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Penguins Prevail by Michael Dell, Editor-in-Chief They shook up the world! They shook up the world! They're a baaaaad team!
No one thought they could do it, least of all this guy, but the Pittsburgh Penguins pulled off the upset of the playoffs by whacking the top-seeded New Jersey Devils 4-2 in their decisive Game Seven Tuesday night at the Meadowlands. Once again it was the speed and skill of Martin Straka, Alexei Kovalev, and Jaromir Jagr that doomed El Diablo. For all their vaunted depth and toughness, the Devils simply couldn't handle the talented tuxedo- clad birds when it counted most. This marks the second consecutive season that the Devils have been knocked out in the first round by the eighth seed. Hard to get happy after that one. Last year it was the smaller, quicker Ottawa Senators that did the trick. Maybe the folks in New Jersey should take note. Speed kills. Pittsburgh will now move on to face Curtis Joseph and the Toronto Maple Leafs. As for the Devils, there's been talk of a picnic on some upcoming Sunday. But rest easy, only clear soups and lime Jell-o will be served to help avoid choking. New Jersey came out hard early in the game and tried to establish a physical presence. Patrik Elias and Jason Arnott each dished out some big hits on their first shift, but nothing much came of it. The Penguins didn't get rattled. They kept their cool and moved the puck without fear, counter punching brilliantly by using New Jersey's aggressiveness to create scoring chances. By the time Jan Hrdina and Jagr barely missed on one-on-one opportunities in tight against Martin Brodeur, the Devils began to become more cautious in their approach to the game. Caution was the watchword for the first period. Neither team wanted to press the attack and commit a costly mistake. Only ten shots were registered in the period; five from each team. Oddly enough, the exact same shot totals were posted in the second period as well. The only difference being that the ten shots resulted in a total of four goals. The Penguins got on the board first at 3:06 of the middle frame thanks to a super king-sized play by Marty Straka. Things actually began in the Penguin zone when the Devils sent an errant pass back to Scott Stevens at the left point. The puck avoided Stevens entirely, forcing the New Jersey captain to chase it all the way back to his own zone. Jagr, showing little signs of his groin problem, applied some serious pressure on the play, forcing Stevens into a turnover. Stevens' weak clearing attempt was picked off by Straka high in the slot. The li'l fella faked a slap shot to draw Kevin Dean to the ice and then cut into the left wing circle, pulling Brodeur with him, before sliding a perfect pass back into the crease for German Titov to poke into an empty net. Straka's crafty. It didn't take New Jersey long to net the equalizer. Elias pulled the puck around Straka behind the Pittsburgh cage and centered a pass to Arnott parked in front of Tom Barrasso. The massive Devil center shrugged off Brad Werenka and took a few hacks at the puck before sending a chip shot over the blocker of an outstretched Barrasso to tie the score 1-1 at 6:22 of the second. Arnott's goal once again sparked the Devils into a physical frenzy. His line remained on the ice following the goal and started cycling the puck down low against a reeling Penguin defense. Petr Sykora was set up for a golden opportunity in front but fired a one-timer wide of the left post. A few minutes later Stevens busted in alone on Barrasso as part of a two-on-one and tested the Penguin netminder five-hole. See, this right here is what we like to call a big save. Barrasso provided his teammates the time needed to recover and collect themselves. They regrouped, splashed some water on their faces, read some inspirational poetry, and then got back at it. Is there anything Marty Straka can't do? Apparently not, because he freaked the hell out of the Devils again to put Pittsburgh back in front, 2-1. This time the Czech Dynamo picked up a loose puck along the right wing boards at center, gained the Devil stripe, drew the attention of three defenders, and then whipped a perfect pass across to a wide open Alexei Kovalev coming late on left wing. Kovalev got up on one leg a la, well, me, and blistered a wrist shot between Brodeur's pads for his fourth goal and tenth point of the series. You might as well call Kovalev the Exorcist, because he's just tortured the Devils over his career. Kovalev's goal came at 17:04 of the second stanza. The Devils were clearly stunned. The second intermission was an alluring oasis. Too bad they didn't get to see it until the score became 3-1.
With time running out in the second, another mistake by Stevens led directly to a Pittsburgh goal. And once again it was Jagr that caused the turnover. Skating with the puck in his own zone, under absolutely no pressure, and unable to find an obvious outlet, Stevens tried to merely flip the puck out of the zone. Jagr knocked the clearing attempt out of the air and tracked it down along the right wing wall. Jagr then dropped a pass back to Hrdina joining the play late and cut to the corner. Hrdina was quick to give his long-haired countryman a return pass, creating space for Jagr to walk to the net. Stevens came over to pick him up but Jaromir completely froze the battling blueliner with a series of dekes before guiding an unbelievably quick and accurate backhand pass back to Hrdina in the slot. The rookie center unleashed a lightning quick snapper past Brodeur to the stick side to give the Birds a two-goal cushion with just 17 seconds left in the period. Those late goals will kill you. Pittsburgh opened the third period with a bit of a dilemma. Do they just sit back and protect the lead or keep applying pressure and risk making a mistake? It's a tough call. I, for one, think you should always play your game no matter what the score. The only thing better than a 3-1 lead is a 4-1 lead. But the Penguins clearly went into a defensive shell. They came out looking like they were trying to kill a 20-minute penalty. It worked all swell like for the first seven minutes. Then things got anxious. The Devils took advantage of a bad bounce and broke into the Penguin zone with a three-on-two. Hrdina hustled back to make it a three-on-three and the play seemed to all but bog down completely when the puck went to Lyle Odelein on the right wing. Because, as we all know, that Lyle Odelein guy ain't very good with the puck. Did they even have hockey in "Planet of the Apes"? Cornelius. That Matthew Barnaby cracks me up.
Anyway, Odelein fired a shot from a sharp angle that created a nasty rebound off Barrasso's pads. Hrdina was skating so hard to get into the play that he ventured in too deep and couldn't get a handle on the loose puck. No one got a handle on Dave Andreychuk either, and the wily veteran sniper, who was the fourth Devil on the rush, beat Barrasso to the stick side with a mighty snap shot. So much for protecting the lead. As was the case earlier in the game, the goal brought the Devils back to life. They were all over the Penguins for the next few minutes but couldn't get the tying goal behind Barrasso. Their best chance came when Stevens pinched along the boards and created a mad scramble of humanity in the left wing circle. Stevens managed to somehow work the puck free to Dean coming late down the slot. The Devil defender wasted little time in dropping the hammer, but Barrasso went to his knees and blocked it off with ease. Following the save on Dean, play continued to roll for about another thirty seconds or so before the Devils made the final mistake of their season. With his club looking to change lines, Bobby Carpenter failed to move the puck out of his zone with any conviction and the result was another turnover. Ian Moran easily cut the puck along the right wing boards at center and immediately sent a cross-ice pass to Straka, who was patiently waiting at the Devil blue line. As soon as Straka crossed the paint, Jagr raced in to join the play and create a two-on-none. Since Jagr had more speed, Straka pushed the puck ahead to give his buddy the clean breakaway. Scott Niedermayer, being quick like a bunny, dashed off the bench and forced Jagr into taking a wrist shot. Brodeur made the save but had no hope of controlling the rebound. And with Niedermayer now out of the play, no one was around to pick up Straka as he pulled the puck to his backhand and piped a shot over a sprawling Brodeur at 14:30. Game over. The shots by Jagr and Straka were Pittsburgh's first two of the period. They ended the game with 13 total. After the goal, Straka was kind of excited. In a display very reminiscent of Theo Fleury's classic celebration, Straka motored out to center and then dropped on his ass, sliding like a chimp through center ice on his back. It was pretty funny stuff. It was like he was on the ol' Wet Banana. For those of you that don't remember the Wet Banana, it was a big piece of yellow plastic that you'd place in your yard and hose down with water. Then you and your friends would run and dive onto it, sliding along collecting bruises for every rock and tree root that was hidden underneath. Aw, that was great, that was fun. To this day, nothing says summertime to me more than a broken body full of bruises and blood clots.
Impressive PerformancesPITTSBURGH Martin Straka: The little guy was amazing. He finished the series with six goals and 11 points. That's quality. Alexei Kovalev: Kovalev just humiliated people at times. There was a point in the third period when he took control of the puck in the New Jersey zone and did a complete lap, carrying the rock for a good 15 seconds all by himself. Jaromir Jagr: The Czech Wonder Kid had two assists and embarrassed Stevens on numerous occasions. That's not easy to do. Tom Barrasso: He made the clutch saves. His stop on Dean in the third was huge. NEW JERSEY Not Scott Stevens: El Diablo's captain had his share of grief. He lost his one-on-one matchup with Jagr and the Devils lost the series. There's a connection there.
LinesPittsburgh: The top two lines saw the majority of ice. The unit of Barnaby, Lang, and Morozov was scarcely seen. OFFENSE (lw-c-rw)
Miller - Hrdina - Jagr DEFENSE
Slegr - Hatcher POWER PLAY
Titov - Lang - Jagr - Kovalev - Hatcher SHORT-HANDED
Straka - Moran - Werenka - Dollas New Jersey: The Devils rolled four for the most part. OFFENSE (lw-c-rw)
McKay - Holik - Brylin DEFENSE
Stevens - Dean POWER PLAY
Elias - Morrison - Sykora - Arnott - Niedermayer SHORT-HANDED
Rolston - Carpenter - Stevens - Daneyko
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