How did the Rangers dominate the Devils in 2008?

[Jdes91]

They were swept by the Devils in 2006... what changed in 2008?

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[SnowblindNYR]

A lot, Drury and Gomez, and no Nylander for one.

 

[Raspewtin]

the 2008 Rangers were low key a very good team.

That 5 game loss to Pittsburgh was absolute bs. Outplayed them 80% of the series.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

the 2008 Rangers were low key a very good team.

That 5 game loss to Pittsburgh was absolute bs. Outplayed them 80% of the series.

I hate to say it because I'll get people with pitchforks but Hank had a very uneven series. Blew a 3-0 lead in game 1 (though it was mostly bad luck) and he was absolutely brutal in game 3, the pivotal game of that series.

 

[Thirty One]

In 2006, the Rangers were really young and overachieved greatly and the bottom kind of fell out late in the season. The Devils were the hottest team in the East, and Jagr, the league's best player that year, was injured.

In 2008, they had the experience of two playoff seasons under them, and had put together a much deeper roster. And Gomez went off on the Devils.

 

[JimmyG89]

Took Gomez from the Devils. Added Drury as well. Shanahan was not on the 2006 team that faced the Devils, but was on this one. Avery was on the team fulltime as well. He was a big piece added up front and did a lot of damage against the Devils that series.

Dubinsky was a good rookie and added depth, playing him with Jagr let Gomez and Drury make the other lines stronger.

The defense was better too. You had a rookie Marc Staal that was added to the group. Fedor Tyutin was coming into his own as a nice middle pairing defender. Girardi became a full time NHL player. They had 3 NHL pairings, no studs, but they could roll their 3 pairs. Paul Mara was decent. The #6 spot was iffy especially after Malik was hurt, but that was about it. Christian Backman was added to help that, but I don't have fond memories of him as a player, but it was for a mid pick.

Hank was solid too, and that Devils series was a good one for him, especially after losing to them in his rookie season. This was also right before he took off and became the guy we knew as the best goalie in the league.

 

[Hire Sather]

I love watching the TSN highlights of Game 5 of NYR/NJ in 2008.

We all watched the game on MSG, but the call by Gord Miller (or Chris Cuthbert? I always get them mixed up) is fantastic

Used to watch the highlights of that game before the start of the playoffs every year

 

[Uncle Dru]

In 2006, the Rangers were really young and overachieved greatly and the bottom kind of fell out late in the season. The Devils were the hottest team in the East, and Jagr, the league's best player that year, was injured.

In 2008, they had the experience of two playoff seasons under them, and had put together a much deeper roster. And Gomez went off on the Devils.

Also think Hank had hip and migraine/vision issues heading into the '06 playoffs. That team less Jagr/Hank was probably closer to the bottom feeder they were expected to be but at least got the organization going in the right direction.

 

[JT Kreider]

SEAN. AVERY.

Also the 2006 Devils were much better and entered that series on like a 13 game win streak. While the 2008 Rangers were much better and had dominated the Devils all season long (I think we went 7-1 with the 1 loss being a shootout on the final game of the season).

I was at Games 1, 2 and 5 and they really were all home games with the last one getting really out of hand.

We also really didnt dominate them. All the games were super close and could have gone either way.

Game 1 was tied 1-1 until about half way in the 3rd when Callahan scored a gift of a SHG that Brodeur fumbled, then Avery buried an open net on a beautiful feed from Gomez in the final few minutes to seal it.

Game 2 again was 0-0 until the 3rd period until a vintage protect the puck turn around j goal from Jagr and a sweet snipe from Avery.

Devils won Game 3 in OT, Staal scored a late goal to win Game 4, and even though we took a 4-1 lead at one point in Game 5 the Devils came back to make it 4-3 and then Lundqvist stopped Clarkson on a late penalty shot before a Dubi empty net to seal it.

Lundqvist was a wreck in the first series but this was the year where he really hit his groove as the goalie who you could count on to take you home late in a playoff game.

 

[FIRE DRURY]

Main reason..? This guy.

 

[JT Kreider]

Main reason..? This guy.

This was actually one of the only (maybe the only) series win where he wasnt the undisputed #1, #2 and #3 star. Gomez and Avery were both better.

Lundqvist giving up that dumb goal from the red line hurts his case. Avery in that series was the best performance from a Ranger forward that entire post lockout era. The Devils were trying to tackle him after goals to take him out lol.

 

[Tawnos]

In 2006, the Rangers were really young and overachieved greatly and the bottom kind of fell out late in the season. The Devils were the hottest team in the East, and Jagr, the league's best player that year, was injured.

In 2008, they had the experience of two playoff seasons under them, and had put together a much deeper roster. And Gomez went off on the Devils.

Also, Lundqvist had migraine problems at the end of the 06 regular season and into the playoffs. He didn't even make it to the end of that series as the starter because of them. I seem to remember there was another injury from the Olympics that hurt the team down the stretch as well. Rucinsky? Maybe it was the Jagr injury you referred to. Memory is fuzzy on that one. I'm also remembering that they lost something like the last 5 games of the regular season. They were first in the division for much of that year. It was like a 9 game losing streak - regular season and playoffs - to finish that year. Might be the most demoralized I've ever been as a fan.

Those were the days where you could only get the home broadcast on Center Ice, so I watched game 5 in the 08 Devils series on the Devils broadcast. That's the famous Chico Resch whinefest about the Rangers fans in the Devils stadium. I still remembering thinking that the 3rd goal the Rangers scored against Pittsburgh in game 1 was going to be a problem. It was too early in the game for the natural response (slightly relaxing) that happens when you go up 3. Sure enough, they blew the game after that.

 

[Thirty One]

Also, Lundqvist had migraine problems at the end of the 06 regular season and into the playoffs. He didn't even make it to the end of that series as the starter because of them. I seem to remember there was another injury from the Olympics that hurt the team down the stretch as well. Rucinsky? Maybe it was the Jagr injury you referred to. Memory is fuzzy on that one. I'm also remembering that they lost something like the last 5 games of the regular season. They were first in the division for much of that year. It was like a 9 game losing streak - regular season and playoffs - to finish that year. Might be the most demoralized I've ever been as a fan.

Those were the days where you could only get the home broadcast on Center Ice, so I watched game 5 in the 08 Devils series on the Devils broadcast. That's the famous Chico Resch whinefest about the Rangers fans in the Devils stadium. I still remembering thinking that the 3rd goal the Rangers scored against Pittsburgh in game 1 was going to be a problem. It was too early in the game for the natural response (slightly relaxing) that happens when you go up 3. Sure enough, they blew the game after that.

Jagr separated his shoulder trying to elbow Gomez in Game 1 of that series. Rucinsky sounds right, but I can't remember that many details.

 

[Ola]

In 2006, the Rangers were really young and overachieved greatly and the bottom kind of fell out late in the season. The Devils were the hottest team in the East, and Jagr, the league's best player that year, was injured.

In 2008, they had the experience of two playoff seasons under them, and had put together a much deeper roster. And Gomez went off on the Devils.

06’ lacked something, the game was a bit different then, more physical and you had to have a more durable team.

But I am not sure if they over achieved, they played some amazing hockey. Ottawa had a sick team that year and I got a few games from that season that I’ve seen again a few times and one of them is against Ottawa in Jan-Feb maybe, and we just pwns them. Our first line was probably the best line in the league.

NJD wasn’t even good that year, they just win that series by putting the skates on the ice. We were still very shaky as an organization. So much booing going on. Jagr was attacked — hard — like every other week for something. I am not sure if we have seen anything like that in a decade.

 

[Tawnos]

Jagr separated his shoulder trying to elbow Gomez in Game 1 of that series. Rucinsky sounds right, but I can't remember that many details.

In looking it up, Jagr got run by Ruutu in the Olympics and pretty clearly had a concussion, even though he didn't miss any time (different era even then). Straka jumped Ruutu in retaliation.

 

[Calad]

Sean Avery.

Next question

 

[Levitate]

NJD wasn’t even good that year, they just win that series by putting the skates on the ice. We were still very shaky as an organization. So much booing going on. Jagr was attacked — hard — like every other week for something. I am not sure if we have seen anything like that in a decade.

In '06 after the lockout? Dude set a goal and points record for the Rangers that year. Rangers were competitive and made the playoffs for the first time in 7 years or whatever. I don't remember much booing or hate for Jagr...the bottom fell out at the end of the season for reasons described above but ultimately that team was mostly a 1 unit team and not much depth.

 

[Machinehead]

I hate to say it because I'll get people with pitchforks but Hank had a very uneven series. Blew a 3-0 lead in game 1 (though it was mostly bad luck) and he was absolutely brutal in game 3, the pivotal game of that series.

This is the correct take, though.

Hank was bad in the playoffs until 2012.

 

[smoneil]

This is the correct take, though.

Hank was bad in the playoffs until 2012.

Well that's just not true. He wasn't as consistent until then, but he was still very good (aside from 2006, when he had the vision issue). He would either be in G0d-mode or "God, no"-mode in those early seasons. His pinnacle was that year after the SCF, where they lost to the Lightning in the ECF. Literally half of the games that post-season, Henrik posted a save percentage north of .950. That's just absurd.

 

[Tawnos]

I'm also remembering that they lost something like the last 5 games of the regular season. They were first in the division for much of that year. It was like a 9 game losing streak - regular season and playoffs - to finish that year. Might be the most demoralized I've ever been as a fan.

I just looked into this...

Not only did they lose the last 5 games in the season, but among those 5 games were losses to both the Flyers and the Devils, who they finished behind by 1 point each.

 

[TheBloodyNine]

Henrik and Avery

 

[JT Kreider]

This is the correct take, though.

Hank was bad in the playoffs until 2012.

He was 7.7 seconds away from taking a 3-2 lead back home against that historic Sabres offense with a defense of:

-Rookie Girardi and Tyutin, a top pairing of Malik and Roszival, and Mara and Pock/Rachunek.

in front of him.

C'mon now

 

[JT Kreider]

Well that's just not true. He wasn't as consistent until then, but he was still very good (aside from 2006, when he had the vision issue). He would either be in G0d-mode or "God, no"-mode in those early seasons. His pinnacle was that year after the SCF, where they lost to the Lightning in the ECF. Literally half of the games that post-season, Henrik posted a save percentage north of .950. That's just absurd.

That 2015 series against the Caps between Holtby and Lundqvist will go down as one of the greatest goalie duels in NHL history.

We completely left Hank out to dry in the 3rd period of Game 6, we were bleeding high danger shots, he had to have at least 20 saves.

 

[Leetch3]

He was 7.7 seconds away from taking a 3-2 lead back home against that historic Sabres offense with a defense of:

-Rookie Girardi and Tyutin, a top pairing of Malik and Roszival, and Mara and Pock/Rachunek.

in front of him.

C'mon now

7.7 seconds away....the moment part of my soul died and i've never been the same

 

[Machinehead]

He was 7.7 seconds away from taking a 3-2 lead back home against that historic Sabres offense with a defense of:

-Rookie Girardi and Tyutin, a top pairing of Malik and Roszival, and Mara and Pock/Rachunek.

in front of him.

C'mon now

And then he got his shit kicked in in game 6.

It's ok to admit Lundqvist is bad when he's bad.