Metro Pucks Weekly: Blown Leads, a Controversial Call and a Lot of Losses

Our weekly review of the performances of the three local N.H.L. teams.

Grades

Rangers: The win Monday in Winnipeg was quickly forgotten, as the Rangers had a miserable pair of losses to open their schedule at the remodeled Madison Square Garden. They were beaten in every aspect of the game in the second and third periods of a 4-2 loss to Toronto on Thursday. They also blew a 4-1 lead in the third period to Ottawa and eventually lost the game, 5-4 in the shootout Saturday. “Some of the details of our game are still weak,” Coach John Tortorella calmly said after the deflating loss to the Senators. “Until we get the solid foundation of the details, we’ll sputter.” They face a big challenge Monday when the Sharks come to the Garden. Grade: C minus

Devils: After an impressive 3-0 win in Los Angeles on Monday, New Jersey ended its road trip with losses in Phoenix and Dallas. The Devils were unable to score clutch goals in the third period of their losses. Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise, their go-to stars for offense, were both scoreless and minus-2 Saturday in Dallas. Coach Peter DeBoer was very pleased with the effort in Dallas. “I told the guys after the game if we play like that, we’ll win a lot more than we lose,” he said. New Jersey plays the surging Maple Leafs at the Prudential Center on Wednesday. Grade: C

Islanders: They have lost five games in a row, but it was not all bad for the Islanders this week. After getting shut out by the Penguins at home Tuesday, they took a 2-0 lead but lost, 3-2, in the shootout Thursday in Pittsburgh. They outplayed San Jose on Saturday but lost a heartbreaker in overtime when the Sharks scored a power play goal after a mistake by the on-ice officials. The Islanders do not play again until Thursday, when they host Winnipeg. Grade: C minus

Blown Call of the Week

Early in 4-on-4 overtime on Long Island on Saturday, Travis Hamonic cleared the puck off the top of the glass and into the stands. However, the two referees and two linesmen did not see the puck hit the glass and Hamonic was given a two-minute penalty for delay of game. Brent Burns scored for the Sharks 38 seconds into the power play for the win. The decision was particularly galling to the Islanders because the officials met to discuss Hamonic’s clearing attempt and still got it wrong. Under the rules, referees are not allowed to consult video replay for a better look. Here it is:

Metro Players of the Week

Dan Girardi, Rangers; Andy Greene, Devils; Marty Reasoner, Islanders – A loss-filled, star-less week like this presents a good opportunity to salute unheralded players who rarely hear their names called out for the three stars of the game. Girardi continues to play big minutes for the Rangers while Marc Staal is sidelined and management struggles to find defensemen the coaching staff can trust. Girardi played half of the 65-minute game Saturday. Greene, the Devils’ smooth-skating defenseman, had two assists and was plus-5 over three games this week. Reasoner, the journeyman grinder the Islanders signed as a free agent in July, has been a strong penalty killer and was dominant on faceoffs against the Sharks.

Trending

Down: Brandon Dubinsky – This is how badly the season is going for the Rangers’ forward: on Saturday against Ottawa, he created more and was as active as he’d been in any game his season, and he still ended up  minus-2 with two shots on goal in 21 minutes of ice time. Dubinsky has not scored a goal through nine games in 2011-12.

Up: Brad Richards – Although he was outworked by Milan Michalek on the game-tying goal for the Senators, Richards showed signs of life in his offensive game, scoring two goals and adding an assist on Saturday.

Up: Adam Henrique – The Devils’ rookie center has played well since his recall to replace Jacob Josefson. Saturday in Dallas, he won 7 of 11 faceoffs and admirably returned to the game after blocking a shot with his right foot at the end of the second period.

Down: Devils’ “Dirty” Goals – New Jersey scored just six goals in three games this week. A grinding team, the Devils need to crash the opposing net more frequently and with more tenacity.

Up: Travis Hamonic – The Islanders’ second-round draft pick in 2008 has emerged as one of the league’s finest young defensemen in his own zone. Hamonic possesses strength, toughness and hockey sense.

Down: Islanders’ ticket sales – On Saturday, the franchise honored Pierre Turgeon and the rest of the 1993 Patrick Division playoff champions and offered 50 percent off tickets to anyone who showed up in a Halloween costume. Announced attendance was 11,742. For a heavily promoted rivalry matchup against Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Nassau Coliseum was only half full.

This Week’s Head-Scratcher

Islanders Coach Jack Capuano said Evgeni Nabokov, after allowing just two goals in 65 minutes Thursday in Pittsburgh, “was fatigued and not feeling well.” Nabokov was replaced for the shootout by Rick DiPietro, who had yet to play this season. Nabokov said he sustained an injury during the first period, played through the discomfort, but “Jack pulled the trigger” to substitute DiPietro. The Islanders lost the shootout because they failed to score on their three tries while Evgeni Malkin scored on DiPietro. Capuano didn’t come close to making eye contact with reporters in Pittsburgh after the loss, and don’t be surprised if we learn more of this story down the road.

Metro Pucks: A Week of Underachievement, and a Bit of Cheating

Our weekly review of the performances of the three local N.H.L. teams.

Grades

Rangers: What a strange trip it has been. Henrik Lundqvist won the game for the Rangers on Tuesday in Vancouver. They beat Calgary two nights later on a goal with two seconds left in overtime. The 2-0 loss in Edmonton on Saturday? Coach John Tortorella, who refused to take questions from reporters after the game, said the team was bad “from head to toe.” Unless you’re a goaltending aficionado, the Rangers have not been a fun team to watch on this marathon trip to start the season. Still, they won two of three this week. Grade: B

Devils: The week looked promising late in the third period Friday when the Devils held a one-goal lead over San Jose at Prudential Center. But the Sharks scored to tie the game after pulling their goalie for an extra attacker and earned the second point by beating the Devils in the shootout. A night later, the Devils lost, 4-1, in Pittsburgh to a team that manages to succeed without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The Devils need more scoring outside of top talents llya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise and Patrik Elias. Grade: C

Islanders: “Except for the power play, we’ve got a lot to work on,” P.A. Parenteau said after the Islanders lost road games to the Lightning and the Panthers. The Islanders were dreadful for about 50 of the 60 minutes in their 4-1 loss in Tampa Bay on Thursday. In a 4-2 loss Saturday in Sunrise, Fla., the Islanders were inept during five-on-five play. Both goals were scored on the power play, but the Islanders failed to convert during four minutes of power play time at the end of regulation, including almost a minute of five-on-three play. The rebuilding Islanders, supposedly more mature with the addition of five elder statesmen, have to play more confidently and less tentatively on the road. Grade: D

Metro Puck Player of the Week

Henrik Lundqvist, Rangers: When the goalie took himself off the ice in the third period Saturday and word was he was suffering from dehydration, as opposed to a muscle injury, Rangers Nation exhaled. Lundqvist’s team would be worse than mediocre without him. His shutout in Vancouver was spectacular but also typical of how he keeps the Rangers in almost every game.

Dubious Achievement of the Week

Petr Sykora, Devils: Sykora managed to fool the referees in Pittsburgh by serving a four-minute high-sticking penalty called on Patrik Elias. When one of them realized what Sykora pulled – too late, after Elias scored a short-handed goal to tie the score at 1-1 – Sykora apologized and said his stunt was “unrespectful.” Worse, it was cheating and should be reviewed by the league for a fine for the player and his team. Maybe karma already exacted a price. After Elias’s goal, the Penguins scored three straight to win the game, 4-1.

Trending

Down: Brad Richards – The Rangers’ first-line center leads the team in scoring with one goal and four assists, but he has yet to take over a game. Richards will want to show more to the New York area fans when the Rangers start their home schedule Thursday against the Maple Leafs.

Up: Dan Girardi – In the absence of Marc Staal this season, Girardi is averaging 28 minutes a game and performing at a high level for the Rangers. “He can handle it,” said Tortorella, who has no choice but to lean on Girardi.

Down: Frans Nielsen – A strong playmaker, the Islanders’ second-line center has one goal and no assists in six games this season.

Down: Anton Volchenkov – For an annual salary cap hit of $4.25 million for the next five seasons, the defenseman is playing just 18 minutes a game and has not made a major impact in the Devils’ zone.

Theories

Kyle Okposo, the Islanders’ seventh overall pick in the 2006 draft, is a power forward with skill and excellent work habits, but he may have to alter his game. Okposo has just one assist and no goals in the Islanders’ first six games this season. He has yet to reach the 20-goal mark in his young N.H.L. career, in part because shooting accuracy is not his strength. At 210 pounds, Okposo needs to shoot from the perimeter less and crash the opposition net a lot more. Goals scored off shin pads count just as much.

The loss of Jacob Josefson for three to four months with a broken clavicle sustained in the game Thursday hurts the young player’s development and the Devils’ playoff chances. Josefson was one of the Devils’ top three centers and, if Lou Lamoriello is unable to acquire a player in a trade or through waivers, the Devils do not have the depth to replace him.

In Yogi Berra fashion, Ryan Callahan shed some light in a recent broadcast interview on the pressures of being a captain: “I have to focus more on not thinking about it,” Callahan said. In the Rangers’ first six games, Callahan has one goal and no assists.

This Week’s Mystery

On Sept. 30, Nino Niederreiter, a prized right wing prospect who was the Islanders’ fifth overall pick in the 2010 draft, sustained a groin injury. The club said his return to the lineup was day to day. More than three weeks later, Niederreiter has practiced infrequently with the Islanders and, on some days, has not even skated on his own. Like the Rangers regarding Marc Staal’s concussion symptoms, the Islanders have had nothing to say about Niederreiter’s status. Perhaps we’ll learn more this week. His development is crucial to the success of the Islanders’ rebuilding program.

Hedberg Replaces Brodeur and Saves Everything

NEWARK – The backup Devils goalie Johan Hedberg knew for days that he would not be starting on Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings, but he always tries to be ready just in case. The preparation paid off when Hedberg replaced an injured Martin Brodeur, stopped all 16 shots he faced in regulation and two more in a shootout to give the Devils a 2-1 win.

Brodeur, 39, left the game at Prudential Center after the first period with an injury that the Devils called “upper body soreness.” He appeared to injure his shoulder when he lunged across the  crease to make a save on Los Angeles defenseman Alec Martinez midway through the first period. After the victory, Brodeur said team doctors advised him to be cautious and sit out, but he said he was not concerned about the severity of the injury.

Devils fans could exhale over the not-so-bad news, and the praise belonged to Hedberg for saving the night. With 2 minutes 40 seconds left in overtime, Hedberg slid across his crease to stop a slap shot by defenseman Drew Doughty. In the shootout, he responded to goals by teammates Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise with stops on Simon Gagne and Anze Kopitar to earn the Devils the extra point awarded for the victory.

“I always try to stay focused on the bench,” said Hedberg, who acknowledged that playing Monday in the Devils’ 4-2 win over Carolina also helped.

It cannot be easy for a goaltender to enter a game with little time to stretch and no opportunity to warm up by facing a few shots. Hedberg began mentally preparing in the first period, when he saw Brodeur wince in pain during an injury timeout. Hedberg got the call to enter the game a few minutes into the first intermission. Surprisingly, Hedberg didn’t spend a lot of time in the dressing room stretching.

“No, for me, it’s more about preparing mentally,” he said. “I have this little routine I go through, and then I warm up. I get a little nervous, the adrenaline starts creeping in and I get ready to play the game. It felt like it was going to be a close one, so I just went out and tried to have fun.”

Brodeur stopped 15 of 16 shots in the first period, keeping the Devils in the game after they played sluggishly in the opening 10 minutes.

“We’d like to throw that out,” Devils Coach Peter DeBoer said of the poor start. “We talked through a couple of things during the injury timeout while the trainers were looking at Marty. I thought from that point on, we played a better game.”

As for Hedberg, DeBoer said, “To come in cold in that situation and pitch a game like that — both goalies did a great job for us tonight.”

Despite his strong play, Hedberg would have been tagged with a loss if the Devils had failed to win the shootout. Gagne showed Hedberg a few dekes, but Hedberg stayed with him from post to post. When Kopitar lined up at center ice for his one-on-one, Hedberg had a flashback to an earlier encounter with him.

“I remembered Kopitar beating me in L. A. and making me look really bad,” said Hedberg, who has stopped more than 80 percent of his shootout chances in his N.H.L. career. “I wanted to get him back.”

This is Hedberg’s 11th season in the league, yet he had no trouble remembering the details of Kopitar’s one-on-one goal three years ago.

“I try to keep a book on all of the shooters,” he said. “It’s funny. Sometimes I can barely remember anything, but I do remember that. I like the shootout. It’s a fun challenge.”

After Giving His All, Sykora Waits for Answer From Devils

NEWARK — Petr Sykora, a training camp tryout with a Stanley Cup ring, surveyed the Devils’ spacious locker room at Prudential Center. He glanced at some of his younger counterparts. After 935 regular-season and 115 playoff games in the N.H.L., the 35-year-old Sykora offered some perspective.

“These guys,” Sykora said with the smile, “they have no idea how good they have it here.”

Sykora is not a changed man. He always appreciated his time in the N.H.L., especially the 1999-2000 season, when he played a central role in the Devils’ second title. But after a year in which he played 13 games for Plzen, his hometown team in the Czech Republic, and 28 games with Minsk of Russia’s K.H.L., he is a bit more enlightened.

He also smiled a lot more over the last three weeks. Whether or not he won a job and a contract with the Devils, Sykora was going to enjoy the moments: being in the locker room with friends new and old, including Martin Brodeur and Patrik Elias; receiving the best instruction from coaches like Peter DeBoer, Larry Robinson and a former opponent, Adam Oates; hopefully having a talk or two with Lou Lamoriello, the architect of the Devils’ Stanley Cup teams and still the president and general manager.

In early August, Sykora asked his agent, Allan Walsh, to procure an invitation to the Devils’ training camp. “I didn’t want to go anywhere else,” Sykora said. “I told Allan, ‘It’s New Jersey, and I don’t have a backup plan.’”

He played like there was nowhere else he’d rather be, scoring a hat trick in an early intrasquad scrimmage. He scored a goal in his first preseason game, against the Rangers in Albany, and in the Devils’ last, a 2-1 win over the Flyers on Saturday.

Late Saturday night, Sykora did not want to review his performance.

“The puck was going in for me the whole camp,” he said. “I just wanted to do my best, and that’s it. I can’t control what’s going to happen.”

He politely deferred all questions about his roster status to Lamoriello, calling the G.M. “the only one who has my future in his power.”

Sykora should learn his fate by Monday afternoon. There has been one positive sign. Lamoriello hardly said a word to his former and possibly future player during camp.

“I haven’t had any meetings, which I like,” Sykora said. “You are never called for a meeting when you’re playing great or good.”

Short of announcing a new contract for Sykora — which is Lamoriello’s responsibility — DeBoer paid the veteran forward the highest compliment Saturday night.

“I don’t know what else he could do, if you’re going to script a camp for a guy who’s walking on,” DeBoer said. “However it shakes out, I don’t think he can have any regrets about how he played and what he did to earn a spot.”

It sounds like Sykora won’t.

“It was important for me to prove that, in the right situation with the right players, I could still play in this league,” he said. “I believe it.”

But there was something about getting another chance with this team, in the region where he still owns a home.

“New Jersey is my home,” Sykora said. “No matter what happens, it will always be my home.”

After Giving His All, Sykora Waits on Answer from Devils

NEWARK — Petr Sykora, a training camp tryout with a Stanley Cup ring, surveyed the Devils’ spacious locker room at Prudential Center. He glanced at some of his younger counterparts. After 935 regular season and 115 playoff games in the N.H.L., the 35-year-old Sykora offered some perspective.

“These guys,” Sykora said with the smile, “they have no idea how good they have it here.”

Sykora is not a changed man. He always appreciated his time in the N.H.L., especially the 1999-2000 season when he played a central role in the Devils’ second title. But after a year in which he played 13 games for Plzen, his hometown team in the Czech Republic, and 28 games with Minsk of Russia’s K.H.L., he is a bit more enlightened.

He also smiled a lot more over the last three weeks. Whether or not he won a job and a contract with the Devils, Sykora was going to enjoy the moments: being in the locker room with friends new and old, including Martin Brodeur and Patrik Elias; receiving the best instruction from coaches like Peter DeBoer, Larry Robinson and a former opponent, Adam Oates; hopefully having a talk or two with Lou Lamoriello, the architect of the Devils’ Stanley Cup teams and still the president and general manager.

In early August, Sykora asked his agent, Allan Walsh, to procure an invitation to the Devils’ training camp. “I didn’t want to go anywhere else,” Sykora said. “I told Allan, ‘It’s New Jersey, and I don’t have a backup plan.’”

He played like there was nowhere else he’d rather be, scoring a hat trick in an early intrasquad scrimmage. He scored a goal in his first preseason game, against the Rangers in Albany, and in the Devils’ last, a 2-1 win over the Flyers on Saturday.

Late Saturday night, Sykora did not want to review his performance.

“The puck was going in for me the whole camp,” he said. “I just wanted to do my best, and that’s it. I can’t control what’s going to happen.”

He politely deferred all questions about his roster status to Lamoriello, calling the G.M. “the only one who has my future in his power.”

Sykora should learn his fate by Monday afternoon. There has been one positive sign. Lamoriello hardly said a word to his former and possibly future player during camp.

“I haven’t had any meetings, which I like,” Sykora said. “You are never called for a meeting when you’re playing great or good.”

Short of announcing a new contract for Sykora — which is Lamoriello’s responsibility — DeBoer paid the veteran forward the highest compliment Saturday night.

“I don’t know what else he could do, if you’re going to script a camp for a guy who’s walking on,” DeBoer said. “However it shakes out, I don’t think he can have any regrets about how he played and what he did to earn a spot.”

It sounds like Sykora won’t.

“It was important for me to prove that, in the right situation with the right players, I could still play in this league,” he said. “I believe it.”

But there was something about getting another chance with this team, in the region where he still owns a home.

“New Jersey is my home,” Sykora said. “No matter what happens, it will always be my home.”

Emrick, Voice of the N.H.L, Leaves Devils

The best local sports announcers are often as well known and as beloved as a team’s players. Think of Vin Scully and the Dodgers. Marv Albert and the Knicks. Mel Allen and the Yankees. Chick Hearn and the Lakers. Mike (Doc) Emrick became that distinctive figure for Devils fans for 21 seasons.

But Emrick announced Thursday that he was reducing his workload as he nears 65, which meant cutting his ties to the Devils and the MSG Networks. He will remain the lead N.H.L. voice for NBC and Versus.

“I’m not feeble and I’m not hobbling along,” he said by telephone. “I still have the energy. I still love the sport and love any excuse to be inside watching it. But it’s time to look ahead.”

Emrick has pared his Devils duties by five games in each of the past three seasons. He called 59 games last season and nearly that many for NBC and Versus.

“At one point in March, I did eight games in 10 days, all in different cities, and they were all spread out enough that I had to fly to each one of them,” he said. “By the eighth game, I probably wasn’t doing the job I was doing on the first of the eight.”

He grades himself after every game, on a scale of A to C; he lets others assess his rare lesser work.

“I was grading myself honestly, and they weren’t straight A’s,” Emrick said, explaining that getting facts wrong or misidentifying players are among the errors that reduce his grades.

The dual local and national schedules have been the work of “one and a half men,” he said. “Lord knows we don’t want to go to two and a half men.” Seemingly, Emrick was admitting to a lack of tiger blood.

Announcers are often workhorses. In the season after the 2004-5 lockout, Emrick said he called 152 local, national and Winter Olympic games. That same season, his former partner John Davidson called 153. “I don’t know why we did that, but we were invited to do it and we like working,” Emrick said.

Davidson left announcing after that season to run the St. Louis Blues. If Emrick ever had a desire to run the Devils, Lou Lamoriello, the president and general manager, blocked his path.

During Emrick’s stints (from 1983-86 and 1993-2011) as the Devils’ announcer, the team became one of the best in the N.H.L. and won three Stanley Cup championships. Through those decades, he became hockey’s pre-eminent announcer, mixing his appreciation for English, an ability to maintain his composure during the fastest of game sequences and his ability to pronounce the most difficult-to-pronounce names.

He said what he would miss most about his Devils work was the interaction with fans and the team.

“Fans would come up and say hello to Chico and me and suggest things like the naming of a line,” he said, referring to his color analyst, Chico Resch. “And over the past 18 years, my parents died, and we had some significant losses in our family of canines. So many people sent cards. I saved them all. All these tragedies happened during the hockey seasons. To get to a funeral home and see a spray of flowers from the Devils fan club and another from Lou Lamoriello or the Devils players — that’s what I won’t forget.”