New Arena and the playoffs

[DayneForNoGain]

I will be at the first game at the new arena, come hell or high water (as my dad

used to say). That place looks awesome and I'm really looking foward to it.

 

Anyway, not the prettiest game last night, I don't like Marty giving up 3 in a

playoff game, but the guys that we need to score are scoring. Parise, Elias,

Gionta, need to keep it up and guys like Gomez, Langenbrunner (who was

phenomenal in 2003), and Madden also need to get hot. If we can get Zajac,

Brylin and maybe Rasmussin to score a few, this team could have enough

offense to go far in the playoffs. The one thing that worries me, that never

has so much in a Devils playoff run, is the defense. Aside from Rafalski and

Colin White, they have a bunch of scrubs in there in front of Marty. Lou needs

to turn this offense loose, which I think coulda scored a lot more this season,

and let these guys win in on offense. This is the first time they've been in the

playoffs that they are far more talented on offense than they are on defense.

The defense just isn't strong enough to get a one goal lead and then try to

play the "neutral zone trap" and prevent the other team from scoring, especially

against a guy like Lecavalier, who can race down the ice and seemingly

score at will. The Devs need to play an "offensive zone trap", keep the puck

in their zone, and just keep shooting. No fancy 10 passes than a shot bullshit,

launch the puck at the net and let Gionta flick in a rebound.

We don't have the defense this year to do what we did in 2003.