Devils offense arrives in Game Three!

  The New Jersey Devils offense finally arrived for their series against the Carolina Hurricanes and it arrived with a vengeance as the Devils scored eight goals in their return to home ice and cut the Hurricanes' series lead to two games to one with an 8-4 triumph.

Jack Hughes led the New Jersey attack with two goals and two assists on the afternoon.

The remaining New Jersey goals are to:

Timo Meier, Michael McLeod (shorthanded), Nico Hischier, Myles Wood, Damon Severson, and Ondrej Palat (Power Play).

Game four will be in Newark on Tuesday night.

Hell Raisers

1)  Jack Hughes was inspired in his performance with two goals, two assists, and his first-ever fight in the NHL as Hughes tackled Sebastian Aho and tossed a few punches his way.

This was the type of game that Devils fans have hoped Hughes would provide once he gained the needed experience and poise and his play this season showed he is on his way.

Stepping up as he did today means he could be closer than we thought to superstar status.

2) The Devils activated Luke Hughes to play in game three and Hughes assisted on two goals, one of which belonged to brother Jack.

The Athletic did a mock redraft of Luke Hughes's draft class last October and Hughes, who was drafted by the Devils with the fourth pick in 2021, was selected first overall.

Defensemen with the skills and skating of Luke Hughes are far from common and the Devils were fortunate to have him fall in their lap.

I'll even be able to forgive the school that he attended with this level of play!

3) The Devils started Vitek Vanicek in the net for the first time since game two of the series against the Rangers.

Vanicek finished with twenty-six saves, received an assist on the goal scored by Miles Wood, and allowed a penalty shot goal against Carolina's Jordan Martinook.

4) Still, Vanicek allowed four goals which usually won't win many games and while some of those goals came during garbage time with both teams flying around and with plenty of what I'd call loose defense, I still wouldn't say I would go as far as saying I'm comfortable with the net situation at the moment.

5) This has become quite a gritty series between two teams known for their skating and offense.

Several skirmishes in this one and Erik Haula slugged it out with former Devil Stefan Noesen.

I didn't expect this much hostility between the two but it is clearly there and I'm guessing that something aggressive is going to decide one of these remaining games.

6) The Devils dominated this game even more than the 8-4 score, which was deceiving for the reasons above and that's why they should feel good about the win, which was as close to a must-win as there can be short of an elimination game.

Still, they cannot take too much away from this win, and game four is equally important.

Returning to Raleigh tied at two is almost a certainty for the Devils to win this series and they need another big effort on Tuesday to accomplish tying the series at two.

Boxing Challenge: Canelo decisions Ryder, Hamburglar visits Russia.

    Arguably boxing's biggest star returned to the ring after a nine-month absence and did so in his home country for the first time in several years as the undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez retained his four titles with a unanimous decision victory over John Ryder in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Alvarez dominated the entire fight and knocked Ryder down with a right hand along the ropes in the fifth round but was unable to finish the rugged but outgunned Englishman.

Alvarez won on all three scorecards going away by scores of 120-108 and 118-11 x2, the latter of which was the same as my score.

Ryder's nose bled badly throughout the fight but other than after the fight's sole knockdown, Ryder was never seriously hurt by Alvarez.

However, that didn't mean that Ryder didn't take a pounding from Alvarez as he definitely took one.

Alvarez announced after the win that he intended to pursue a rematch vs WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, who defeated him via unanimous decision in 2022.

From what I've seen from Canelo since the Bivol loss in wins over Gennady Golovkin and Ryder, I'm dubious of his chances in a rematch.

Alvarez is still among the best fighters in the sport but he does appear to have lost a half-step from his peak and he might be better suited to the challenges of David Benavidez or David Morrell in his own yard rather than try again to move up to try and catch the mobile Bivol.

In two other bouts that I have not watched yet on the Alvarez-Ryder card:

Julio Cesar Martinez retained his WBC flyweight title with an eleventh-round stoppage on Ronel Batista and former WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk stopped Ricards Bolotniks in six rounds.

Two times in recent months, undefeated fighters have left Eddie Hearn's Matchroom promotion in order to sign contracts with Boxxer promotions and their carrier Sky Sports.

And for the second time in a row, those fighters have notched victories after leaving but left observers bored with their bouts and unimpressed with their performances.

First, it was WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie's boring decision win over David Light in March and now it's light heavyweight contender Joshua Buatsi, who won a dull unanimous decision over unbeaten and unknown Pawel Stepien of Poland in Birmingham England.

The fight could be best summed up as such; Stepien was not interested in taking any chances on offense and Buatsi was content to control the fight without any type of effort to end it.

Scores all for the former Olympic bronze medalist at 100-90, 98-92, and 97-94.

My scorecard was 99-91 for Buatsi, who will be the next mandatory contender for WBA champion Dmitry Bivol eventually but will have to show far more aggressiveness in that title attempt than he has expended in his last few bouts.

The Hamburglar arrived in Russia for the theft of the week as junior middleweight contenders Magomed Kurbanov and Michel Soro squared off in a title eliminator.

Kurbanov had three solid wins in his recent fights, a close decision that many thought Smith deserved (I scored Kurbanov a 115-113 winner), and wins over unbeaten Johan Gonzalez and former WBO champion Patrick Teixeira stamped him as the favorite over Soro, who had been controversially stopped by another top contender in Israil Madrimov, when a badly hurt Soro was nailed by multiple solid blows after the bell rang and the referee allowed Madrimov to continue to punch away.

The loss stood officially but the WBA ordered a rematch and in the third round, a vicious clash of heads forced a stoppage and a resulting no contest.

The WBA ordered a third fight but Madrimov had no interest in a third fight after being on his way to winning the first two bouts and having hi-jinks ensue, so Soro accepted a Kurbanov fight in a WBA eliminator.

So of course, in the first round, the two connected their heads with Kurbanov emerging with a long jagged cut over his left eye that bled profusely throughout the fight, and later in the fight, Soro opened another cut near the left eye, this one from a punch.

Soro moved forward and backed the counterpunching Kurbanov for most of the bout and controlled the second half of the fight and while I gave Kurbanov the final round, it was the only round that I gave him after the fourth round.

The judges' cards read 115-113 Soro (close to my 116-112 Soro card), 115-113 (Kurbanov, which maybe you could get to IF you gave every competitive round to Kurbanov), and a nutty 116-112 card for Kurbanov resulting in the home fighter getting the split decision win.

I would hope for a rematch but I'm doubtful one occurs unless ordered by the WBA.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 75 Pts (7)

Ramon Malpica:70 Pts (7)

Vince Samano:56 Pts (1)

Devils wiped out in Carolina 6-1

    The New Jersey Devils needed a strong start in game two of their Eastern Conference semi-final series against the Carolina Hurricanes.

They received it for the first period, ending in a scoreless tie and then the dam broke with four Carolina second-period goals without a Devils response in a 6-1 loss that would send the Devils home to Newark for game three with their second 0-2 deficit in the postseason.

Myles Wood scored the only New Jersey goal in the third period.

The Devils will host game three on Sunday afternoon.

Hell Raisers

1) The Devils had a chance to shoot out of the starting gate quickly when Carolina committed two early penalties and gave New Jersey two early chances with the man advantage.

New Jersey was unable to capitalize and you could feel a little bit of a momentum shift as Carolina had to feel like they avoided the Devils best shot to reverse the result of game one.

2) New Jersey came very close to scoring on an early power play when Dougie Hamilton appeared to have beaten Frederick Andersen but his shot smacked off the post.

I do wonder how the Hurricanes would have reacted had Hamilton's shot gone into the net.

3) Akira Schmid was pulled after two periods for Vitek Vanicek and neither goalie was terrific in the net.

Schmid made some strong saves but he deserved to be pulled for the third time in four starts.

4) The defensemen did not help a lot and had a lot ( LOT) of issues against the Carolina forecheck.

I have to hope that issue was about effort because if it's not and it's simply talent or system- this series is likely decided.

5) The Devils definitely will need to do something to help the offense because right now they aren't shooting enough and when they do, they aren't getting those shots through to reach the net.

I'd like to offer a change or two but I'm not sure if Yegor Sharangovich, Alexander Holtz, Luke Hughes, etc would do any better.

It can't hurt to try something different with the status quo not working at all.

Boxing Challenge

     After a missed weekend, the boxing challenge returns with the top star in the sport going home to fight in his native country.

Unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez returns to the ring in his home country of Mexico to defend his titles against his WBO mandatory contender, John Ryder of England.

Alvarez has been away from the ring after surgery on an injured wrist since September's unanimous decision win over Gennady Golovkin and may be looking forward to a possible rematch with WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol in the fall.

Ryder was once a contender at the European level but has won four straight since a controversial decision loss to then-WBA champion Callum Smith, including a close decision win over former middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs and a stoppage win when undefeated Zach Parker was unable to continue after the fourth round with an injured hand.

Ryder is a deserving contender for the title but he appears overmatched against Alvarez.

Although Ryder will come forward and attack Alvarez, that is playing into the strengths of the stronger puncher, so unless Canelo has some injury issue during the fight, Ryder is the perfect opponent for a homecoming performance.

The undercard will have another world title fight with WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez defending his title against Ronal Batista of Panama.

Martinez has been rumored for unification fights later this year against fellow Matchroom boxers WBO champion Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez or recent Matchroom signee IBF champion Sunny Edwards, so a win over Batista is a must.

Former WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk continues his comeback against Latvia's Ricards Bolotniks in a ten-rounder.

Gvozdyk returned in February for the first time since his knockout loss to Artur Beterbiev in 2019 with a six-round decision win and Bolotniks is remembered for his eleventh-round knockout loss in 2021 to top contender Joshua Buatsi in which Bolotniks gave Buatsi all the he wanted before the end.

Speaking of Joshua Buatsi, he will be fighting in the main event in Birmingham, England against Pawel Stepien in a light heavyweight fight.

Buatsi returns for the first time since his decision win over Craig Richards last year while the unbeaten Stepien has fought no one of name recognition, so who really knows what he will bring to the ring.

The final challenge fight takes place in Russia with a junior middleweight eliminator between Russia's Magomed Kurbanov and France's Michel Soro.

Both fighters are ranked in the top five by the WBA, so this is an important fight in the division ruled by unified champion Jermell Charlo.

The undefeated Kurbanov has notched three quality wins in his most recent fights over former champions Liam Smith and Patrick Teixeira along with previously unbeaten Johan Gonzalez.

Soro's previous two fights were against Israil Madrimov, losing the first fight by TKO in a controversial fashion in the ninth round as a hurt Soro was hit close to ten times after the bell to force a stoppage that would stand as a loss but the WBA would force a rematch in which the two clashed heads in the third round to force a no-contest.

Rather than face Soro for a third consecutive time, Madrimov refused and Kurbanov stepped in for the eliminator position.

World Super Middleweight Title. 12 Rds 

Canelo Alvarez vs John Ryder

Ramon Malpica: Alvarez KO 8

TRS: Alvarez KO 6
Vince Samano: Ryder Split Decision

WBC Flyweight Title. 12 Rds

Julio Cesar Martinez vs Ronal Batista

R.L: Martinez KO 11

TRS: Martinez KO 7
V.S: Batista Unanimous Decision

Light Heavyweights. 10 Rds

Oleksandr Gvodzyk vs Ricards Bolotniks

R.L: Gvodzyk KO 10

TRS: Gvodzyk KO 8
V.S: Bolotniks Unanimous Decision

Light Heavyweights 12 Rds

Joshua Buatsi vs Pawel Stepien

R.L: Buatsi KO 6
TRS: Buatsi KO 3
V.S: Stepien Unanimous Decision

Junior Middleweights 10 Rds

Magomed Kurbanov vs Michel Soro

R.L: Soro Unanimous Decision
TRS and V.S: Kurbanov Unanimous Decision

Cleaning out the Inbox: Passings

    The passings from our world never stop and tributes to recent passings don't stop either.

Goodbye to Dick Groat at the age of 92.

An All-American in both baseball and basketball at Duke, Groat was the first hoopster at Duke to have his number retired and is a member of both the college baseball and basketball Hall of Fame.

Groat would play fourteen seasons in the majors, mostly with Pittsburgh, where he would win the 1960 batting title and was named the league MVP for the World Champion Pirates of that season.

Groat was named to eight All-Star teams and would win another World Series ring as the shortstop for the 1964 Cardinals, finishing his career in 1967 with the Giants with over 2,100 hits.

Groat was also the first-round pick of the then-Fort Wayne Pistons of the NBA in 1952, where he would average almost twelve points a game in his only season in the league as Branch Rickey was hired to run the Pirates organization and forbade Groat from continuing in the NBA.

Groat was recently named to the second class of inductees to the Pirates Hall of Fame, which the team started last year.

Goodbye to Mike Shannon at the age of 83.

The long-time commentator for the St.Louis Cardinals on both their radio and television networks from 1972 to 2021, Shannon spent his entire playing career with the Redbirds as well as a third baseman and outfielder.

Shannon won two World Series titles with the 1964 and 1967 Cardinals and played for the 1968 National League champion Cardinals and holds the honor of hitting the final home run in St.Louis's Sportsman's Park in 1966 and slammed the first homer in Busch Memorial Stadium in 1967.

Shannon's playing career ended prematurely at 31 when he caught nephritis, a kidney disease in 1970 after which he worked in the front office for a season before moving to the broadcast booth.

Goodbye to Bob Berry at the age of 81.

Berry served as the backup to Fran Tarkenton during both of Tarkenton's tenures with the Minnesota Vikings and like Tarkenton left Minnesota in between to be the starting quarterback elsewhere, Tarkenton with the Giants and Berry with the Atlanta Falcons.

Berry would start for the Falcons from 1968 through 1972 when Minnesota traded with Atlanta to return Berry to the Norsemen as Tarkenton's backup until Berry's retirement during training camp in 1977.

Berry made the Pro Bowl in 1969 for Atlanta when he threw ten touchdowns against two interceptions.

Goodbye to Petr Klima at the age of 58.

Klima was one of the first defectors from then-Czechoslovakia to play in the NHL and was the first Czech player to defect directly to an American-based team when he signed with the Detroit Red Wings in 1985.

Klima was only twenty when he defected, the youngest player to leave the Czech national team to move to the NHL and was known for his speed and skating ability but struggled with the Red Wings off the ice due to a serious drinking problem.

Klima scored over thirty goals three times with Detroit before being traded to Edmonton, where he would score a career-high forty goals in 1990-91 and would score his most famous goal, his game-winning goal in the third overtime of game one of the 1990 finals against Boston to end the longest game in Stanley Cup Finals history.

Goodbye to Lance Blanks at the age of 56.

After starting his college career at Virginia. Blanks transferred to Texas where along with Travis Mays and Joey Wright, and new coach Tom Penders, took the "Runnin' Horns" to the Elite Eight in 1990, where they would lose to then-fellow SWC member Arkansas for the trip to the Final Four.

Blanks was drafted by Detroit in 1990 in the first round and played for the Pistons for two seasons as a seldom-used reserve before finishing his playing career with one season in Minnesota.

Blanks would have a long career working in various NBA front office positions, such as director of scouting for San Antonio, assistant general manager for Cleveland, and general manager for the Phoenix Suns from 2010-13.

In recent years, Blanks had served as the color analyst for Texas basketball games on the Longhorn Network.

Goodbye to Havre De Grace at the age of 15.

The horse of the year for 2011, Havre De Grace won multiple stakes races in her career, including three Grade I victories, one of those wins over male horses in the Woodward Stakes.

Havre De Grave was the post-time favorite for the Breeders Cup Classic but would finish fourth to winner Drosselmeyer in what would be her final race.

Havre De Grace passed away from hemorrhaging issues after producing a colt, which has been placed on a nurse mare.

 

Devils drop Game 1 in Carolina

    The New Jersey Devils stumbled out of the gate in game one of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals in Raleigh against the Carolina Hurricanes and never recovered as the Hurricanes defeated New Jersey 5-1.

The Hurricanes scored the first two goals of the game and added another early in the second period before Nathan Bastian scored the only Devils goal in period two.

Carolina would score one goal in the final period before an empty net tally for the final margin.

Game Two will return to Raleigh on Friday night.

Hell Raisers

1) I don't think you can blame Akira Schmid for the three goals he allowed before being pulled for Vitek Vanicek in the second period but Vanicek allowed only one goal in his time in the net and did just well enough to give Lindy Ruff a difficult choice before game two on which goaltender to start.

2) I think it's a tough call but I lean toward Schmid and here is why- If Schmid loses game two and you go back to Newark down 2-0, you at least have the rabid home crowd behind and perhaps the switch jump starts something.

If you move to Vanicek now and lose game two, the team and fans might have the feeling that you've tried each man and might have the feeling of "Now What"?

It's a tough call but I'll go Schmid and hope for the best.

3) This had nothing to do with winning or losing but boy did the official miss the call on the third Carolina goal which essentially ended the game.

Jordan Martinhook ripped the helmet off Jonas Siegenthaler (which should have been a penalty) but since it wasn't called, Siegenthaler had to get off the ice, and the suddenly shorthanded Devils allowed Martinhook to find Jesperi Kotkanhemi for the goal, and a 3-0 Carolina lead.

The missed call didn't cost New Jersey the game but it was an awful non-goal.

4) If New Jersey is going to win this series, they must put more shots on goal than they did against Carolina in game one.

Eighteen shots aren't enough and eight shots over the first two periods clearly aren't enough.

I don't think this will be a problem that persists over the series but if it does, New Jersey will be fortunate to be in this series.

5) I'm still wondering what's with Jack Hughes's skates in the postseason.

I would hate to blame the equipment guys but Hughes is wiping out a lot untouched for such a swift and smooth skater.

6) I'm willing to chalk this one up to a mild letdown on the road after an emotional game seven win over a rival.

That may be hopeful on my part and there cannot be any excuses for game two but I definitely think it was a factor in the slow beginning.

7) Nathan Bastian scored the only Devil goal and he led the team in shots with three.

The fourth line for New Jersey was the best line tonight on a slow evening in Raleigh.

Devils Shutout Rangers, Win Series

      Michael McLeod scored with the New Jersey Devils down a man in the second period for the game's first goal. That goal held up as Akira Schmid would not allow a goal against thirty-one New York Ranger shots as the New Jersey Devils won game seven of the Eastern Conference series 4-0 to earn the right to move to the next round of the NHL playoffs.

Tomas Tatar would score later in the second period to give the Devils a 2-0 lead with Erik Houla and Jesper Bratt (Empty Net)  finishing the scoring in the final period.

The Devils will play the Carolina Hurricanes in game one of the Eastern semis on Wednesday in Raleigh.

Hell Raisers

1) Michael McLeod scored the first goal with a backhander that seemed like it took minutes to complete before the puck fluttered by Igor Shesterkin but the play was made by the persistent hounding of the puck in the Ranger zone by Ondrej Palat.

2) Palat simply would not allow the puck carrier Adam Fox and Chris Kreider to move the puck out of the zone or to any potential help from their teammates, then after taking the puck for himself, Palat then slid the puck around a diving Ranger to McLeod for the goal.

That's called a hustle play and when I wondered about the Devils signing Palat in free agency, the one reason that stood out for me was the playoff production that Palat provided in Tampa Bay.

Once again, Palat performs in the biggest games.

3) Akira Schmid was brilliant in goal and the first-period work by the Switzerland native was key in the victory as Schmid stopped several excellent chances during three Ranger power plays.

4) Give credit to Lindy Ruff for this win as well.

It would have been very easy for Ruff to move away from Akira Schmid and back to veteran Vitek Vanicek after game six and I don't think many would have given Ruff grief, had he made that decision.

Instead, Ruff decided to stay with who he considered the hot hand in Schmid and was rewarded with a stellar game from his young goalie.

5) Whether it was effort or simply younger and fresher legs, even after a scoreless first period, you had the sense that the Devils were going to be the superior team on this night.

I'm not saying the Rangers didn't try or didn't want the win but the Devils seemed to need it and were ready to take it from the first drop of the puck/

6) That doesn't mean the Devils were flawless, especially in the first period when they committed three penalties, all of which seemed to come from a team that perhaps was a little too overcaffeinated with two trips and a Kevin Bahl delay of game.

Remember for many of these players in these playoffs, there are going to be many firsts.

Experience comes at a cost, New Jersey was fortunate not to pay one in this game.

7) Timo Meier was sent from the game by a thunderous hit by Jacob Trouba.

Meier was able to return to the bench but not the game, considering the score at that time, a return wasn't worth the risk.

No penalty was called for Trouba's hit and I'm not complaining about it being a dirty hit, although it was borderline and seemed over the line at the time.

8) Now it's onto Carolina and another team from Devils' playoff past.

The two teams were separated by a mere point over the course of the regular season and that point gives Carolina home ice.

Hopefully, that will not make the difference