ATD #10 - Rene Lecavalier Semifinals: New Jersey Devils (2) vs. Rocket de Montreal (3

[Sturminator]

But they do not trump what Geoffrion did in the playoffs over an eight-year span?

I might say that Kennedy's playoff heroics do trump Boom-Booms simply because he brought so much more to the table than scoring, but at any rate, that is splitting hairs. Boucher was excellent, as well, and is arguably the greatest postseason performer of his generation (though Marty Barry has a solid claim to that title, as well).

 

[MXD]

I might say that Kennedy's playoff heroics do trump Boom-Booms simply because he brought so much more to the table than scoring, but at any rate, that is splitting hairs. Boucher was excellent, as well, and is arguably the greatest postseason performer of his generation (though Marty Barry has a solid claim to that title, as well).

That might be splitting hairs, but I think somebody else should be brought in this discussion...

 

[Sturminator]

That might be splitting hairs, but I think somebody else should be brought in this discussion...

I'll take Marty Murdoch trivia for $1000, Alex.

 

[raleh]

I'll take Marty Murdoch trivia for $1000, Alex.

Nah, I think he's talking about me. Raleh really steps it up in the playoffs.

 

[MXD]

I'll take Marty Murdoch trivia for $1000, Alex.

Nope! Murdoch improved his scoring rate, that's it. I really got it wrong the other day, I mean, I screwed up team leader and league leader...

 

[BM67]

I said Cameron was top-5 in scoring dominance, not that he was a top-5 offensive defenseman of all-time. He might be closer than many think though.

Here are the top 17 D in my Vs. #2 numbers. The numbers represent their best year, best 3 consecutive years and yearly average totaled together. I compare them to both the #2 scorer in the league, and the #2 scoring defenseman.

Player|Vs. League|Rank|Vs. D only|Rank|Combined|Rank
Bobby Orr|5.1|1|10.525|1|15.625|1
Paul Coffey|4.45|2|7.004|2|11.454|2
Red Kelly|3.478|7|6.691|4|10.169|3
Pierre Pilote|2.956|13|6.782|3|9.738|4
Harry Cameron|3.534|5|5.96|6|9.494|5
Denis Potvin|3.614|4|5.841|8|9.455|6
George Boucher|3.69|3|5.499|11|9.189|7
Viacheslav Fetisov|3.215|11|5.849|7|9.064|8
Alexei Kasatonov|2.903|14|5.985|5|8.888|9
Ray Bourque|3.521|6|5.254|12|8.775|10
Eddie Shore|3.115|12|5.633|9|8.748|11
Nicklas Lidstrom|3.345|9|5.253|14|8.598|12
Brian Leetch|3.263|10|5.126|16|8.389|13
Al MacInnis|3.357|8|4.907|17|8.264|14
Bill Gadsby|2.715|17|5.508|10|8.223|15
Doug Harvey|2.838|15|5.231|15|8.069|16
King Clancy|2.747|16|5.253|13|8|17

Thomson rates 2.025 - 4.801 - 6.826

 

[seventieslord]

That looks like a pretty definitive list of the best offensive defensemen ever right there. A couple things though - does this take into consideration the time Boucher spent on the wing? Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but are Fetisov and Kasatonov being apples-to-orangesed into this list?

 

[Sturminator]

Interesting data, BM. You won't find a more comprehensive numerical analysis of how the top offensive defensemen performed relative to their peers. I guess the next step is analyzing what those quantified relative statistics show, which gets us into a discussion of league strength (and scoring strength on the blueline) across NHL eras. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but your analysis only uses points, and doesn't weigh goal scoring above assists. It's not a criticism (most attempts I've seen to weigh the relative value of a goal vs. an assist, especially across eras, are nothing but arbitrary swill), but that should be pointed out, as well.

- the goal vs. assist thing plays strongly in Clancy's favor, as he was truly a special goal-scorer from the blueline. I'm surprised to see the King so low on this list, but remembering that he played Green's defensive Ottawa system for much of his career and was an unusual goal-scorer does raise his value in my mind.

- the vs. D only ranks are somewhat distorting when making comparisons across eras. Pilote's era, for example, was quite weak in scoring D. As a result, he ranks extremely high (3rd overall) in the vs. D ranking, but much lower in the vs. league analysis. Weighing vs. D and vs. league equally thus creates a distortion here. I would certainly not rank Pilote as the 4th greatest offensive defenseman of all time.

- the old-timers (Cameron and Boucher) are inflated on this list, as well. Much as we have taken to using top-5 rather than top-10 scoring finishes for forwards as our broad metric of success, a more critical eye should also be taken to the scoring exploits of the defensemen of this era. I doubt it is possible to reflect the shallow league effect in a numerical analysis of this kind, but the fact that roughly half of the scoring talent was out west during Cameron and Boucher's primes at the very least seriously distorts their vs. league scoring numbers (based on what is known about the PCHA defensemen, one could make an argument that they'd have finished in roughly the same place in the vs. D analysis).

- I'm not entirely sure that longevity is accounted for here the way I would do it, but debating the value of longevity (especially for guys who had a few lower-end scoring years at the end, which throws off their average numbers) is more a matter of taste than objectivity, I think.

Cameron and Boucher are a couple of those "Greenland" players, in my opinion. It's impossible to draw a map that accurately represents his size because they exist in an area that is naturally distorted by the introduction of another dimension. With Greenland, the problem is 3D space making a 2D map look silly, and with the old-timers, the problem is the era is so hard to rationally compare to modern standards because of differences in rules (forward passing) and a lack of depth. Hopefully, the metaphor makes sense. The Soviets are Greenlanders, as well. Not enough is known about the overall level of the league for really accurate judgments to be made about the value of their relative achievements in that context.

Much respect for this analysis, BM. I do think that the pre-26 // 30 (merger and rules change) defensemen and the non-NHLers are still subject to a lot of guesswork in the final analysis. What this does make clear is that Harry Cameron belongs in any serious conversation about the greatest scoring defensemen of all-time.

 

[BM67]

Clancy does jump up to a similar level to Cameron when you take just the goal numbers. He ranks 6th in career average goals, and 5th in CAG vs D.

There certainly are a number of problems with the system, and the data used as well, so I wouldn't call it a definitive list, but it is better than just eyeballing the numbers.

I'd like to count longevity and peak in one number, but a really long career will overwhelm a short career no matter the level of peak value.

 

[God Bless Canada]

Frankly, I don't think there is a good system when trying to evaluate the offensive abilities for defencemen. And I don't think eye-balling stats is a good idea, either. But that's because I have minimal use for statistics.

I see Frank Boucher's 10 points in 28, and view that as impressive. I see Bernie Geoffrion's eight straight post-seasons with 10 points, and I view that as impressive. I see Andy Bathgate's eight straight 70-point seasons as impressive. I see Red Kelly's seasons of at least 15 goals and 50 points, in the early 50s, as incredible. Same with Mike Gartner's 15 straight 30-goal seasons. But I don't get caught up in the numbers. At the end of the day, I want to know how a guy played the game above everything else. I think I'm in a minority in that regard.

I respect the work that people put into their formulas, guys like Ogopogo, BM and pnep, but, for the most part, I have no use for them. Adjusted for era numbers are hypothesis, and should have no place in a valid argument.

There have just been too many changes in the blue-line position over the years to really get a fair read on the numbers.

 

[BM67]

Yes, but you are getting impressed by a guy reaching a round number. If Bathgate didn't hit 70 points in the middle of his string would he be any less of a player? If Geoffrion streak was snapped by injury, being traded to the Rangers, or just getting 9 points, would he be a lesser playoff performer? If Bossy only scorer 49 goals a time or two, would he really not be among the best goal scorers ever?

Federko was the first player to hit 50 assists in 10 straight years, but he did it when players were getting 80, 90 and 100+ assists in a season. Not that impressive at all.

You have to look at stats as they represent results. Vasko was mobile and looked better on the ice than his scoring record does. Was it all just the style of the time? When you look at what kind of numbers Pilote put up, and see that Vasko put up lesser numbers than Leo Boivin, who isn't regarded as a scorer, you have to think not.

Afinogenov looks great out there, but can't finish worth a damn. I agree how they played is important, but style isn't everything.

 

[seventieslord]

There's nothing wrong with objectivity. It sounds to me like you see something wrong with finding a way to objectively judge players. One can subjectively say that someone is "very good" offensively and someone else is "very, very good" offensively, but eventually something concrete and factual has to be brought in to play in order to prove it, unless one expects people to take their opinion as fact.

How they played the game is important, but how well they played it is much more important. BM67's Afinogenov example is good - you could look at a lot of 100-point one-dimensional scorers and say he plays the game the same way they did, but obviously more analysis would show who's better. Same with any run-of-the-mill 3rd pairing stay-at-home defenseman - you could say they play the game just like Jimmy Watson or Jim Schoenfeld did, but we know they aren't as good. That's where the stats come in. Adjusted stats and formulas and simple things like top-10's will always have their warts (in fact, in my post-series discussion I brought up something about BM67's system that I was still hoping he'd answer...), but they do a lot more towards getting to the bottom of who was better, than the actual numbers.

Most players we are selecting in the ATD, have not been personally witnessed by half of the people drafting here. Objective analysis is absolutely necessary. We can all cherrypick subjective and superlative quotes from books and sources, and each GM can decide how much weight they put on such things, but those can only take you so far.

 

[God Bless Canada]

Hockey's a game that transcends statistics. There is no statistic for second effort, a willingness to do the little things, or take a hit to make a play. You can't use only stats to measure a player's effectiveness. In many cases, stats offer a little more than a glimpse into how effective a player is.

 

[Sturminator]

This is the kind of dialogue that keeps me coming back to the ATD and that keeps the ATD fresh, in my opinion. Although we often disagree, I am glad that GBC sees hockey from his own unique perspective, lest the ATD be swallowed whole by the stat-heads (I am probably one, as well). There is truly quite a bit more to hockey than statistics, but at least when it comes to forwards, whose primary job is to score and thus generate the most useful statistics, I place considerably more weight in stats than in descriptive evidence.

This is not necessarily true for defensemen and goalies, for what I think should be obvious reasons, but when evaluating a guy whose primary job is to score, I do think it is sensible to look at his scoring first, especially when we have not witnessed his play first-hand. Stats, therefore, hold a great deal of sway for me when it comes to my ranking of forwards. Offensive defensemen exist somewhere in the middle for me. Scoring was obviously a big part of their jobs, but not really their primary task (except, perhaps for Paul Coffey), so you have to dig a lot deeper.

 

[Sturminator]

Game One:

The long anticipated showdown between Le Rocket and the Devils began last night in glorious fashion, with the outcome in doubt until the very end. Games between these normally mild-mannered squads had been chippy at times throughout the regular season, but no one would have called the teams blood rivals. In the opening match of their playoff series, however, both squads laid their cards on the table and came out swinging. Moose Johnson tripped up Alex Ovechkin on the rush with a poorly-timed sweep check, and Boom-Boom Geoffrion cashed in just 15 seconds into the powerplay with a booming slapshot that beat Hall cleanly through a screen, putting the visitors ahead 1-0 at 17:05 of the 1st period.

The first period would end with the same score, but Ted Kennedy would bring the home crowd to its feet one minute into the 2nd period, stripping Stanowski of the puck on the forecheck and quickly jamming the puck in shortside before Worsley knew what was happening. The game slowed down at that point, and didn’t pick up again until the midway mark of the period when Busher Jackson and Didier Pitre, after a fight for the puck in the Montreal right corner, traded slashes and then dropped the gloves and went at each other in what turned out to be a shockingly violent middleweight bout, with both men briefly retiring to the dressing room for treatment. That seemed to get both teams’ blood boiling and an ugly sequence of roughing and slashing penalties followed, resulting in a long 4-on-4 with both teams’ sin bins full almost to bursting. One minute into the 4-on-4, Howie Morenz picked a puck up behind his own net with speed and proceeded to weave his way through all four Devils players, finishing a magnificent individual effort with a quick gloveside deke before tucking the puck through Hall’s 5-hole. New Jersey would come back strong as the period wound down, and Boucher would draw a hooking call at 18:50 that set up a frenetic powerplay in which Worsley was forced to make numerous point-blank saves against a frustrated Bread Line.

Tommy Ivan deployed an unusual powerplay unit to open the third period, with Ted Kennedy centering Bill Cook and Vladimir Krutov. Kennedy won the faceoff back to Cameron, who immediately flipped the puck into the offensive zone while all three forwards raced in on the forecheck. Cook was able to pry the puck loose from Serge Savard behind the net, and Kennedy quickly shoveled it out to Cameron, who was pinching to the right side of the net. Cameron’s snapshot hit Worsley in the left shoulder and trickled over the line as the netminder reached back to retrieve it. With the score tied, the home team picked up the tempo, and the fans were on their feet when Ace Bailey leveled Alex Ovechkin with a clean check along the boards seven minutes into the period. The Devils began to control the play in the Montreal zone, and nearly broke through at the nine minute mark when Tod Sloan rang one off the post off a slick 2-on-1 feed from Joe Primeau. The home crowd were stunned into silence moments later, however, when Dick Duff pounced on a rebound of a Jimmy Watson shot and beat Hall for a 3-2 lead. The goal broke any momentum New Jersey had enjoyed, and Le Rocket collapsed in the defensive zone for the final 10 minutes and closed out the game.

Final score: Montreal 3 – 2 New Jersey
Three Stars: 1) Kennedy 2) Worsley 3) Morenz
Montreal leads series 1-0

 

[Sturminator]

Game Two:

“I can’t complain about team effort in game one,” said Devils’ coach Tommy Ivan before the game, “Duff’s goal was simply a backbreaker. Now we have to come back here and get into Montreal with at least a split at home.”

Game two in New Jersey opened seemingly where game one had left off, with Arbour’s team playing a surprisingly conservative, slow-paced brand of hockey in the opening minutes. The Devils went on a powerplay at 06:22 after a hooking call to Tod Sloan, but were unable to generate a single shot on goal during the full two minutes, as Le Rocket’s forwards did a terrific job of pressuring the points and breaking up any flow New Jersey might have otherwise established. The game would plod on through the middle part of the period, and looked to be heading into the first intermission tied before New Jersey broke through in the final twenty seconds on a Bill Cook goal after a clever give-and-go between he and longtime Bread Line partner Frank Boucher.

New Jersey would add to their lead just three minutes into the second period, with Mickey MacKay fishing a puck out of a confusion of bodies in front of the Montreal net and flipping the puck into the top corner past a helpless Gump Worsley. Al Arbour and team captain Bernie Geoffrion had a long conversation on the Montreal bench during a commercial timeout, and Le Rocket immediately responded with Howie Morenz converting a rebound of an Ovechkin slapshot, with Geoffrion picking up the second assist. The teams would go end-to-end for a few minutes towards the close of the second, but both goalies stood tall and they went into the lockerroom at 2-1.

Le Rocket came out in the 3rd period looking for blood, and drew it just 1:30 in when Red Sullivan speared Eddie Oatman in front of his own net and was greeted with a face-washing from the normally mild-mannered Eddie Gerard. On the ensuing powerplay, New Jersey were again unable to set up in the offensive zone, and nearly gave up a shorthanded goal as Rick MacLeish tipped the puck to himself past Harry Cameron and came in alone on Glenn Hall, who made a spectacular stacked pad save at the right after a clever feint from MacLeish. Tommy Ivan and Bill Cook then got into a heated exchange on the New Jersey bench that only ended when the Bread Line were called over the boards. Cook immediately demolished Jimmy Thompson behind the net, and nearly set up his brother for the score, but Morenz tied up the younger Cook’s stick at the last minute. Le Rocket would again mount a strong attack behind the relentless puck-ragging of Howie Morenz, and nearly equalized several times in the final minutes, as Glenn Hall was subjected to a barrage of shots. The Devils netminder stood tall, however, and was the difference in the game for New Jersey.

“We’re fortunate to have such a strong goalie,” said team captain Ted Kennedy after the game, “Without Glenn Hall, we’re down 2-0 heading into Montreal and already feeling our backs against the wall.”

“I would give all my Levis pants and my strip club coupons for another opportunity to score on Glenn Hall,” said Le Rocket wunderkind Alex Ovechkin, “In this second game, he was like vacuum cleaner, you know? His glove sucked very well.”

Final score: New Jersey 2 – 1 Montreal
Three Stars: 1) Glenn Hall 2) Bill Cook 3) Alex Ovechkin
Series tied 1-1

 

[Sturminator]

Game Three:

“It iz too bad for ze Devils zat ze refs cannot call ze powerplay for our zixth man on ze ice,” zaid Zerge Zavard, referring to the rabid home crowd in Montreal. And so it was. Le Rocket skated out to a thunderous ovation as Bryan Adams blared from the stadium loudspeakers and fans in the parking lot began burning police cars even before the opening puck drop. Arbour’s men played with fire from the start, with hometown golden boy Howie Morenz converting a Jimmy Thompson feed past a stunned Glenn Hall on the first shift to stake the home team to a 1-0 lead. Le Rocket would double their advantage just three minutes later when Keith Tkachuk skated across the blueline and used Art Duncan as a screen to beat Hall cleanly to the stick side with a 30 foot slap shot. Frank Boucher would stop the bleeding for New Jersey on a nifty tic-tac-toe play with linemates Bill and Bun Cook before Morenz restored Le Rocket’s two goal lead on a breathtaking rush with Alex Ovechkin that developed into a 2-on-none due to the speed of Montreal’s top line duo. The teams would head into the lockerroom after a furious 1st period with the score 3-1 in favor of the home team.

Both teams opened flat in the second period, and scattered boos were heard from the stands after Le Rocket failed to capitalize on an early obstruction call on “Edouard” Ivanov. Word on the street is that a local Montreal radio station, “L’amour baton 96.9”, was offering buy-1-get-1-free coupons to Montreal’s world famous whorehouses to every fan in the cheapseats if Le Rocket could “pound one home in every period”. As the period wore on without further scoring, cheap seat fans slowly worked themselves into a frenzy, and began a delightful chant in English: “Stop ze bleee…ding!...stop ze bleee…ding!” L’habitant lechery was finally given release at 18:23 of the period when Dick Duff banged into the crease and slotted home the rebound of a Busher Jackson slapper through Glenn Hall’s 5-hole. The second period came to a close with the home team comfortably ahead 4-1.

The teams exchanged powerplay goals early in the third, with Kennedy and Geoffrion getting on the board. New Jersey, evidently conceding defeat, upped the ante physically in the third period, and began taking runs at Worsley. Jerry Toppazzini and Vincent Lecavalier came to blows literally on top of Worsley at the end of a goalmouth scrum, followed by Bailey vs. Watson on the very next shift. It was pretty much punch-it-if-it-moves for the rest of the game, with even Arbour and Ivan barking at each other from the opposing benches as time wound down.

“Heeeey…how about that double team me and Howie put on Glenn Hall?,” asked Le Rocket star Ovechkin in the lockerroom after the game, “I don’t think the Devils are ready for this jelly.”

Final score: Montreal 5 – 2 New Jersey
Three Stars: 1) Morenz 2) Duff 3) Boucher
Montreal leads series 2-1

 

[Sturminator]

Game Four:

“You must be prepared to deal with the home crowd when you come into Montreal, and we simply didn’t show up in the first period,” said Devils coach Tommy Ivan before game four, “You have to set the tone early in emotional games. Once it gets away from you, you’re finished. No more questions.”

Looking to silence the home crowd early, the Devils showed a new wrinkle in game four, switching Jack Walker and Vladimir Krutov on the 2nd and 3rd lines and deploying a strong neutral zone trap with Bill Cook and Didier Pitre as the lone forecheckers. Arbour’s team responded by handing the puck to Morenz and Primeau and attempting to stickhandle through the trap, and were rewarded for their efforts at 08:41 when Ted Kennedy crushed Primeau with an open ice hit and quickly hit Pitre as he was cutting inside on Vasko at the blueline. Pitre faked his slapshot, and did a quick backhand-forehand move before firing a wrister past Worsley’s stick side. Undeterred, Le Rocket continued to skate right into the trap, and began to cross the opposing blueline with speed, but were thwarted through the rest of the period by the excellent work of Glenn Hall.

Ivan’s team tightened the game yet again to start the second period, with Ace Bailey taking Pitre’s spot on the second line. “They were basically daring us to attack,” said Howie Morenz after the game, “so we did.” Bailey would make his presence felt in short order, leveling Jackson at center ice after jumping over the boards as Le Rocket tried to take advantage of a line change. In the ensuing melee, former teammates Tod Sloan and Ted Kennedy would throw down in a memorable exchange, with Kennedy eventually beating Sloan to the ice in the left corner as the linesmen were distracted seperating players at the front of the net. As the Montreal stadium crew came out to clean Sloan’s blood from the ice, they were greeted by a shower of boos, which quickly degenerated into a dangerous free-for-all after fans from the upper deck began hurling down unwanted “Celine Dion Day” giveaways. Sixteen people were taken to the hospital with injuries ranging from minor to critical. “I hurt my back trying to pick up a copy of ‘My Heart Will Go On',” said B. Sopel, of Vancouver, British Columbia, “Some ruffian evidently has no taste in music.” One woman in the first deck had an ear cleanly sheared off by a flying copy of Dion’s shrieking 1998 cover of Pink Floyd’s “Brain Damage”, written in honor of Habs great Mike Ribeiro + 2nd round pick. The second period would end without further scoring.

The third period was all Glenn Hall. Arbour’s team made adjustments of their own, and began beating the trap with drop passes to the defensemen in the neutral zone, but it was all for nought once they came up against Hall. The Devils netminder turned aside everything Montreal had to offer, including what looked like a sure goal from Geoffrion on a brilliant 2-on-1 feed from Morenz. Hall read the play correctly, and slid over at the last second to take away the bottom of the net from Boom-boom, who then fired top shelf directly into the goalie’s waiting glove. “Hall stole this one for us, plain and simple. But that’s what you have to do on the road sometimes,” said Teeder Kennedy after the game, “See you back in the Swamp.”

Final Score: New Jersey 1 – 0 Montreal
Three Stars: 1) Glenn Hall 2) Ted Kennedy 3) Moose Johnson
Series tied 2-2

 

[Sturminator]

Game Five:

“Our powerplay needs to improve if we want to get out of this series,†said Le Rocket head coach Al Arbour during the pregame skate, “we need to simply start firing the puck when we have a lane. This is a tremendously talented team, but sometimes we forget that hockey is a simple game. Glen Hall is not an easy man to beat cleanly.â€

With home ice advantage restored, New Jersey opened game five looking to deliver the finishing blow to Le Rocket. Bill Cook set the tone early, catching Howie Morenz with a vicious elbow along the boards behind the Montreal net, and glowering at the Le Rocket bench as he skated by while the Le Rocket assistant captain was being attended to by trainers. Morenz would skate off shakily on his own power and not be seen for the rest of the period. Seizing the momentum, the Bread Line opened the scoring at 12:56 of the 1st period when Bun Cook fired a slapper past Worsley on a long rebound of a Frank Boucher shot. Ace Bailey would extent the home team’s lead to 2-0 five minutes later after a brilliant feed from left wing Jack Walker on a seemingly harmless 2-on-2 situation during a line change. The teams would go into the lockerroom with the Devils ahead 2-0.

Morenz surprised the visiting crowd by coming out for the opening faceoff in the second period, and immediately pulling Frank Boucher to the ice. This sparked an immediate line brawl, with the Bread line eventually getting the better of their Le Rocket counterparts. Morenz was given a 2 minute minor for instigation, but with New Jersey looking to add to their lead on the ensuing powerplay, Wally Stanowski blindly flipped a seemingly harmless puck to center ice which fell directly into the path of a streaking Joe Primeau, who expertly picked it up with speed, danced around a gassed Bill Cook at the end of a double shift, and beat Hall badly with a backhand/forehand deke, finishing into an empty net. Energized by Primeau’s shorthanded effort, Le Rocket upped the tempo and equalized four minutes later on a Howie Morenz laser from the right circle after a nice drop pass following a rush by Jimmy Thomson. With the floodgates looking to open, Tommy Ivan called a timeout. Whatever Ivan said calmed his team down, as the Devils came out of the pause more determined, and the teams played each other carefully until the end of the period.

“Game five is often the decider,†said Le Rocket captain Bernie Geoffrion after the game, “In a tied game five in a tied series going into the third period, you have to give it everything you’ve got.â€

The third period opened with both teams seemingly playing for overtime. Defensemen held back and forechecking was cut down to a minimum as late 90’s hockey returned to the Swamp for the first time in the series. This drew a great cacophony of cheers from the home crowd, who must have sensed in the neutral zone mess a comforting reminder of the good old days. With the exception of a dangerous breakaway by Ovechkin which was expertly turned aside by Glenn Hall, the third period featured remarkably few scoring opportunities, with the players hardly skating at the end as they seemed to be preparing themselves for the inevitable overtime.

With the TV audience heating up a second round of chicken wings in anticipation of a neverending overtime struggle and the Jersey fans just returning to their seats with trays of Bud Light, Bernie Geoffrion ended the drama before it began, following up an Alexander Ovechkin rush with a quick flick over Hall’s right shoulder at 0:35 of the first overtime period.

“The kid came up big for us there,†said Le Rocket coach Al Arbour in the postgame press conference, “At that point in the series, you don’t expect the baby to just blow by a veteran like Johnson, but Ovie knew what he wanted to do. Just a tremendous show of skill.â€

“Yeah, he offered me the puck, and I tried to sweep it away from him. He beat me clean. I can count on one hand how many times that’s happened to me in my career,†said Johnson after the game.

“I gave him the afterburner…like Mig-29 fighter jet. Moose no match for Foxbat!†said Ovechkin after the game, “I am today MVP of additional time period.â€

Final Score: Montreal 3 – 2 New Jersey
Three Stars: 1) Ovechkin 2) Primeau 3) Bill Cook
Montreal leads 3-2

 

[Sturminator]

Game Six:

Facing elimination in front of a hostile crowd in an epic back-and-forth contest, Ivan’s Devils came out attacking in game six, with Ted Kennedy setting up Pitre at 2:34 to put the visitors up early. With the Montreal crowd stunned into silence, Arbour sent out his energy line and Keith Tkachuk immediately took a run at Eddie Oatman, who slid the puck ahead to Lecavalier just before the hit, and sent the center in on a 2-on-1 with Roberts, who converted for a 2-0 New Jersey lead. Busher Jackson would pull Montreal within one on the next shift after barreling his way past Ivanov and stuffing the puck through Hall’s pads seemingly through sheer force of will. After a hectic opening five minutes, the teams would settle down into a more disciplined game, and the period would end with the home team still leading 2-1.

The second period started slowly, with Montreal looking to attack and the Devils attempting to slow the game down, play clean and counterattack. Few quality scoring chances were generated until 16:45 when Eddie Gerard faked a dump-in just past the red line and showed a surprising burst of speed, beating an already turning Stanowski to the inside, skating in on Worsley and then expertly sliding a pass across the crease to Ace Bailey for the easy tap-in. With a two goal lead in hand, Ivan’s team tightened its grip on the neutral zone and frustrated the Le Rocket forwards as they tried to cross the blueline. The period ended with New Jersey firmly in control of the game, 3-1.

“On visiting ice with a two goal lead in the third period – that’s grind it out time,†said Devils’ captain Ted Kennedy after the game, “No screwing around or playing fancy; it’s all about assignments.â€

Following the words of their captain, the Devils set into a hard defensive trap to start the third period, drawing lusty boos from the Montreal crowd as they saw their team repeatedly cut off before entering the offensive zone. But the trap wouldn’t hold. At 9:21, Howie Morenz pulled Le Rocket within one on an unbelievable individual effort. The Comet stickhandled through the neutral zone and faked a dump-in as he approached Harry Cameron at the blueline. Instead of flipping the puck to the end boards, however, Morenz cleverly chipped it just over the defenseman’s head and collected it as he skated by. A backchecking Frank Boucher nearly took the puck off of Morenz’s stick, but the Montreal star was able to use the rolling puck to his advantage and lifted a quick wrister over Hall’s outstretched glove to complete the play. With the home crowd in pandemonium, Arbour’s team poured it on in the final ten minutes, throwing everything they had at the New Jersey goal. Glenn Hall stood tall, however, turning aside strong scoring chances from Geoffrion, Jackson and Toppazzini before Bun Cook managed to score into an empty net with Worsley off for an extra skater.

Final Score: New Jersey 4 – 2 Montreal
Three Stars: 1) Glenn Hall 2) Howie Morenz 3) Eddie Gerard
Series tied 3-3

 

[Sturminator]

Game Seven:

“I’ve been in a few game sevens in my time,” said Le Rocket captain Bernie Geoffrion before the game, “It’s always a test of character.”

They say that big players play big in big games. Never was that truer than tonight. In the deciding contest of a classic series, the big guns for both teams came out blazing. Bill Cook opened the scoring in front of a raucous home crowd on a powerplay at 8:33 of the first, flipping home a rebound of a Harry Cameron point shot to put the home team in front. Howie Morenz responded for the visitors in dramatic fashion, scoring on a patented solo rush while Cook’s goal was still being announced on the New Jersey PA system, and then putting Le Rocket ahead little over a minute later on his next shift, following a Busher Jackson shot during a line change and deking a slap shot, before wiring a shot past Hall off the inside of the far post. With the Swamp in shocked silence, Le Rocket coach Al Arbour put on a rare display of emotion on the Montreal bench, urging his players to raise their intensity level in this do-or-die contest. The first period would end without any more scoring, with the visitors ahead 2-1.

With their season hanging in the balance on home ice, the New Jersey Devils came out charging in the second period, setting up a dangerous cycle in the Montreal zone from the first shift. The home team would carry the play for the first ten minutes, but could not solve Worsley, who made several strong saves, none better than a spectacular glove save moving across the crease on a slapshot from Pitre. The longer Worsley kept New Jersey off the scoreboard, but more the Devils seemed to lose momentum, and Le Rocket began to move more effectively out of their own zone as the period wore on. Bill Cook drew a questionable charging penalty at 16:09 after destroying Ovechkin with a check in the corner, and Montreal put on a puckmoving clinic on the ensuing powerplay, to no avail. Glenn Hall heroically kept his team in the game with a flurry of brilliant saves, and then Jack Walker sprang Cook on a breakaway coming out of the penalty box, which the big winger converted to tie the score with under two minutes to go in the period.

After 400 minutes of hockey with nothing to separate them, the Devils and Le Rocket skated into the third period of game seven knotted at two goals apiece. Surprisingly, both teams came out attacking, and it was only due to the stalwart play of both goalies that neither side was able to break through in the opening minutes of the period. At 5:20, Busher Jackson and Joe Primeau broke skated in on a 2-on-1 against Eddie Gerard, with Primeau flipping a pass over the defenseman’s stick and Jackson ringing his shot off the post. Gerard alertly collected the rebound, and immediately sent Vlad Krutov on a breakaway, but Gump Worsley caught him with a patented stick check and shuffled the puck to safety as the Russian lost his skates and crashed into the goal. The game slowed down at that point, and play got quite chippy in the middle part of the period, with the refs swallowing their whistles and letting the players fight it out. It looked like the series might be headed for sudden death overtime when Bun Cook stripped a puck from Bernie Geoffrion at the Devils blueline and quickly fed his brother at center ice. The big right wing broke in vs. Serge Savard 1-on-1 and made a beautiful outside-inside move, only to have the puck swept off his stick by the defenseman. A backchecking Jimmy Thomson collected the puck and fed a beautiful pass almost backwards to Alex Ovechkin, who one touched it to a streaking Howie Morenz. The Montreal star skated wide around the sweep check of Moose Johnson and then cut inside, firing a shot from a tight angle than beat Glenn Hall just above his blocker to complete the hat trick. With four minutes to go on visiting ice, Le Rocket would hold on for dear life, hardly leaving their zone, and mobbing Morenz at the end as the visitors escaped with the victory.

Final Score: Montreal 3 – 2 New Jersey
Three Stars: 1) Howie Morenz 2) Bill Cook 3) Bun Cook

Montreal wins series 4-3
Series Three Stars: 1) Howie Morenz 2) Ted Kennedy 3) Glenn Hall

 

[God Bless Canada]

Thanks sturm for the write-ups. Thanks BM for a fantastic series. I said earlier I always wanted to face you. Frankly, you were No. 1 on two lists. You were always the GM I wanted to face the most that I haven't faced, because you're the ATD innovator. And you were the guy I wanted to face the least because of BM's wealth of knowledge.

Feels good to win a seventh game. Haven't done that since ATD 6 vs. Nanaimo. Last four series losses have been in seventh games. (Two in the ATD, two in the MLD).

The Battle of Montreal is now set for the division final. Will it be the Habs - the team I've lost to twice? Or will the ATD's biggest rivalry be renewed in an overtalked battle between GBC vs. Murphy?