Tuesday night was different.
The Devils put six goals into the opposing net. Columbus scored three times, but it was not enough to overcome the onslaught.
The home team went from one goal in two games, to six goals in one game. After a drought of 0 for 17 on the power play, New Jersey's team managed to score three power play goals, out of six man-advantage opportunities. That's 50% production on the power play. Not too shabby.
Obscured by this offensive surge was the fact that in the 72nd regular season game, Martin Brodeur earned his 40th win. This makes eight seasons in his career that Brodeur has eclipsed the 40 wins mark. No other goaltender in NHL history has done this more than three times. The next record for Brodeur is the 600 career wins mark. He is three games shy of the mark, with another ten regular season games left. Odds are good that he will surpass yet another record before the playoffs roll around.
But back to offense. How does a team go from night to day? What can explain such variations in scoring? I think we can break the answer down into three areas:
Special Teams Play
The Devils power play has been sputtering for months. There is no lack of goal scoring skill among the forwards, with the likes of Elias, Kovalchuk and Parise. But for some reason, things were not clicking. So the Devils coaching staff resorted to Hockey 101. The team practiced the power play. And, even in the 0-1 loss to St. Louis, the man advantage situations looked better, with more shots and better positioning. But Saturday night, the bounces went the wrong way and Ty Conklin managed to stop everything with the assistance of a goalpost. Finally, on Tuesday night, the practice paid off and the power play shots went in.
Energy
The team had been drained by the Olympic layover, and by a long West Coast trip. Being away from home ice, home practice environment for 25 days takes a toll on mental focus and awareness. All of the leading scorers were involved in the Olympics. I don't know of another team in the league that coupled that break with a long, opposite coast road trip.
Life
One of the newest sparkplugs on the Devils' roster is Ilya Kovalchuk. He is one of the premier scorers in the entire NHL, with 631 points earned in 611 NHL games. Last night, he had a four point game, the 21st time in his career that he has been able to achieve that. Ilya scored a goal and assisted on three others.
Not many players can boast this kind of scoring production. For comparison, here are a few measuring sticks:
Wayne Gretzky - 1.92 (with the Edmonton Oiler dynasty)
Mario Lemieux - 1.88 (with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Jaromir Jagr)
Mike Bossy - 1.50 (with the NY Islanders SC cup winning dynasty)
Bobby Orr - 1.39 (with the Boston Bruins in Cup-winning times)
Sidney Crosby - 1.34 (with the current Penguins and Evgeny Malkin)
Alex Ovechkin - 1.34 (with highly competitive Washington Capitals)
Marcel Dionne - 1.31 (with the Detroit Red Wings and LA Kings)
Peter Stastny - 1.27 (with the Quebec Nordiques and NJ Devils)
Jaromir Jagr - 1.26 (see the Mario Lemieux line above)
Evgeny Malkin - 1.26 (see the Sidney Crosby line above)
Peter Forsberg - 1.25 (with the Colorado Avalanche, Quebec Nordiques)
Ilya Kovalchuk - 1.03 (with the Atlanta Thrashers)
Zach Parise - 0.82 (with the Devils in his 5th season)
Now why the reference to life made above? Because life extends beyond hockey. Ilya has been in a comparative slump, since coming to New Jersey on February 4th. It's possible that he was slightly distracted by the move, new linemates and his VERY pregnant wife Nicole, who was about to give birth to their third child. Fortunately, the baby was born on Sunday night. Son Artem and Nicole are now back home. And Ilya is back to his scoring ways again.
Congratulations to the Kovalchuk family on their newest arrival, and to the team for a decent wake up call at the Rock on Tuesday March 23rd.
Hockey Rules.
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