By Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
Al Bello/Getty Images
Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk shoots the puck against Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury during the second period of Friday's game at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
NEWARK, N.J. -- It was 4:56 p.m. when game-day personnel at Prudential Center conducted a formal test of the New Jersey Devils' ear-splitter.
"This is a test of the Devils goal horn," came a faceless voice preceding a deafening fog horn in a near-empty building. "This is only a test."
Uh-huh. Had this been an actual goal, there probably would have been players on the ice, although the presence in a Devils uniform of Ilya Kovalchuk hardly seemed to augment that probability.
In the first post-trade deadline collision of the top two teams in the Atlantic Division, the Penguins attempted to invert the working karma of the rivalry via the unusual gambit of putting the puck in the net. Sidney Crosby's first-period goal ended 170 minutes and 52 seconds of Penguins-Devils hockey that was completely devoid of a Penguins goal, the previous one coming off the stick of Ruslan Fedotenko two weeks before Thanksgiving.
Before landing the trading period's biggest fish in Kovalchuk Feb. 4, the Devils owned the Penguins, thumping them four times by a combined 14-2. But if you thought the Devils were difficult then ...
"He's a dangerous player," said Penguins defenseman Mark Eaton in the minutes after Kovalchuk led a third-period assault in a 3-1 Devils victory. "When you have him out there he's creating things, but basically, New Jersey's been playing the same kind of game for many years."
Until Wednesday then, when the Penguins return to the Devils' workshop for one final meeting, it merely has been re-established that a Penguins-Devils playoff series might lack, um -- what's the term -- competitiveness?
"We know what we can do," Eaton said confidently, "but when we've met them lately, they've played their game better than we've played ours."
In reality, not a lot has gone right for New Jersey since this estimable Russian pulled on a red sweater, and the Devils came into critical matchup Friday with only seven wins in their previous 21 games. With Kovalchuk adding his elaborate offensive skill set to their highly systemized style, they lost six of the first 10, with Kovalchuk contributing a highly ordinary three goals and five assists.
It was not really what was envisioned when Kovalchuk brought 31 goals with him from Atlanta, the most by a player acquired by the Devils' franchise, or seven more than Peter Stastny brought from the late great Quebec Nordiques 20 years ago.
Against goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and a Penguins team operating on no rest, this former Thrashers player managed only to thrash about the Newark pond for most of two periods despite plenty of opportunities including a second-period penalty shot.
Kris Letang hooked him on a breakaway, and Kovalchuk broke confidently toward the left circle as he sized up Fleury for a shot that could have broken a 1-1 tie, but his low wrister merely thumped into Fleury's left pad. Before that, Kovalchuk fanned on Patrick Elias' pretty crossing pass and watched Fleury stop his best slapper while the Penguins' superb penalty-killers were thwarting a five-minute power play called against Craig Adams for charging former Penguins defenseman Martin Skoula.
But in the final period, which started with the same 1-1 knot in place, Kovalchuk became the very kind of ominous presence that made him attractive to New Jersey general manager Lou Lamoriello, who evidently had no square-peg-round-hole compunctions.
"I think there's a certain dynamic when you have a goal-scorer like that on the ice," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said after his club's second loss in 24 hours. "I think, especially when it's five one five, or he's on the power play, he's the kind of player that with one puck, he can change the game. When you add that to a team like New Jersey, that's certainly something we've got to pay attention to."
Two minutes into the third, a Kovalchuk blast from the left half-boards came off Fleury so hard it caromed to Andy Green beyond the circles, and Green buried it to make it 2-1 at 2:06. Less than eight minutes later, Kovalchuk got free in the high slot and whistled his 35th goal of the year past Fleury.
Fleury protested pretty viciously that Devils center Travis Zajac brushed his glove while crossing the intersection of Fleury and Puck, but such plays are not reviewable in the current NHL. Bylsma mentioned that sometimes things happen too fast to be judged correctly on the ice, but what's happening between the Penguins and Devils has unfolded slowly, agonizingly, with a locked focus.
It would appear that a successful defense of the Penguins' Stanley Cup championship will require that someone take care of the Devils for them. As a do-it-yourself project, it's not looking real viable.
Gene Collier: gcollier@post-gazette.com.
Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.
First published on March 13, 2010 at 12:15 am
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