Road Trip - Ups and Downs

Vol. I, No. 26

Why is it that a team perform well on one night, and then fall apart one night later?

That's what apparently happened to New Jersey's boys on Saturday and Sunday.  On Saturday night, playing in Montreal, the Devils beat the Canadiens 4 - 2. One night later, in Philly, the team fell to the Flyers by a score of 1 - 5 (or 5 - 1, if you are on the west side of the Delaware River).

Both Montreal and Philly are comparable in the Conference standings, now tied at 82 points.  Philly is ahead on the basis of one more win (over the Devils of course).  The competition is between 6th and 7th place - and it is a competition.  Why?

Because whichever team winds up in 7th place will play against the 2nd place Conference team in the first round of the Stanley Cup finals. And that means going up against the Penguins or Devils, as things stand now.

There is also the factor of fatigue.  The Devils always get psyched up to play against Montreal. After all, a healthy part of the team's management - and its premier goaltender - all hail from Montreal.  So it comes as no surprise that the Devils spend a lot of energy playing against the Habs (the Canadien Habitants is their proper, complete name).

So, one night later, against the Flyers, the Devils come out flat playing in a back-to-back game.  They   paid the price.  Not surprising.

The next game is at home against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night. Boston is desperate to hang onto 8th place in the Eastern Conference.  They are being chased hard by the Atlanta Thrashers who are only 2 points behind.  The Thrashers are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games. Look for Boston to come out strong tomorrow night in Newark.

Hockey Rules.