sanchez at second and that enabled Eric Patterson to beat the relay peg to first and allowed Geovany Soto to score what proved to be the winning run.
I do not really hold much of the defensive struggles by Rivas against him,he is a second baseman being forced to play out of position for reasons that I cannot figure out.
Isn't Brian Bixler here for now? And didn't this team pay Chris Gomez a million dollars because he could play all the infield spots when needed?
Plus wasn't the quote from the Pirates that they didn't bring Bixler up to sit him?
I know he is struggling at the plate,but he is a natural shortstop,while Rivas is not.
SO why is Rivas the guy in the lineup? If you can figure this out-please let me know.
Xavier Nady's bases loaded walk in the first gave the Bucs an early lead that was not wiped out until the fourth. Nate McLouth smacked a homer(3) to center in the eighth to cut the deficit to 3-2,but the Bucs could score no more.
Tough loss for Ian Snell (2-1),who allowed the 3 runs in 6 innings,while giving up 9 Cub hits and whiffing 5 Bruins.
Franquelis Osoria looked good in two hitless innings of relief.
The Pirates have lost their last three and battle the Cubs this afternoon at 1.
Pitching Matchup
Pittsburgh:Tom Gorzelanny (1-1) at Chicago:Jason Marquis (0-0) 1:05
Bullpen Notes
For those of you wondering Marty Brodeur did not shake the hand of Sea
n Avery in the traditional series ending handshake.I am all for this tradition,but I cannot blame Marty for this,Avery's antics were atrocious and undeserving of a "let bygones be bygones".
Bucknell hoops coach Pat Flannery is stepping down from the post after 14 years at the Pa school.
Flannery led Bucknell to the only two NCAA wins in Patriot League history and will stay at Bucknell in administration.
The NBA owners voted to allow the Sonics to leave Seattle for Oklahoma City after the legal battles are over.
The arena wars in sports get more ridiculous every day.
Oklahoma supported the Hornets well in their hiatus from New Orleans,but I get the feeling that is a short term rush-look at Memphis for an example of a similar sized city that clamored for a team to move there and less than 10 years later is struggling with attendance.
Kudos to CFL for stripping Montreal of their number 1 pick for exceeding the salary cap.
Why have a cap if the penalty is light for going over it?
More leagues should learn from this example.
Finally we like Joe Calzaghe to decision Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas tonight.
It is quite a matchup with this generations top 160 LBer battling the generations best from the 168 Lb division at 175 pounds.
Calzaghe just throws so many punches that I think he will use the Jermain Taylor blueprint for beating the less active Hopkins and get a decision.
I do not see a chance of a KO as Calzaghe has decisioned his best opponents and Hopkins has never been stopped and only floored once in his long career.
Photo Credits
Sutter and Brodeur:Bill Kostroun-AP Photo
McLouth:Nam Huh-AP Photo
No comments:
Post a Comment