THEY CAME into the playoffs determined to stay out of the penalty box, and when they rolled over the Panthers and Maple Leafs by adhering to a strict code of discipline, the Devils were certainly all the better for it.
But the deeper a team goes in the tournament, the less it has to fear from the referees, who traditionally have let much more go in the playoffs than in the regular season, and now are letting much more go in both conference finals than they did in the early rounds.
The Dan McGillis hit from behind that plowed Sergei Brylin face-first into the boards would have been a double-minor in any game played this season, except in Game 2 of this series, when it didn’t even rate two minutes. Leaping forearms and elbows have been codified as within the spirit of the rules. Obstruction fouls have gone the way of the unmasked goaltender.
There have somehow been only 16 minor penalties and one double minor called in the first three games of this blood-and-guts series that has largely been contested in the trenches, and just 11 power plays arising from the calls. There has been one -count it, one – obstruction penalty, that to Patrik Elias in the first period of Game 1. The league has obviously issued a mandate to the officials not to get in the way, no matter how many players get in the way of the pursuit of the puck.
The Flyers have certainly noticed the sea change, and have thus gone about their business without concern for the constables. Not only have their big men regularly carried their sticks and elbows at a height parallel to where you would look for chips on their shoulders, they’re all routinely interfering with the Devils’ pursuit of the puck on the dump-and-chase, using their sticks to hold up -and therefore essentially nullify – the forecheck.
The Devils, however, have played this series expecting to be rewarded for maintaining regular-season standards. And it’s cost them. While their own forwards are being held up on the forecheck, they’ve been reluctant to interfere with the Flyers’ pursuit of the puck. Their own defensemen, therefore, have been subjected to steady thumping behind the net and in the corners, thumping that has taken its toll. The Flyer defensemen, meanwhile, are having a picnic out there.
We’re not chastising either the Flyers or the league. This is for keeps. This is no place for girlie men. This is no time to look for a bail-out from the officials, which is exactly what the Maple Leafs were doing one round before. This is the time to take a foot when the referees are giving an inch, a time to take a yard when the officials are giving a foot.
“There’s a lot being let go; forearms and elbows up high, clutching and grabbing, stick-holding and interference all over the ice,” Scott Stevens said yesterday. “We’re not a team that does a lot of holding up with our sticks because we’ve been taught that’s supposed to be a penalty. If it’s not a penalty, then we’re at a bit of a disadvantage.
“We’d like to see more called but we’re not expecting it to happen. So we have to adjust to the little bit more leeway that’s allowed and play intelligently under those circumstances.”
This is the time for the Devils to smarten up and stop looking over their shoulders at the officials, time for the team that has killed 29 straight penalties and 39 of 40 throughout the tournament to play with abandon even while playing within a system. This is the time for snarl, with Game 4 coming up at the Meadowlands tonight and the Devils in a whole lot of trouble.
This is the time for the Devils to get their passion level in line with what’s at stake here, to play to the standard the Flyers have established in winning two straight to take command of this series. If there’s a wall out there, it appears the Devils have hit it. If there’s a wall out there, it appears the Flyers are skating right through it.
Claude Lemeiux had John LeClair lined up midway through Thursday’s Game 3 second period and caught a vicious elbow to the face for his trouble. Players don’t take hits now; they use their armor to fend them off. Once was the time that a player was rewarded for taking a hit to make a play; now, players send messages to those who would dare come at them.
“You see guys who are 6-4 and love to do that; they won’t take a hit clean,” Stevens said. “It’s gotten to be like that a bit throughout the league.
“It’s frustrating to go deliver a hit and have that. What happened [Thursday] night with the hit on Pep was more than frustrating. That was dangerous.”
What happened Thursday night was hockey the way it is played in the conference finals. What happened Thursday night was the Flyers playing it with more intelligence and commitment than the Devils.
If the Devils expect to win tonight and get themselves back into the series, it cannot happen again.