hangin by a thread...

Tuesday was for exhaling. Every Devils story in print was about them having gotten to .500 (even the cheapened NHL version of .500). The Devils had clawed, scratched and fought (feel free to substitute any other cliche verb) to within a game of .500, and had the worst club in the NHL coming to the Rock with their best player and captain (Daniel Alfredsson) out indefinitely. There it was, your basic foregone conclusion. Although it was a minority position, especially amongst the regularly published journalists, the word "trap game" was being whispered in the press room.

In terms of media management, the Devils were all guilty of commenting on having reached .500, prior to getting there, including wily coach Jacques Lemaire "You have to get to .500 before you think about making the playoffs...we thought it wasn't possible." So, just a mere formality to step over the NHL doormats and then smell the clean air of .500. A mere step. Last I checked, the Ottawa Senators is a club comprised of National Hockey League players. On Tuesday, an undersized preppy kid from New Canaan, Connecticut skated circles around these legendary Czechs, Russians and Swedes. Yes, a trap game in every sense of the word.

Brian Rolston, the embodiment of a "stand up guy," greeted the entire post-game media throng in nothing but a towel and actually waived everyone into his circle of speak. "Everyone's doing (what we do)..." said the broad shouldered winger. "Trappin the middle, collapsin down low. It's tough." And that's really it, trappin and collapsin. Struggling teams that want to win, and make no mistake about it, Shannon and company want to win, play like the Devils. And when the Devils don't get top effort, teams acting like them can beat them. Rolston was at his best last night, leading the team in shots, throwing his body at every white jersey he could find and delivering a brilliant assist for Patrick Elias. He was Bunyon-esque in the post game media scrum, defeated but undaunted.

More on the lack of top effort of others in a moment. First an assessment of the damage. By failing to get to Faux .500, it will now take the Devils 2 more games to get there, two more successful games. 2 games with 16 remaining, that's over 12% of their season just to get to where the press and team spokespeople including Lemaire had them already. Almost a hope-killer. the good news...Buffalo and Toronto lost, so no ground given up, for now. But a vital click, 6.5 percent of their season, ticked away.

Several major story lines emerged from the Tuesday let-down, the most prominent was the Devils inability to score on their two 5 on 3 advantages, "Two?" aksed Jacques rhetorically, "that's frustrating." The other was a debated high stick call on Jacob Josefson that negated a goal by Elias. And a rare NJ defensive lapse was pointed out on the Versus cable nightly NHL recap show. Ottawa's first goal was enabled by 3 Devils chasing Shannon into the corner, allowing Erik Condra to slip into the scoring zone untouched. Midwestern analyst Bill Jaffe pointed out the Condra is a Notre Dame grad, a rookie who doubled his career NHL goal total to 4 in his 10th game in The Show, but I digress. The one story that did not emerge was the $100M disappearing act.

Ilya Kovalchuk did not show up on the stat sheet, did not show up on the ice, and did not answer the post-game media bell. Someone forgot the mention the super-heroes code: "With great salary comes great responsiblity."

"There was a lack of energy in our best players tonight," conceded Lemaire. "I can't explain it. It's frustrating." That's the closest Jacques could come to calling out his mercurial sniper. I lied, Kovalchuk did show up on the score sheet--one shot on net 51 minutes into the game, and -1 on plus minus. One reporter used Lemaire's quote about lack of energy, Rich Chere of the Newark Star Ledger, but he did not finger Kovalchuk.

There are no justifications or explanations from the 230 pound Russian bear; his locker stall was empty. He was last quoted in Tuesday's New York Post by Mark Everson saying all the right things. "We believe." "We control our own destiny." "Would it be a big deal if we make it? Yes? Than we'd better." Lemaire spent more time at his press conference about his stars' lack of energy. "We haven't been playing consecutive games...our last practice was only 30 minutes..." He can't for the life of him understand why his stud showed up with no fuel in the tank. At such a vital stage of the season. Jeremy Roenick on Versus said having three Devils chase a puck into the corner was going to cause Lemaire "To lose more hair tonight!" But it wasn't the technical breakdown that's disturbing Jacques, it was an inexplicable lack of effort. His high-priced bear was in hibernation last night at the worst possible time.

Consistency is a tough chore for brilliantly talented superstars. But for a team on a mission and also on a tightrope, the superstar must carry his club if they are to reach their goal. Think Danny Manning of the Kansas Jayhawks in 1988, Carl Yastrzemski of the Red Sox in 1967. Yes, it's a rare feat, but it's a rare opportunity. Kovalchuk must return to form, immediately, or the miracle hockey dream du jour of the region will be the Islanders. They have crept within two points of the Devils and are looking for a payback this Saturday. Devils without Kovalchuk roaring around at top speed are just another trappin, collapsin bunch of Senators.

Hangin by a thread.