Smells like home cooking

The Devils were quite upset with the officiating in tonight's 2-1 loss to Montreal at Bell Centre, which allowed the Canadiens to leapfrog over them into first place in the Eastern Conference.

Head coach Brent Sutter didn't waste any time in his postgame press conference getting to the questionable calls by referees Eric Furlatt and Don Koharski against Mike Rupp and Jamie Langenbrunner, which eventually led to Andrei Kostitsyn's winning power-play goal with 5:43 remaining.

"It's a 1-1 game with seven or eight minutes to go in the hockey game and it was taken out of hands, so what are you going to do," Sutter said.

Rupp was called for crosschecking Andrei Markov, though it appeared he merely collided with him. "I thought he went down pretty easily," Rupp said.

And Langenbrunner is still trying to figure out what he did to warrant his hooking call on Saku Koivu.

"Both teams were battling and you hate to see something like that be the deciding factor," Langenbrunner said. "I have a hard time watching it and finding it. I can't remember doing anthing and usually you can kind of tell when something happens."

Although he faces a possible fine from the NHL for criticizing the officiating, Sutter did not hold back.

"Both calls upset me," he said. "The fact that the first call was called five seconds after the incident happens and because the fans yell. If it's a penalty, call it right away. And I just watched the video and i still don't know where the second call came from. To put a team down two men with seven minutes to go in a game like tonight, that's why I don't get paid the big money to be an official."

And Sutter didn't mention that Chris Higgins appeared to be off-sides immediately preceding Kostitsyn's winning goal. But Martin Brodeur did when asked if the officiating was a factor.

"It's always something that's a concern, especially when you miss an obvious off-side call on the goal," Brodeur said. "But it's just a game and there's a lot of missed calls, so you can't worry about that."

John Madden was visibly uspet when asked about the officiating, but held back from ripping the referees. "I'm going to leave that alone," he said. "I really would like to say a lot, but to be honest with you, me saying something and putting money in someone else's pocked isn't what I'm going to do."

The officiating overshadowed that the Devils scored only one goal and have scored just four in their last four games. They've lost three in a row now and are clinging to a one-point lead over Pittsburgh in the Atlantic Division. That could change after the Penguins' game against Atlanta on Sunday.

            

Comments

[Prokat]

We can all get ourselves worked up blaming the referees and the black and white striped Pillsbury dough boy Koharski ET;AL BUT...
Let's not kid ourselves on this blog any further.
NO 'O' means No 'CUP' from this point forward.
More moaning and groaning will do none of us any good. Facts are facts-Right?
We all know what the problem is and somehow the team and especially the coaches have 18 games left to fix it because Lou didn't by last Tuesday. Do you think he'll fire Sutter like he did Julien with a few games to go because they're hopelessly lacking an 'O' that is presently MIA and Lou taking over will make any difference?
HORSEHOCKEY!
I see more of the same since we're trending down to the second worst in in GPG average overall in the NHL just behind Columbus!(Last week we were 23rd overall worst)
WE'RE STILL SECOND BEST IN GOALS ALLOWED!!!!
That boys and girls says it all PLAIN AND SIMPLE.

[Sal from Garfield]

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT
"...To put a team down two men with seven minutes to go in a game like tonight, that's why I don't get paid the big money to be an official."

I'm still upset with the officiating.

Why the hell was elias called for a penalty late in the game?

Why could Marty, in his net, see the offside and the linesman, standing right there, completely miss it??

[Anthony]

on a lighter note, enjoy Springsteen tonight TG, let me know what he plays. I'm hoping to catch him at Nassau Coliseum on March 10th of at Giants Stadium this July

[angie]

The officiating was terrible last night. There is no excuse for missing a clear offsides and calling a hook that never happened. While I agree with Sutter that the team played better last night, I'm with Madden on this one: one goal is not enough to win a game, especially in the Atlantic, where each game matters.

[Devilswede]

This inconsistency on this team is killing me! I just don't understand how this team can go from unbeatable one week to looking like one of the worst teams the next one....I just don't get it.

[angie]

You can only blame the coaches so much. The rest is up to the players. They're grown men who've been playing hockey since their childhoods. They know what it takes to win and what makes a great hockey team. It's not upto the coaches to instill that in the players. The players have to be held accountable for what they do on the ice, and I feel that Sutter's done a good job with that.

TG: is there a possibility that Sutter could put Weekes in goal on Tuesday? I mean, with the race being so close, I don't see it, but perhaps Sutter feels that it's time to rest Marty a little bit?

[Adam]

TG- was your recap in the star ledger? it wasnt from rich c and it said it was from the AP...

[Steve]

A few thoughts

1) We really missed Paul Martin last night.

2) Why isn't anyone down on Rupp for taking a dump penalty? I was hoping for at least a point last night.

3) Why do the Devils dress both Rupp and Asham against a speed team? I would have gone with 7 defenseman in that game.

And it wouldn't be my post if I didn't make this suggestion.

Lou -PLEASE BRING UP VRANA AND GIVE HIM A SHOT ON THE TOP 2 lines.

Why isn't Langenbruner manning the point on the PP? It sees like the only way we created 2 on 1's down low was when he was manning the point.

Lou - When you play teams like the Habs, Capitals and Penguins, it's all about speed.

Must points coming up against Toronto and Tampa -plenty of time for Vrana to get some practice in.

[Evans]

i think sutter hsold sit ppl and call ppl up from lowel to get the guys hyped and wanting to play more

[Xander Crews]

Vrana IS NOT GOOD!!! God people get over him, this is his first even decent year (not even that good) and that on a team with no talent so its not hard for him to outshine the rest of them by alittle.

Jesus id rather find a way to call up Hasilchuk if your just going to have crazy fantasy dreams about a player making an impact.

Vrana is a 4rd liner at best right now, sorry just stop begging for him.

[Brian]

Xander, I take it you don't follow Lowell at all. I agree, Vrana can't help the Devils this year. People should stop begging for him. However, I think he can be a solid second/third line player for the Devils as soon as next year. He is having a great year in Lowell given the quality of the other players on the team that he has to work with. He is a strong passer, great on the power play, a great skater, and made the all-star game this year. He also Captained the Czech junior team a couple of years ago to a bronze medal, so we know he must be a decent leader. Vrana has a solid future ahead of him in NJ. He isn't going to be a star, but he is going to be a solid player for years to come. With players like Elias, Parise, and Zajac around and going to be around for some time, Vrana won't have to be a start to help out in the future. So to say he sucks shows pure ignorance on your part.

There is no one in the minors or juniors that can help the Devils this year. Put the future is bright for some of the guys in juniors, lets see how some of them adjust when they turn pro to go to Lowell next year. I also wouldn't be opposed to trading Halischuk while he is at the height of his trade value.

[SonicDude]

I think we should all thank lou for entering this season with:

1) a scrub defense
2) no forward that any team is scared of
3) a poor farm system/no '08 reinforcements

and for doing NOTHING at the deadline to address 1) thru 3)

the only things that have us near the top the last 2 years are marty, a defensive system coached by larry robinson and generally poor competition in the eastern conference.

the devils would be getting torched if they were in the west.

[jules]

I wish people would stop blaming Lou for not getting more offense at the deadline. The Toronto Sun reported that Lou was a finalist in the Hossa sweepstakes, but obviously we couldn't match. Same with Campbell. So it's not like he didn't try.

[James]

Brian,

Like jules said, you obviously do not follow any minor league players in the Devils system. Vrana is going to be a solid player when he hopefully gets his chance next year. Halischuk put up great numbers (12 goals 38 assists 50 points) in 36 games this season for the Kitchener Rangers, but he has missed the past 25 or so games with what I assume is an injury. There is no way he is ready to play in the NHL yet. I'm guessing that by next year, Halischuk, Palmieri, maybe Corrente (I say maybe because chances are he's good enough to be on the big club by next season) will be in Lowell and we'll see just how good of prospects they really are. I've said this before, but another under the radar prospect is Tyler Eckford, who was the captain of his BCHL club 3 years ago and put up awesome numbers for a d-man, and has put up great and steadily increasing offensive numbers at Alaska-Fairbanks the past 3 seasons(he is currently their leading scorer). He is a big 6'3" 215 lb. defensemen with mobility who I almost guarantee will be a top-4 D-man one day. Still has his senior season to go, so he'll be in NJ hopefully by the start of the '09-'10 season.

[James]

Forgot about Bradley Snetsinger. Has real good numbers (33 goals, 50 assists, 83 points) in 61 games for the Windsor Spitfires this season. Will probably be in Lowell next season as well.

[jules]

@James: Yeah, I agree. Very interested in Snetsinger even though he's an overager. Vasyunov and Hoeffel seem solid as well.

Re: this year's draft, I really hope the Devils can pick up a goalie.

[Xander Crews]

Brian a few things... please re-read my post i never said Vrana 'sucked' like you seem to say i did. Also you may have missed my last sentance where i said Vrana is no better then a 4th liner AT THIS POINT. I never said he wont ever help but at this point he wont and it would hurt his development more then anything to push him in the NHL at this point of the season.

Now to Jules and James whoever was talking about Hoeffel and Palmieri whats up with those 2? I havent seen much of them at all and would like to know what someone thinks of them or who the compare to.

[Evans]

jules i agree i hope we pick up a solid goalie in this draft. as well as some more offensive tallent

[James]

Xander:

I do not live in Canada, therefore I have not seen any of these players who play in the OHL (Halischuk, Corrente, Snetsinger, Palmieri). I am going by scouting reports (hockeyfutures.com player profiles) and stats. Palmieri is in the mold of a power forward. He has put up nice goal totals the past 2 years(leads his team in goals scored) on one of the worst teams in the league, Erie. Hoeffel is a freshman at Minnesota, a college hockey powerhouse, and is the leading freshman scorer this season at UofMinn. He is scouted as having great speed and great checking skills as well as a good scoring touch (hence leading freshman scorer at his school), and is in the mold of the next Madden or Pando.

[jules]

@Xander: Palmieri is playing for an abysmal Erie Otters team (Robbie Ftorek is their current coach; he replaced Peter Sidorkiewicz, who is still with the team as an assistant coach). He has power forward written all over him, 25 goals and 14 assists for 39 points, which is not bad considering that he missed a lot of games due to mono/tonsillitis and later a bad sinus infection, plus some family issues. I don’t think he’ll make the big club next year, but another year in juniors and a full year of Ftorek won’t hurt his development at all. The only thing, it seems that he tends to take a lot of penalties (he even fought Snetsinger earlier this season), but if he's frustrated it's understandable. The only time I’ve actually seem Nick play was in Trenton at the preseason game (pretty sure he scored a goal and had a couple penalty minutes), but he didn’t look out of place. Once Erie is done, he'll probably go to Lowell and get in some time there.

Mike Hoeffel is a rookie at UMinn and has done relatively well, despite a slow start. He can skate and plays a good physical game. Also, I’m fairly certain that Hoeffel was the prospect who listed the Devils as his favorite team and Parise as his favorite player, but don’t quote me. :) So I'm assuming that he's a hard worker, too.

[Xander Crews]

Alright Thanks guys, i had heard their names mentioned abit and i had never heard any specifics on ther play styles or seen them myself

[Justin C]

i think they should put elias on the point for the pp

[Brian]

James,

I think you misread some of the comments here. Jules never addressed me... If you read my posts I am obviously a big fan of Vrana and the junior prospects. I also follow Lowell closely. You may want to go back and re-read this thread a bit. The only reason I say look into trading Halischuk now is because his value is at a peak. I think he is going to be a solid 3rd line NHLer and it wouldn't be a bad idea to see if he can be packaged for something during the off-season. His numbers are great but tons of guys put up great numbers like that in juniors and it won't translate into the NHL. I'm not too high on Eckford but he should go to Lowell next year. He has nothing else to prove in the NCAA. Also, lets not all get excited about Snetsinger. He is an over-ager putting up great numbers in juniors. He should help Lowell a lot next year but I don't see him with much of an NHL career ahead of him.

Xander,

When you say "IS NOT GOOD!!! God people get over him, this is his first even decent year (not even that good) and that on a team with no talent so its not hard for him to outshine the rest of them by alittle" you imply that you think he sucks. I saw your last part and I do agree with you over that for the reasons I posted before. Vrana should be solid next year but not this year for the Devils.

[mikeford]

no talk of bringing up Bergfors? he IS supposedly our best prospect, though his numbers in Lowell this season are dismal, but that team as a whole is pretty awful anyhow.

[Britdevil]

3 game loosing streak = Devils fans freak out. "We suck and arent going to make the playoffs, yadda yadda yadda....."

Talk about parity.