And Suddenly the Devils Were a Rival

I get bored watching games against New Jersey. I can't really fault them because it leads them to three Stanley Cup titles and always being in playoff contention, but their style of hockey has always bored me to death. Defensive hockey has always seemed against the spirit of the game to me; to me it's always been about attacking and fighting for the ice whether then sitting back and waiting (hoping) for the other team to make a mistake for you to take advantage of.

This game was not like those games. Sure there were about as many goals as a typical game against the Devils, but there were way more scoring chances and a lot more going on. Above all else, surprisingly, was that people were getting in each other's face and getting pissed off at one another. This is something you expect against the Flyers, Capitals, hell even the Rangers, but the Devils you rarely see this kind of game from them. It was certainly a treat to watch.

First and foremost: Craig Adams got fucking ROBBED. In a game full of emotion, Adams goes in hard on a forecheck and delivers are hard hit to Martin Skoula. Adams gets thrown out of the game and given a five minute major for charging ontop of that. What!? Are you serious!? The refs couldn't be serious because they didn't even know what was going on. From Kevin Gorman's report in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

"The first linesman told me it was icing, which it wasn't," Adams said. "The second linesman told me it was a high-sticking call, which if you watch the replay, I'm about 10 or 15 feet past the linesman before he makes the signal that it's a high stick, so I have no way of knowing it's a high stick.

"As far as I was concerned, it was just a regular forecheck. Somebody told me I jumped and left my feet, which you clearly see that I didn't. So I'm baffled. People can decide for themselves."

OK, I get it, he hit him after the whistle, that's fine, give him two minutes in the box for roughing or charging, that's how it goes. What seems to be the case here is the refs reacting to Adams hitting Skoula on an icing call, which clearly it wasn't. If that WERE the case, then the punishment would fit the crime but it isn't, so I'm so thoroughly confused I feel like the dude in Scanners. I'm sure Adams' mine was similarly blown. So, no Fuck Yeah! Craig Adams! for the rest of the game? You're killing me Smalls.

This started it all off for the Penguins and the Devils and all sorts of insane stuff happened. Mike Rupp slashing the crap out of Martin Brodeur after a whistle, Evgeni Malkin stick fighting with the not as good Niedermayer, and Ruslan Fedotenko of all people riding to the aid and getting his own misconduct, this one only for 10 minutes, though.

The not as good Niedermayer, Rob, seemed to be at the center of the action for an extended period after that. It finally came to an end with him messing with Matt Cooke at the end of the second period, resulting in a fight at the beginning of the third, first, what happened:



And the resulting fight at the beginning of the third:



It must really suck for Cooke haters that he does answer the bell and fight when he needs to. Few remember that Matt Cooke fought Steve Moore in response to Moore's hit on Markus Naslund, which should have put an end to the whole ordeal, before Todd Bertuzzi famously gave the NHL one of its biggest black eyes. Few remember that Matt Cooke fought Ryan Callahan in response to his hit on Artem Anisimov. Few will remember that Matt Cooke will fight someone on the Boston Bruins for his hit on Marc Savard. People only want to remember the hits. That's what makes Cooke different from...oh why not he's in the news now anyway, Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin hits but doesn't answer. Cooke answers, for himself and for others.

However, this wasn't the most insane thing to happen in the game. I've seen a lot of crazy crap when it comes to aggression in hockey, but rarely do you see something as insane as what happened six minutes into the third period:


[AP Photo]



Ridiculous. What's even more ridiculous is Devil fans acting like Kunitz did some heinously dirty play. Chris Kunitz and Ilya Kovalchuk bump, Kovalchuk brings his elbows up, Kunitz gives him a little smack on the shin guards, whatever, it happens constantly. Yet, Jamie Langenbrunner literally tackles Kunitz into the Penguins bench to respond to a very average offense. I'll chalk it up to the game being heated, a playoff style game, and there already being a lot of crap in that game...but, really Langenbrunner?

Well, I suppose at the very least now I have a real reason to dislike the Devils instead of making stretch reasons like they're boring or their hall of fame goalie is a terrible human being who cheats on his wife. No, wait, that second one is a good reason too.