It was one of the most deafening roars these old ears have heard in a long time. Marc Staal, that wonderful twenty-year-old future super star, had just put the puck by a visibly shaken Marty Brodeur with 3:13 left in the game, and the roar almost lifted the roof off of the old Garden, starting the renovation a year ahead of schedule.
While neither team can be classified as heavy weights in the NHL scheme of things, the game resembled an old fashioned heavyweight fight. Each team took turns landing what looked like knockout punches and each reeled a few times from the hits but no one quit. The Devils came back three times to tie the game.
The Avery - Brodeur matchup continued unabated but at the end, it was the most beautiful sight in the world to Ranger fans. Marty Brodeur on his knees and the red light behind him glowing brightly. The young kid with the pedigree had beaten the old guy with the resume. So the kid who had the game winner for the Devils go off his skate, in game three, roared back with the game winner and the crowd roared and roared and was still roaring when Scotty Gomez put in an empty netter off the face off.
The referees: Kevin Pollock and Dennis LaRue were awful. They called twelve penalties. They missed obvious calls. They made up calls. One such call was the matching penalties to Dubinsky and Clarkson called by Pollock on the opposite end of the ice. Every game of this series has had a referee controversy. The plain facts are that the caliber of the refs has dwindled. The two ref system has turned into a disaster where one tries to outdo the other and it doesn't work.
Sean Avery was decked, without the puck, and was pinned down and no call. Lundqvist's stick was batted away from him and the Devils scored right after that. Avery was taken down, skating to the net, penalty called and in the process rammed Brodeur into the net. I'm sure the Devils have their complaints about the refs, and they would be justified.
The ultimate penalty was the diving call on Brodeur. That had to irk the great one to have diving, instead of the usual unsportsmanship-like conduct, roared out to a packed Ranger house. That's the way it was last night, a rip roaring crowd. Oh yes. Final score 5-3.
Let's close it out Friday.
Newsday:
- Steve Zipay: Staal Gets Redemption With Rangers' Winning Goal -- After John Madden's pass glanced off his skate for the Devils' overtime winner in Game 3 on Sunday, Marc Staal went home and solemnly watched the play three or four times. "I never saw the puck at the time," he recalled. "Then I tried to forget about it as fast as I could."
Last night, the video replay was far sweeter...
----- Arthur Staple: Could Rangers Be Getting In Brodeur's Head? -- Martin Brodeur got bumped and banged around, and did a little bit of diving as well. He even took his own mask off at one point during the middle of a Rangers' power play after getting jostled by Jaromir Jagr.
The Devils goaltender rarely gets rattled, but it's fair to say he was a little bit like a James Bond martini last night. And Marc Staal's winning goal with 3:13 left that put Brodeur's Devils in a 3-1 series hole was a pretty stoppable shot ...
- John Dellapina: Rangers Push Devils To The Brink -- The Rangers crossed the river to the Jersey side last week to open their playoffs in grand style. They return to Newark Friday night with a chance to finish the job and the Devils.
That is because, three nights after watching helplessly as a centering pass from John Madden deflected off his skate and into his own net in overtime, rookie defense.man Marc Staal powered a slap shot past Martin Brodeur to keep the Rangers out of overtime and a game from playoff advancement... - Flip Bonde: Firepower Gives Blueshirts Edge -- He is still very young, just old enough now to go out and celebrate at the establishment of his choice. When Marc Staal slapped the winning goal Wednesday night in Game 4 to bury the Devils, 5-3, his teammates figured he was so wide-eyed and flighty that he hardly noticed at all.
"Probably doesn't even know he scored," Jaromir Jagr said, only half joking... - Martin Brodeur, Devils On Thin Ice -- Martin Brodeur smiled wearily. After losing to the Rangers Wednesday night to fall behind three games to one in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, Brodeur took little comfort in the Devils' ability to play under pressure.
The Devils bounced back from a slow start this season to go on a nine-game winning streak. After a late-season five-game losing streak, they won four of the last five to earn the fourth seed and home-ice advantage against the Rangers.
"How many times can we keep doing that?" Brodeur asked. "We don't have any more times to make mistakes." ...
- Larry Brooks: Rangers Put Devs On Brink -- They gathered at center ice at the Garden to raise their sticks to the fans who had been on their feet and roaring for the final three minutes of last night's manic match. They gathered at center ice to raise their sticks in triumph.
The Rangers are one win away from taking this Battle of the Hudson, one win away from completing their six-month dominance of the Devils with a first-round playoff victory.
Still one win away...
- Mistakes Leave Jersey Needing Miracle -- Despair and desperation dog the Devils, who now have tried nearly everything. Survival demands they now win three straight from the team they haven't beaten three times in 12 this season...
- Jay Greenburg: Staal Is Savoring Sweet Redemption -- Brandon Dubinsky ate Jamie Langenbrunner's snow on the first Devils goal, getting caught flatfooted through center, leaving Michal Rozsival and Marc Staal two-on-three, allowing Patrik Elias to tie the game.
Chris Drury got deked almost onto 33rd Street by Elias on the power-play rush leading to Elias' - and New Jersey's - second goal. Big, big mistakes in a series too tight to allow many, especially against an offensively challenged team that needs those errors to beat you...
- Staal Moves On, Leads Rangers To Win -- Three nights earlier, after the puck caromed off his skate and into his own net in overtime, Marc Staal made sure to watch the replay. The Rangers' rookie defenseman noticed the angle of his foot, noticed a few other things, and then wisely, pretty much forgot about it...
- Sam Weinman - Lundqvist, Brodeur Hope For That Playoff Magic -- They are the old man and the kid, two goaltenders at opposite ends of their careers and - at least for a few more days - at opposite ends of the ice, too. Henrik Lundqvist is 26. His nickname is "King." He is the Rangers' future, literally their backbone for years to come. Martin Brodeur will be 36 in about two weeks. His nickname is "Marty," or "Marrrrrrr-teeee," according to most of the singsonging fans at Madison Square Garden last night. He has four years left on his contract with the Devils and, in all likelihood, the same amount of time left before retirement...
- On the Marc -- You don't usually get story lines tailor-made for you like this one -- Marc Staal scores the game winner one game after letting a game winner deflect in off his skate. Add to that the fact that he is a rookie who scored his first NHL playoff goal against His Holiness Martin Brodeur, just as he scored his first NHL goal against the future first ballot inductee to the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Greg Louganis Hall of Shame...
- Game Day With Margee: Game 4, Devils at Rangers, Plus America's Next Top Model -- ...
9:42 PM- Terrorist Face [Scott Gomez] wins his face-off in the closing seconds and nabs an empty-netter. I hate the Rangers with every last cell in my body. However, their goal song is so awesome, I wish I had it on my iPod...
NY Times:
- This Time Staal Gives Victory To Rangers -- When the Madison Square Garden crowd erupted around him, the rookie defenseman Marc Staal could not believe his turn of fortune. He had launched a slap shot that slid beneath Devils goalie Martin Brodeur with 3 minutes 13 seconds left for the decisive goal in a series-swinging 5-3 victory in Game 4 Wednesday night ...
the rangers may beat nj but they show they have too many weaknesses - no power play, defense minus Staal is shaky and error prone, and Lundqvist is mortal. All these flaws will crack and eventually stop their run.
Three down. 13 to go. One at a time.
Yes, this is not the perfect team. But, in this age of salary caps and free agents, no one else has a perfect team either.
The Cup will go to the team that wants it the most.
Let's go Rangers!
longshanks-You are correct on all three, however, name one team that has it all.
section 335-You are 100% correct. 13 to go.