The Devils and Senators have been consistently good for the better
part of a decade. The Senators have finished with at least 90 points
in every season since 1998-99 and have made the playoffs nine-straight
seasons. The Devils also have made the playoffs nine-straight years
and have won two Stanley Cups since 2000.
Not surprisingly, these teams have a healthy respect for each other
and have built their teams along similar foundations of defense and
accountability to fundamental hockey. As a result, this series will
most likely be played close to the vest with every inch of ice
furiously contested.
The teams already have met twice in the postseason -- 1998, 2003 --
and both series were long, and, for the most part, low-scoring. Don’t
expect this one to deviate too far from that norm.
Ottawa, however, plays with the added pressure of knowing it must
get by its nemesis if the franchise hopes to get to the Stanley Cup
Final before its current core is deemed past its prime. New Jersey,
though, will counter Ottawa’s urgency with the experience it has
earned in playing more than 100 playoff games since the turn of the
century.
New Jersey Game Breakers
Zach Parise:
The 2006-07
season has been a coming-out party for the Devils' super sophomore.
That has continued in the postseason as Parise potted a
tournament-leading six goals in the six-game victory against Tampa Bay
in the first round. That mark tied Claude Lemieux’s franchise record
for goals in a series, set in New Jersey’s run to its first Stanley
Cup back in 1995. His emergence makes New Jersey a more dangerous team
with two offensive lines to counter.
Brian Gionta:
After missing
20 of the final 25 games in the regular season, Gionta seems to be
once again finding the form that saw him score 48 goals in the regular
season last year. Gionta has scored four goals in his past three
games, including the series-winning goal Sunday afternoon, to make New
Jersey’s top line the legitimate threat it was for long stretches last
season. Gionta’s center, Scott Gomez, has a playoff-best nine points
so far.
Martin Brodeur:
By his own
lofty standards, the Devils’ all-everything goalie was not very good
in the early going of the Tampa Bay series. He allowed 12 goals in the
first four games as the Devils struggled to find answers to Tampa
Bay’s top-heavy offense. That all changed in the last two games,
however, as Brodeur stopped 63 of 65 shots to help his club pull away.
In his last three regular-season meting with the offensively diverse
Senators, Brodeur has stopped 70 of the 75 shots he has faced.
