INSIDE HOCKEY

When fans go to a professional sporting event, they want to see their team win, but they also want to see some predictability. They expect to see the game they know, played the way it has always been played. This is a memo item that nobody in the New Jersey Devils organization has paid attention to, apparently. That’s not a criticism; it’s an observation.

As they arrived in SoCal on Friday to play the Ducks; it was noted in this column that the game was replete with odd bounces, pucks going through goalies and then somehow scooting wide, funny caroms off of the boards. It was one of those games, the kind where the announcer says, “This looks like one of those games, Jim.” And you expect the score to end up 8-2.

Monday night in Los Angeles, the Devils once again managed to cast a spell over the other team, and even the building, as well, though to no good effect for the visitors. The Kings prevailed 3-2 in a shootout. But forget that for now; let’s talk about the oddities of this game.

First, Dustin Brown put in a goal off a pass into the crease by Lubomir Visnovsky, only he didn’t. The goal is later taken away from Brown and given to Visnovsky, though the replay seemed pretty conclusive at the time the goal was scored.

Second, one of the giveaways was for an autographed hockey stick. Whose? It was Mike Weaver’s, but he was a healthy scratch.

If you want more proof, consider these instances:

In the opening period, a slap-shot went through Mathieu Garon and rolled back toward the goal line; he’s frozen. It should have gone in, but he reached back and grabbed it for a save. Later on, Jay Pandolfo got a slapper; it went through Garon’s glove, but dropped harmlessly out of the way. Sean Avery cleared the puck into the New Jersey end; it hit the side glass and dropped dead at the hash marks instead of caroming around the end boards. Lubomir Visnovsky took a wrist-shot on Brodeur; it bounced strangely on goal. Brodeur went to one knee and managed to straighten up in time to corral the puck and looked surprised. Nobody scored in the period.

In the second, New Jersey scored on the power-play at just 0:16. Then Brian Gionta beats Garon again, only the puck hit the spot between the crossbar and the post. Dustin Brown evened it up, or doesn’t as was previously mentioned. Anyway, the score was tied at one at 5:07. Michael Cammalleri beat Brodeur, only he didn’t. The puck went off the blocker and then hit the side of the net.

New Jersey took the lead after a puck bounced off the top side of Garon’s leg pad when he was down. Travis Zajac got a piece of it on his backhand, but not enough to get a shot. He then turned to his forehand and whacked at it. The puck went into the opposite top corner. L.A. evened it up when Michael Cammalleri slapped one from inside the blue line. All you could see from a distance was the water bottle tumbling off the back of the net. The puck went so high into the net, that it hit the bottle, and as the bottle fell off the back, the puck moved like a laser downwards, toward the ice. The frame ended 2-2.

The final period featured more funny bounces, but no scoring. Mathieu Garon made an amazing toe save with a second left on the clock. He later described it like this: “The puck ended up in the slot and all I could see was a little bit of it, and it’s a good thing he shot on the ice, because I was on my knees already.”

It’s an incredible understatement. This guy’s on fire right now. Nonetheless, it’s still 2-2 and headed for overtime, which was scoreless. The Kings won the shootout 3-2. After the game, we asked a few different Kings personnel how they accounted for the funny happenings on the ice. Each explained it in their own way.

Goalie Garon said, “They’ve got three or four good lines, and they can score from everywhere. They didn’t shoot much tonight, but most of the shots were kind of hard to see and kind of hard to save, too.”

Forward Anze Kopitar responded, “This was my first time playing against them, so I don’t really know this team, New Jersey. They’re very patient with the puck. They don’t just throw it away for nothing, and they try to hold it as long as possible. Sometimes they have weird shots from weird angles, but sometimes it pays off, too. We handled it good today, and it was a big game for us.”

Coach Crawford commented, “That second period may have been our best period of the year. Their goaltender is a world-class goaltender, and he had to be world-class in the second period. We got 11 chances, and sometimes you don’t get 11 chances against New Jersey in a month. He (Brodeur) was great in the net, and our guys persevered.”

All of that proves that the spell mentioned earlier extended to the Kings players and coaches as well, making it impossible for them to see that this New Jersey team has somehow taken the rules of hockey and the laws of physics and twisted them, making it look at times as if the pucks were either filled with helium, or weighed about ten pounds. Okay, not really but what’s with this Devils team?

Whatever it is, their spell-casting ways haven’t helped them much on their current road trip. They’ve dropped four games in a row since winning in Toronto, and have thus earned just three points of a possible ten. The Kings, meanwhile, have started to come around, having won two straight and four of their last seven. And they’re looking stronger in many aspects of their play. So in the end, they don’t care what the Devils do, or did, because they got the better of them anyway.

L.A. now goes to Phoenix for a game on Thursday night, and then returns home for the first of a home-and-home series against the Ducks. Game-time in L.A. is 1pm on Saturday.

Kings Notes

At the moment, the lineup is stable. Brent Sopel is said to be near skating, but he was in the locker area with a walking cast on his foot Monday night. He also has a broken hand... Alyn McCauley, according to local media reports, is working out at the Kings training facility and anticipating a return in the not too distant future... Oleg Tverdovsky, according to Crawford after the game, is working through a groin pull. His status is uncertain at this point, though he is not on IR.