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So...are there any story-lines heading into this series? |
So, it’s finally that time of year. It’s time for the Stanley Cup playoffs. As a Devils fan, I’m both excited and nervous at the same time. The Devils might only be the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference, but they won 48 regular season games and picked up 102 points along the way. I realize that this might be Martin Brodeur’s last shot at a fourth Stanley Cup Championship. Even if Marty does play next season, there’s no guarantee that he’ll be able to carry a team through the playoffs. He can do that this year, and hopefully the Devils will benefit from that.
Yet at the same time, we can’t help but remember the past and the failures of the Devils since the Prudential Center opened in the fall of 2007. In the spring of 2008, the Devils were the #4 seed, but won just one of eight meetings against their eventual first round opponent, the New York Rangers, and that win came in a shootout. The Devils lasted just five games that spring. In the spring of ’09, as the 3rd seed, the Devils played the series from hell against the Hurricanes, but were only 1-3 against Carolina that season. As the 2nd seed in 2010, they faced the Flyers, who they were 1-5 against, and lost to them. This season, there are no excuses. This is a very good Devils team, and they’re facing, well, let’s be honest: the worst team in the playoffs.
Before I talk about any negative stats regarding the Panthers, I think congratulations are in order. After over a decade of failure and losing, the Panthers finally made it back to the playoffs and won their first-ever division title in the process. They didn’t make life easy for their fans, but they definitely took a step in the right direction this season, even if they lose to the Devils in round one of the playoffs.
Now, let’s look at the raw numbers: the Florida Panthers won just 38 of 82 games. They lost 18 games in overtime/shootout this season. That essentially is like winning 9 extra games (in terms of points). The Panthers are limping into the playoffs. Despite their season finale, a 4-1 win over Carolina, they went just 2-3-5 in their last 10 games. Their goal differential is a miserable minus-24 (203 goals for, 227 goals against).
But that doesn’t mean this won’t be a tough series for the Devils. Make no mistake: it will be a very difficult series. First of all, the Devils had just one “ROW” (regulation/overtime wins) over Florida in the regular season. They lost two and won the other in a shootout. Their most recent matchup was a 3-1 loss on February 11th, a game in which the Panthers led for most of the game, and simply trapped the Devils to sleep. They can clog the neutral zone, force turnovers and score off their turnovers.
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Ilya Kovalchuk drills Keaton Ellerby. 1 of 6 hits #17 on 12/13/11. |
There will be several keys to this series. First of all, the Devils will need to be patient. They can’t get frustrated with the Panthers’ defense. They’ll need to be smart, and not force the issue with the trap, because when you do that, you turn the puck over and you fall right into the…well, trap that the opposition is trying to frustrate you into. If the Devils play smart and dump the puck in when the Panthers have the neutral zone clogged up, they’ll find success, because the Devils can play the dump-and-chase game. They’re not the 1995 Red Wings, who had absolutely no answer to the trap.
The second key to the game will be to contain the Panthers’ top line. Let’s face it: the Panthers’ fate will be determined by how their top line of Fleischmann-Weiss-Versteeg plays. That line had success against the Devils in the regular season, so they’ll have to find an answer for them in the playoffs. Pete DeBoer has several options. He can try to match offense for offense, and play Zajac’s line against Weiss’ line and simply trade scoring chances with them; he can match Elias’ line, with veteran experience and Elias’ two-way ability; or he could even match the third line, with Ponikarovsky-Henrique-Clarkson as a “checking” line to try to shut down the Weiss line. DeBoer has tried different things throughout the season. Sometimes he matches top line against top line and sometimes he tries to shut down the opposition.