In Lou We Trust

Alright. Last night. Colin White bumps Martin Brodeur for the first goal against; the Devils were caught in shock for the Rangers to go up 2 goals; the Devils get one late on a John Madden deflection from Patrik Elias; and a wild end with some garbage officiating at the end. It was garbage. Jamie Langenbrunner thought as such. John Madden said as such. Brent Sutter threw a stick and proclaimed as such. Fans like me were hurling all kinds of 7 and 8 letter words that rhyme with "Schucking Hull Bit" (which sounds like what St. Louis did to Hull as his contract ended). Lou Lamoriello nearly pulled a Schoenfeld according to Tom Gulitti. Other, similar opinions were offered at 2 Man Advantage and IPB.

But to be honest, I am the most upset and frustrated by how the Devils played last night. Despite the horrific refereeing at the end, I can't excuse the Devils' effort. They lost Game 1 at the Rock and they came out...like nothing happened. Oh, the teams were physical and there was all kinds of passion expressed with scrums, shoves, and lots of yelling. But not in the Devils' attack. For the most part, their idea of taking the puck in had two options:

1) Dump the puck in at the blue line into the corner/behind the net. Fight along the boards for possession.

2) Pass the puck off the boards and attempt to get at the puck by blowing by the defender, but fail and fight along the boards.

This has plagued the power play, which was a massive waste of opportunity. A power play early in the game. A power play at the end of the first that carries over into the second. A four minute double minor for Christian Backman cross-checking Parise into his teeth. A power play late in the second period that carries over into the third period. All power plays when both teams weren't doing much offensively. All opportunities to score, or at least, apply pressure on the Rangers. All 10 minutes of it absolutely wasted. The stats tell me the Devils got 4 shots on net. They weren't very good shots, I can tell you that much. The penalty killers were great; but the other half of special teams were miserable. It's bad when you don't even threaten with 4 minutes of a man advantage. How did this happen? The Devils approached it the same way they do regularly. A dump into the boards. Fighting for possession. Trying to set up a long shot. All that failed.

And so the Devils really blew this game with their tepid and tired attack. I am pleading to the Devils organization to mix it up on offense. Take the puck inside. Drive it to the net more often. Take some "OK" shots instead of waiting for the "great (if no one was in front of me)" shot. Go low (it worked last night) on Lundqvist sometimes. The Devils had at least two periods and advantages to take control of the game. The Rangers were playing patient, 1-2-2, opportunistic hockey; they played like the Devils played a few years ago. And instead of pinning the backcheckers back and going with a more aggressive, inside-style offense, they only really felt the urgency to score late in the third period after the Rangers realized that attacking the net is a good idea (and they succeeded, hint, hint, Mr. Sutter) and scrambled for offense then. They got one, but it was too little too late. All in a crucial Game 2 - killing off the home ice advantage and half-digging their own grave. Knowing full well the Rangers have never blown a 2-0 playoff series lead and the Devils only came back from one of those once.

I'm unhappy. I'm angry. I'm frustrated. And now NJ has to do it all on the road. All I want now is just one win.