A Devilish Spirit

Baby Faced Assassin Jacob Josefson turned 20 this month

Two competing beat reporters looking out for each other during a deadline crunch; a 9-figure superstar sharing his time and autographs with get-a-lifers on a cold street corner; An aging franchise goalie refusing to complain after his teammates hung him out to dry repeatedly in a must win game. There is a vibe, a selfless spirit of sorts, permeating in, around and through this hockey club. A spirit that manifests itself in good will, and more importantly to the cold bottom line-driven western world we live in, clicks in the win column and spaces jumped in the standings.

Although tied with two other clubs, due to tiebreaks the Devils are alone in 10th place after Tuesday night's stirring, dramatic and at times heart-stopping 4-2 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers. These two teams have played twice in 5 nights, a home and home crossroads series of sorts, and the Devils have leapfrogged the Thrashers in the standings. Pretenders and contenders. The former last place Devils are contenders, the former first place Thrashers are pretenders. In the words of Buffalo Springfield, "There's something happening here, what it is aint exactly clear..." More evidence of spirits at work: 16,000 fans came to a dangerous urban slum and paid top dollar to watch a .500 hockey team on a Tuesday night. That miraculous fact is just business as usual for a franchise that has been resurrected.

And it's not hard to find the precise moment in time when the switch was turned and they went from worst to best--Friday, January 7, 2011. They jettisoned their captain. "A classic case of addition by subtraction," said Devils radio commentator Sherry Ross on the trading of the often pouty Jamie Langenbrunner. "He had been approached for a trade earlier in the year but said no. (Langenbrunner had a "no-trade" clause in his contract.) But when Jacques got hired, that clinched it." Trading a two-time Olympian, the captain not only of the Devils but of Team USA's proud 2010 silver medalists from Vancouver changed everything. They have been 18 games over .500 since, moving from bottom of the heap to playoff contender. Getting rid of a top-six forward in return for no player. Addition by subtraction, a world turned upside down.

Two sets of stories emerge from Newark on this night...on-ice magic and off ice magic. From the ice...20 and 21 year old Swedish linemates, guys who had combined for two medals at the prestigious World Junior Championship in recent years, are pumping life into the Devils offense. Jacob Josefson and Mattias Tedenby combined for the winning goal after the Devils trailed by 2. An apparent tying goal beat Marty Brodeur in the final minute, a complete and utter buzz kill for the whole building, until it was waived off because of a high stick. Solid citizen Travis Zajac becomes the franchise leader in consecutive games played, and he scores a killer goal at the end of the first period, without which most experts think they lose the game. With an open net staring at him in the closing seconds, he handed off the puck to Ilya Kovalchuk who had been pressing for a goal all night. Kovy connected and got his wish. Soft-spoken and selfless after the game, Zajac embodies the Devils E Pluribus Unum--"out of many, one." The younger of the two Swedes, Jacob Josefson, who still has a baby face, scored his second goal in as many nights on a perfect feed from his 21 year old countryman. "I knew that he knew I was open," said Josefson. Those 8 words perfectly define offensive hockey magic. Knowledge and trust of your linemate translates to success in the incredibly tight checking NHL. The sum greater than the individual parts. "These guys know each other a lot," said Brodeur. "The chemistry has been good." A brilliant give and go between former Devils Cup champions Patrik Elias and Brian Rolston, where the shooter and the playmaker reversed roles, tied the game in the second period and ignited the crowd. Hockey magic, an NHL goal made to look easy when it's one of the hardest things in all of pro sports.

Now the off the ice stuff. Devils P.R. professionals kindly notified the post-game media horde that Brodeur was going to be late for his sound bites, and then asked if they wanted to hear from Jacques Lemaire in the press room. Bergen Record beat reporter Tom Gulitti noticed that New York Post writer Mark Everson, his competition, was still interviewing Travis Zajac, and asked the P.R. staff to hold off on Lemaire because Everson was still working the locker room. To my knowledge, that's NEVER been done before. But it's business as usual in Newark. Eventually the Lemaire show went on without Everson, and another accredited journalist offered his recording of the Lemaire press conference to Everson. Kindness begets kindness, even among hard-boiled journalists.

Lemaire was informed by MSG news hound Anthony Fucilli that 5 of their next 6 games are on the road. Thanks Fooch. Brodeur asked Gulitti about out of town scores, thanks Tom. And after all the media had been satisfied, the players drove their expensive cars out of their restricted lot into the cold night. Fans on the street eager for autographs are herded into a pen where they hope to catch a glimpse and maybe an autograph. A large man in a white SUV the size of a small tank with Florida plates pulled over and opened his window. The man with the $100 million dollar contract stopped the car, and signed and signed and signed. The last fan, wearing a Devils windbreaker, hand Kovalchuk a puck, it was all he had. The big Russian had the perfect silver sharpie and gave him a signature for the ages. He politely pulled off into Newark traffic, followed by his agent Jay Grossman in his black Mercedes. Neither was the slightest bit impatient.

The Prudential Center Elevator operators have a lot of potential income riding on whether or not the Devils make the playoffs. "Oh, I'm ready for a miracle!" said Tuesday's operator. He smiled and pushed the button to open the doors. "I'm ready."

----------------------------

"Faux .500," a full analysis

With two days between Devils games, there is now time to digest their true winning perecentage, and why the term "Faux .500." What is .500 in the post lockout NHL? Fans and scribes are accustomed to looking at the numbers: 32 wins, 32 losses, and a number that follows, in the Devils case, 2. It sure looks like .500. 66 points accumulated out of a possible 132. Sure feels like .500 But the number 2 represents either an Overtime or shootout loss. Some might have a hard time granting a point to a team that loses, but acquiring a point after a tie in regulation does not offend the purists familiar with the game prior to the 1983 and the advent of Overtime. Hard to argue with a century of precedence, a point for a tie in regulation passes the smell test.

But something isn't right, awarding the same amount of points to a team for a hard fought win in regulation, as opposed to the team who coasts in the final minutes and then steals a "win" in a shootout. It is not equitable, by anyone's definition, especially when the losing team gets a point. Hence the imbalance of the "three-point games," which is under considerable scrutiny, or at least should be, with two high-stakes pennant races screaming down to the wire as you read this. I'll provide a solution to the current 2 and 3 point game disparity, but first let's debunk after the Devils record and their flirtation with .500.

Old School:
Yes, a point for a tie in regulation is legitimate. So let's maintain that old-school formula and examine those wins scored AFTER being tied in regulation. All those points acquired after the tie are in question. The Devils have acquired 10 points after tying in regulation, 7 OT winners, 3 by shootout. In the ancient but equitable old school formula we would discount all the points acquired after regulation, and the Devils record then becomes 22-32-14, still 10 games under .500, a winning percentage of .426. Wow, those stop-the-presses headlines and player quotes about making history aren't so relevant. However, this is not the old NHL, and on 7 occasions the Devils lit the lamp on real hockey plays (albeit 4 on 4) to gain seemingly legitimate victories. The insane celebrations in Atlanta on Friday and Newark on Saturday bore no resemblance to a tie; this reality is duly noted and logged.

No shootouts, OT's winner take all.
For sake of argument, let's call OT wins real victories, but award no point for an OT loss, and give a point to each team a point that reached the shootout. If we call those games ties, which is a legitimate argument, the Devils are 29-35-4, a semblance of legitimacy with a .456 winning percentage, but not a cause for delirium. Under this scenario, there are no 3 point games, but no shootouts to entertain the fans.

Now, the equitable 3-point solution (NHL, take note)
3 points for a regulation win, 2 points for a win in the extra session (keep the Shootout to keep the fans happy), 1 point for a loss in the extra session, 0 points for a loss in regulation. Even Steven. Every game is a 3 point game. Winning in regulation is a greater accomplishment than winning in a modified post-game. Two contenders will actually take chances in the closing minutes of a tie game, a reward for their risk. The only downside is the historical aspect, the inability to compare point totals from dynastic teams from different eras, but the current point totals are inflated anyway. Standings without secrets. 4 categories, a designated point total for each.

The Devils winning percentage under this equitable 4-category system: 22 regulation wins (66 pts); 10 extra-session wins (20 pts) 4 extra-sesson losses (4 pts) and 32 regulation losses. 90 points out of a possible 204. The calculator says: .441

So we now have 4 ways to assess the 2010-2011 Devils season statistically:

Current inflated system: .500

Old School (no points after regulation) .426

Shootouts as ties, no points for OT losses: .456

Equitable 3-points per game system: .441

This blog has no qualms with the .441 or .456. Adjusting the entire league standings will be a chore for the Elias Sports Bureau if they want the exercise, but the bottom line is that Devils are not a .500 team. More like .450. They have 10 extra-session wins, and 4 extra session losses, so they are a little higher in the standings than they deserve to be, yet, they are competing in the same circumstances as everyone else. Over the past month 6 of their games have gone into extra sessions, they have prevailed in all 6. Statistics be damned, this club performs in the clutch, and if they continue to do so, they will get their showdown with the NY Rangers on April 9. And that will be historic, no matter how you add the numbers.

charming Uncle Jacques

The press horde had just sucked the bones dry in the dressing room and were trampling into the press room for the last course, a session with the "old perfessor," Jacques Lemaire, to borrow a nickname from the late great Casey Stengel. As men, women and students did their deadline shuffle, an elder man was off to the side near the entrance, working his cel phone like a number of working stiffs (term of endearment, if you are in the media and working, you are succeeding right now.) Only this working stiff was the man everyone had come to hear, hockey's story du jour. After the press was assembled he coyly finished his call and stepped to the podium. He was all smiles and had every right to be

Lemaire, the man who brought a team that was past the brink, 19 games under .500 at 10-29-2, back to the break-even mark at 32-32-4. In the last 27 hours his Devils had collected 4 points to close within 6 of the final playoff spot, he had made an extremely tough call in goal-Broduer on less than a day's rest, and won. He had moved one seemingly insignificant pawn on the chess board, replacing Zharkov with David Clarkson on the "Kid Line," and was rewarded with a line that is becoming a force, collecting 6 points collectively in a 3-2 OT thriller, complete with 3 lead changes.

Jacques was having fun on the podium, beat writers were begging him to talk about the playoffs, reminding him that he promised to talk about the playoffs if the Devils got within 5 points. "But we're 6 behind," he said with a smile. "Ask me at 5." His cell phone rang from the corner of the room where he began the press conference. "That's my wife...calling to tell me not to talk about it." Has a coach ever worked a room so comfortably? But now he could talk seriously about the abyss they had climbed out of to reach .500. Did he ever imagine them returning to .500 when they were 19 games under in January? "Never. Because the league is so strong, the hill was too high." Did he think his players believed they could do it? The suntanned fox shook his silver head, "It must have been miserable for them."

The magic or momentum or lightning in a bottle or whatever term needs to be invented for this bunch was clearly in play this night in Newark. Two players scored their first career NHL goals in a 3-2 overtime win that removed the "losing record" label for this proud franchise. Those bare facts are startling by themselves, but they just reflect business as usual for the Devils over the past two months. Jacob Josefson, just turned 20 and looks like it will be at least a decade before he stops having to show his ID to get a beer, banked a puck off Al Montoya from behind the goal line to open the scoring in the first period. His first career marker, and the baby-faced was typically humble, yet honest at his locker stall. "It doesn't matter who scores as long as we win," he said, his cheeks still carrying a cherubic glow. "But it's fun to be part of it."

New linemate David Clarkson was sporting a gash on his nose, which did nothing to dampen his spirits. He lost a chunk of flesh courtesy of Montoya's shaft while prone in a goal mouth scramble, but this grizzled veteran wouldn't dare miss a shift with his rookie linemates. "Speed is what I'm bringing to the line." It's an odd grouping, a journeyman grinder and two Swedish smurfs, but it's working. "I'm happy with the little line," said Jacques. And if they take care of their defensive responsibilities, "They will probably stay together." That's as close to commitment as a coach can make in this league.

The other first-time scorer was a skilled Finn Anssi Salmela, who despite a brimming tool box, is more of a journeyman than Clarkson, bouncing around Europe and the AHL for the last 7 years while accumulating 98 games in The Show. He nearly imploded after burying the slick feed from Mattias Teddenby past Montoya's glove hand, along with the Saturday night sellout crowd. Lemaire, however, was clearly not gushing over Salmela, "He needs to make the easy play...He's always trying to do too much." A project for his Hall-Of-Fame assistant Larry Robinson.

This outcome of this game came down to a single play five minutes into the third period, with Jersey trailing by a goal and on the power play. Michael Grabner sped in all alone on a breakaway, one of many shorthanded chances for the Islanders, this one clearly the best. Brodeur waited out Grabner and got a blocker on a shot labeled for the far side.

"That was a huge save," said Lemaire. "I think that gave a little bit of a boost to our team," said Brodeur. 16 seconds later, Clarkson ties the game on a filthy goal mouth scramble, and the Devils were alive. Had Grabner finished, the Devils story would be in Sunday's obituary section.

The post game news-gatherers were trying to drum up validation for a story on "pressure," but none of the newsmakers were biting. Lemaire and all his players seemed happy to be playing game to game, one period and one shift at a time. But minutes after the locker room opened to reporters, a grim faced Adam Oates was tapping certain players on the shoulder, reminding them that there was a power play practice for noon. Despite connecting on three season-saving man advantage markers on Friday, this night's power play gave up more offense than it created and needs to be fixed, pronto.

"All game long on our power play we weren't really successful offensively, and were pretty bad defensively," said Brodeur, who coughed up a shorthanded goal to Blake Comeu in the second period after Comeau torched Brian Rolston one-on-one. The Devils use of two forwards--Rolston and Kovalchuk--on the point for most of their power-plays is an accident waiting to happen. They allowed several chances and were burned badly once. Adjustments will be made at noon today.

In the meantime, there are several teams all sharing the Devils improbable playoff dream--Carolina, Buffalo, Toronto, and, thanks to Saturday's stunning come-from-behind season saver, the Atlanta Thrashers. They will be in Newark on Tuesday. A good time to separate pretender from contender.

1st period nyi-devs 3/12

* nhl record 16th straight game with 0-goals allowed;

* Devils tons of jump, 8-3 shot adavantage, 1-0 in goals; several grade A chances

* Clarkson replaces Zharkov on "Kid Line" (is it still a "kid line"?)

* 12 minutes into frame Josefson HAMMERED in def zone. Came off early but returned for next shift.

Riding ol' Reliable

The Devils have chosen to start Martin Brodeur on back to back nights, a night after working overtime and then traveling back from Atlanta. Brodeur is 6 weeks shy of his 39th birthday and tonight will be settle once and for all whether he is fatigued as the season winds down. The Islanders are a swashbuckling offensive team playing with house money and would love nothing more than to steal the New York hockey limelight away from the Devils. Brodeur is a proud player who couldn't have enjoyed sitting on the bench for 4 games when Hedberg was on his streak, and said as much. There is no way he's giving up the starting spot without a fight, and Lemaire won his only Cup as a coach with Marty, albeit 16 years ago, and will defer to the wishes of the veteran. Whether or not that is prudent will be determined over the next couple of hours...There is no room for error as the Devils try to reach faux .500 for the second time this season since game 2 in October.

still breathing

It was a game they had every reason to lose. Failed defensive assignments resulting in two different deficits. For a team that needs overtime to score two goals, that alone was enough to sink the Devils, and put them 3 games under "Faux .500 with 15 left to play. Another loss, and season over. The goal that put them behind in the third period saw Marty Brodeur underneath the 6'10 Nik Andropov and mighty Dustin Byfuglien blasting a puck through the tangled sweaty mess for his 20th goal. The Devils got screwed, the join was jumpin, no one would blame this club if they pouted and went home. But they didn't.

It started with a valiant play by Mattias Tedenby, a guy liberally listed at 5'10" 175 pounds sprinting down the left wing like some Scandinavian Keith Tkachuk, engaging Tobias Enstrom and cutting in on net, forcing the Thrashers alternate captain to hook him down 6:24 into the third. That paved the way for Atlanta's prodigal son Ilya Kovalchuk to torment his former faithful and redeem his recent sins of lethargy with his 25th goal of the year. Three trips back to Atlanta for their former superstar, three goals against. He's the logical guy to boo against, and probably sells a lot of tickets for a franchise that appears to be dying. It's good theater, good for the league, and on this night, his goal was vital for the Devils playoff life. His celebrating consisted of keeping his back to his delirious teammates as he embraced the glass with both arms raised, inches from his tormented former fans. Great theater, real emotions, huge stakes.

All the big name Devils made their critical contributions in Atlanta: Kovalchuk, Patrik Elias and Travis Zajak resurrecting a dormant power play, without which their season would be over; Marty Brodeur, an aging star still playing the position in his unique athletic style that would be challenging physically for goalies 10 year younger, a symbol of the franchise and their Stanley Cups from 16 years ago, a man fighting off a challenge from a goalie who was carrying the club on its improbable comeback, yet here was Marty battling every step of the way, the best penalty killer in overtime with the season on the line. Despite never lighting the lamp himself, Elias was brilliant and his playmaking was probably the number one reason the Devils season lives on for at least another night.

Yet for all the contributions by aging stars, there is hope that younger legs will be able to carry this team if and when the 30-somethings sputter and stall down the stretch. 21 year old Tedenby, 20 year old Jacob Josefson and 23 year old Vladimir Zharkov comprise of a kid line that doubles as an energy line. Lemaire has been giving them plenty of ice time in the past two games, even double shifting them against Ottawa, and they have shown to be relentless forecheckers and explosive skaters in neutral ice. There is a sign in the Montreal Canadiens locker room that was a mantra during their two dynasties: "From failing hands we pass this torch..." Lemaire lived under those words for two years; Brodeur absorbed them on his father's knee in Montreal. If the Devils are to remain significant for the next three weeks of the NHL season, it is this youth that will get them through the horse latitudes that are bound to plague the veterans.

No time for these Devils to reflect. The Islanders, fresh off a stunning come-from-behind victory over league power Boston, lay in wait, playing with house money tonight in Neward. The next chapter awaits..

the day after...

Kovy comes clean, concedes he "didn't get the jump...was unacceptable" in Tom Gulitti of The Record). If the Devils are going to achieve the miraculous, Kovy must come to the front of the line and lead. Two of the next three games are vs the Thrashers, and the Devils need two wins, preferably in regulation to get Atlanta in the rear view mirror for good. In case you missed it, Atlanta took out rival Carolina, in Raleigh in OT, to boost their hopes. They swarmed onto the ice in a huge emotional outburst after Tim Stapleton converted a brilliant pass from Ron Hainsey.

A week ago the Thrashers were the perfect opponent to play: dropping like a rock in the standings; star goalie Pavelec on the shelf; emotionally dead. Now they have come back to life, they just beat the team ahead of them in the standings in dramatic fashion, and are playing a Friday night home game against the team who signed their franchise player. The Devils cannot expect to win with a superficial effort. Succeed and they get to face another test, fail and the dream dies. Period.

Another Game 7, in a final month with nothing but Game 7's. The Devils remain significant for at least another day. Every shift by Kovalchuk on Friday is worth paying attention to...