There is a Geico commonly running on television lately that comically reenacts the face of hockey from 75 years ago. If you have seen this Geico ad, and caught Monday night’s Game 4 between the Devils and Rangers, you might agree hockey’s most basic elements remain the same 75 years later. If you don’t see the similarities between the commercial and the sport from Game 4, then it must be harder to deny that the animosity between the Devils and Rangers has not changed much since the infamous 1994 Eastern Conference Finals.
The Devils branded their logo over the Rangers’ Game 3 victory with a signifying 4-1, Game 4 victory of their own. The Devils’ team and lair were fired up early. At 8:10 into the first period, Bryce “Almighty” Salvador’s long-distance shot from left point trickled through eight players en-route to the net and a 1-0 Devils’ lead. The Rangers’ Brandon Prust was suspended for this Game 4 after an illegal elbow to the back of Anton Volchenkov’s head in Game 3. Prust’s considerably dirty play seemed to foreshadow an inevitable brawl between someone on both sides, and heated water boiled over less than two minutes after Salvador’s goal.
Devils rookie Adam Henrique and Rangers forward Ryan McDonagh threw-down at 10:32 into the first period. Henrique has been toyed with by Rangers’ players in a few spare instances this series. After McDonagh got a little too touchy-feely with his stick to Henrique’s behind, the two dropped gloves before the Devils’ rookie socked McDonagh a fair one across the jaw. McDonagh swung over Henrique simultaneously before his weight lunged forward and brought the two to the ice for Ref-Intervention.
Hostility between the teams lingered throughout the game, and another Rangers’ player earned a medal for a cheap shot on a Devils’ player. Former Devil, Mike Rupp, skated up to Martin Brodeur and threw a cowardly left-jab at the Devils goal tender in the third period. Rupp threw the punch after a whistle had already blown for a penalty against his current team. The sucker punch debacle flurried into multiple tie-ups between opposing players even though it did not erupt into much of a melee. Coaches Peter DeBoer and John Tortorella felt rowdy and defensive of their teams enough to have an escalated argument from the nearest ends of each other’s bench.
The cheap shot was seemingly more unexpected than intimidating for Brodeur whose position requires taking a much more solid (and usually expected) puck to the mask at 100 mph+. Two pucks from the Devils offense penetrated the goal-defense of Henrik Lundqvist prior to the hit on Brodeur. Travis Zajac gave the Devils a 2-0 lead in the first on a beautiful 2 on 1 pass from Zach Parise at 11:59. Parise’s assist to Zajac must have looked good enough for himself to partake in some scoring. After a scoreless second period for both teams, Parise added a power play goal at 2:41 and an empty-netter at 18:31 in the third (each his 5th and 6th goals of the 2012 playoffs.)
Looking forward to Game 5 tomorrow night in Manhattan, The Devils should anticipate a similar level of frustration left off in Game 4 by the Rangers. The desire to bounce off of a loss to the Devils in New Jersey will likely be coincided by a will to impress their fans on home ice. The Devils will need to stay poised and not let the pouty-play of the Rangers get under their skin. Whichever winning recipe they applied to Game 4 must be duplicated and adhered to as per winning a series against these Rangers. Having Jacob Josefson back from injury seemed to have a positive effect on this Devils’ offense as it scored the most goals against the Rangers by any team this postseason. Josefson should remain in the lineup, and the Devils offense must continue to swiftly control the puck and patiently knock in all opportunities given to them.
The series will undergo another lead change Wednesday night. A win in New York could kindle a fire that leads to another trip to the Stanley Cup Finals for the New Jersey Devils. If the Devils take Game 5 away from the Rangers, they will have an opportunity to close the series at home for Game 6 Friday night. Nevertheless, their first stop from here is Madison Square Garden, and the time for Game 5 is set for 8PM, ET.
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