Friday, February 02, 2007
Postgame: Devils 6 - Flyers 5
I know it's a lot of complaints and concerns over a win, but the Devils were lucky to pull a win out of this one. Which is the sum point of all of this expressed by Tim Mo at RaReMaDev: the Devils won and it didn't make much sense. Exciting, as also described in Tom Lycan's review of the game, but also frustrating.
Rich Chere's article in today's Star Ledger is a good summary of last night's game featuring some rather telling quotes:
For what it's worth, Gomez, I'd rather you not stumble off the ice after a big hit and give all Devils fans pause that you're injured. I don't think that is something most fans want. The game itself was very physical, with plenty of big hits and some dirty stuff - evidenced by both teams taking quite a few penalties. Again, if the Devils do not clean up in that area, it will almost certainly hurt them in tomorrow's game. Tomorrow should prove to be exciting and a challenge, as Buffalo is one of the top teams in the NHL. Given their recent form, I have to give pause to the Devils chances. But I'll worry about that tomorrow."This was good for the fans and good for the ratings," said Gomez, who landed on his back and hit his head on the ice after being slew-footed by Flyers rookie winger Ben Eager in the second period. No penalty was called. "Everyone has a tough adjustment. The refs have a tough adjustment, but I think that's what fans want. As any fan out there. It was a fun game."
What the Devils didn't like was Eager, who ran Oduya from behind with 13:33 left in the third period. Oduya's head hit the ice hard when he fell and he was dazed as he skated slowly to the bench before being shown the gate door by Lukowich.
"Was it a clean hit? Are you serious?" Oduya said when asked about Eager's hit. "I got smoked from behind and he got a penalty on it. If they want to run around, we played and we won in the end."
Labels: Devils Postgame
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