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Pridružen/-a: 13.02. 2019, 03:09
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 Objavljeno: 15 Mar 2019 08:21 Naslov sporočila: The worst season in nearly |
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NEWARK Michael Del Zotto Jersey , N.J. (AP) three decades is just a recent memory, and so is the five-year drought.The New Jersey Devils are back in the playoffs, and again in the hunt for the Stanley Cup. It’s like old times.The Devils completed a remarkable comeback season by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on Thursday night to clinch their first postseason berth since making it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2012.It capped an offseason and regular season that saw general manager Ray Shero reshape half his 25-man roster through free agency, the draft and trades and have John Hynes make all the right moves to keep his team in a playoff position every day of the season.Not bad for a club that won 28 games and finished last in the Eastern Conference in 2016-17.”This is the best, the best,” said veteran defenseman Ben Lovejoy, who won a Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2016. ”My first stint in Pittsburgh and Anaheim and then again in Pittsburgh, I never appreciated what baseball players did. I thought it was stupid when they would come in and have champagne when they made the playoffs. I get it now. Making the playoffs is hard.”The Devils can point to so many players in bouncing back from their worst season since 1988-89. Taylor Hall (39 goals, 54 assists) had a career year that teammates feel merits the Hart Trophy as the league MVP. Top draft pick Nico Hischier overcame a slow start to have 19 goals and 51 points. Free agent Will Butcher set a team record for rookie defensemen with 44 points.The unsung hero was goaltender Keith Kinkaid, who stepped for an injured Cory Schneider and carried the team over the final 10 weeks, going 10-1-1 in the last 12 games and helping the New York-metropolitan area avoid being shut out of the postseason for the first time since the Devils took up residence in New Jersey in 1982. The Rangers and Islanders will miss the postseason.”It’s fun, but playoffs are a new breed,” said Kinkaid, who re-signed with the team in the offseason despite being an unrestricted free agent.There are only two players left from the Devils’ 2011-12 team: defenseman and captain Andy Greene, and Travis Zajac Sam Gagner Jersey , who centers the line Hynes’ uses against the opponent’s top line.While there have been lean years, Zajac said the Devils rediscovered themselves this season. They practiced and played hard, and made sure opponents knew they were in for a battle every game.The results have been a 44-28-9 record that includes a 25-8-9 mark in one-goal games. It was a record that reminded many of the old Devils, a franchise that made the playoffs 20 of 22 times and won three Cups between 1989-90 and 2011-12.This group, however, skates faster and is relentless.Last year, the Devils were disappointing underachievers. Their biggest sin was failing to compete every night. And they paid the price, especially down the stretch when they went 3-17-4.Hynes and Shero changed that. It started with the roster makeover that included the signing of veteran Brian Boyle, and an attitude readjustment.”It’s a different skill set and youth,” said Shero, who also strengthened the team during the season by acquiring defenseman Sami Vatanen and forwards Michael Grabner and Patrick Maroon in trades. ”But they had to fight, they clawed and scraped to get what they’ve got and they’ve earned it.”With a game to play, the Devils won’t learn their first-round opponent until Saturday at the earliest. They are the top wild-card team in the Eastern Conference, and they will at least stay there if they win at Washington on Saturday night. They also could go up or down depending on what Columbus, Philadelphia Womens Devante Smith-Pelly Jersey , Florida and Pittsburgh do.It really doesn’t matter. The Devils are just looking forward to the postseason.”You go into this year thinking it’s going to be a bigger challenge,” said Boyle, who provided inspiration by overcoming cancer early in the season. ”Plenty of people were writing us off. It makes it pretty sweet to clinch. I have just tried to tell everyone: `It’s going to be so much fun. You have never played hockey this fun in your life until you play playoff hockey.”’— BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Jeff Skinner knows how much the Sabres and their playoff-starved fans want him to stay in Buffalo beyond this season.“Ha, ha, I’ve heard,” the forward memorably said with a laugh in December. “I’m having a lot of fun, too.”And yet, two months later, Skinner is nowhere closer to providing anything resembling a definitive answer regarding where he’ll be playing once his contract expires after this season.“The present is still where we are, and that sort of thing will play itself out,” he said Thursday. “I think there’s no point in really talking about it now because there’s nothing really to talk about from me on my end.”Skinner, however, can’t hide his emotions when asked how much he enjoys Buffalo.His eyes brighten and he breaks into wide, toothy smile in saying: “I like it here. Yeah http://www.officialcanucks.com/authentic-adidas-sven-baertschi-jersey , I like it.”Cast off by Carolina as part of the Hurricanes‘ latest rebuilding plan, the three-time 30-goal-scorer and 2011 NHL rookie of the year is approaching career-best numbers since being traded to the Sabres in August.H has a team-leading 34 goals —e three short of matching a career high — and is second in the NHL behind Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin (3 . His seven game-winning goals are second in the NHL and most in Buffalo since Derek Roy had nine in 2008-09. Skinner has been so consistent, his longest goals drought was four games to start the season.And he and captain Jack Eichel have been inseparable on a top line that’s played a significant role in keeping Buffalo in playoff contention in a bid to end a seven-year postseason drought, and on a team that finished last in the overall standings in three of the previous five years.Despite going 11-15-5 since a 10-game win streak in November, the Sabres (28-21-7) already have 63 points — one more than they had last season — and sit 10th in the Eastern Conference, four points behind eighth-place Pittsburgh.The topic of Skinner’s future is once again rising to the forefront with the NHL’s trade deadline looming on Feb. 25, and after Skinner was spotted having a lengthy conversation with his agent, Don Meehan, following a 3-1 win over the New York Islanders on Tuesday.“To me it was just checking in,” Skinner said, referring to the meeting. “No details to discuss. Nothing really to report.”As for the approaching trade deadline, Skinner shrugged and said: “I don’t think about it at all.”It remains unlikely the Sabres will consider trading Skinner by Feb. 25.General manger Jason Botterill told The Associated Press in December he didn’t consider that date as being a deadline for contract talks. And there has been no indication — publicly or privately — that Botterill’s stance has changed since.Botterill has maintained regular contact with Meehan, and has said he wants Skinner to focus on playing and familiarizing himself with his new surroundings. What bolsters Botterill’s hopes is noting how Skinner chose to play in Buffalo by waiving his no-trade clause in a deal the Hurricanes acquired prospect forward Cliff Pu and three draft picks.Eichel laughed when asked if he’s aware of Sabres fans campaigning for Skinner to stay.“He has how many goals, 34?” Eichel said as Buffalo prepares to close a seven-game homestand against the New York Rangers on Friday. “I’m sure Sabres fans want him to stay. I mean, would they want him to leave?”Eichel’s certainly on board Alex Tuch Jersey Kids , too.“I’m not Skins’ agent. I’m not our GM, but he’s been a big part of our team this year,” he said. “You could probably say we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him.”It will ultimately be up to Skinner to decide.One positive is how much the Toronto-born player has enjoyed playing closer to home, and having his family attend games in Buffalo (essentially a two-hour drive) as opposed to Raleigh, North Carolina (roughly a two-hour flight).Coach Phil Housley noted Skinner’s proximity to home and family has provided incentive. And it helps playing alongside Eichel.“Jeff finds that open area, he’s a positional player, and Jack seems to find him in those areas,” Housley said. “They just seem to have a great chemistry together.”Skinner must also weigh what offers he might command in free agency at a time more teams are spending less in free agency and committing more salary cap-space to re-signing their own players.All that can wait.“As a player, you can only sort of control a small number of things,” Skinner said. “For us right now, that’s moving on to tomorrow’s game and getting ready for that.” |
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