Devils raise a little hell on Broadway
After blowing three- goal lead at MSG, New Jersey bounces back to roll Rangers
NEW YORK — It plays out as a sort of symphony, after the fact, when at the time it’s just a goal. But the New Jersey Devils had blown a 3- 0 lead in a hostile building, and it felt like the Eastern Conference final was hanging in the Madison Square Garden air. The New York Rangers were coming. The New York Rangers were here.
And suddenly, New Jersey’s fever broke. Ilya Kovalchuk was out there with fourth- liners Stephen Gionta and Ryan Carter — “maybe I take just a little longer shift, as usual,” said Kovalchuk with a smile — and led the way on the forecheck, as what New Jersey calls the F1, or first forward.
And it happened so fast. Kovalchuk laid his 230 pounds into Michael Del Zotto in the corner, jarring the puck loose. Stephen Gionta, Brian Gionta’s slightly bigger little brother, swooped in and grabbed it. With Dan Girardi bearing down, Gionta whipped a pass — “I closed my eyes and threw it out to [ Carter]” he said, halfjoking — that went straight to Carter, who had beaten Brad Richards to the puck.
The puck went in with 4: 24 left, breaking a 3- 3 tie. It was the first time in the playoffs that New York’s Henrik Lundqvist had surrendered four goals, and it happened on just 16 shots on goal. It was Gionta’s second point of the game, after scoring the game’s opening goal for a fourth line that has been marvellous. And after an empty- net goal the Devils won 5- 3, and will carry a 3- 2 series lead back to Newark for Game 6 Friday, where elimination will be hanging in the air.
“Unbelievable,” said Devils captain Zach Parise, of the Gionta pass. “I don’t think anyone saw it coming, and then he finds Carts, right on his tape. It was great. What a great feeling on the bench.”
It had been a strange and wonderful game that tipped one way and then the other, like a ship in a great storm. New Jersey scored three goals in the opening 9: 49, silencing the Garden, shocking New York. And then the Devils stopped playing, and New York found deathbed desperation. The Rangers scored once late in the period, then again 32 seconds into the second on a Ryan Callahan goal that certainly looked like it was kicked in. But the Rangers were dominant.
“We started to play more and more in waves, kept getting better, chipped away, chipped away,” said Rangers forward Brian Boyle.
On the third goal Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur went to play the puck but it bounced on the ragged MSG ice, outside the trapezoid, which was essentially introduced to negate his peerless puck- handling. Brodeur left it there, and Marian Gaborik shot it across the crease, and Brodeur looked like a rhino trying to tap- dance on the thing until he kicked it into the net, 17 seconds into the third. And oh, how they chanted “Mar- ty! Mar- ty!,” from the bottom of their lungs.
It got weird and scrambly after that, to the point that Brad Richards shot a very dangerous puck at his own goaltender. But Carter untied it, and now the comparisons to the 1994 conference final are inevitable. That year, Mark Messier delivered his guarantee, and the Rangers won Game 6 in Jersey and Game 7 at home and went on to glory. That is when the Garden crowd began chanting Marty’s name. It was a long time ago, but here we are again.
“This is what creates — this situation that we’re in, for the Rangers and for the Devils, and for the players that are involved — you create history,” said Brodeur. “Whatever is going to happen in the next few days is what our rivalry is going to be all about, and for our fans it’s going to be something great.
“You know, it’s fun to be part of this. I was enjoying myself a lot today, even though they came back and almost beat us; it was a fun game to be part of. Maybe I’m at a different stage of my career, that I’m really taking all in what’s happening. And it’s a lot of fun.”