Snowman On Fire

It’s time for Devils fans to put on the foil. If you’re a Slapshot fan you get the reference, otherwise put some foil on your knuckles, pull your favorite comfy chair in front of the big screen, and start hollering for the good guys in red and black to score some goals.

Hard to believe it’s been three weeks since I’ve written. In that time the Devils gave us hope, with a nice dismissal of Tampa Bay, some solid defense and a whopper of a Gomer-goal. Then they watched it slip away due to shoddy defense, strange bounces and a general lack of attack.

Here’s what I think.

I think Gomez proves he wants to stay in NJ. He’s playing hard, coming up with big shots (and sometimes even a goal) when it counts, and if he could keep from turning the puck over, the Devils would have a chance. I hope Lou remembers this, win or lose, in July.

I think Rafalski is pricing homes in Edmonton. Turnovers? Lack of pressure? He looks like he’s mailing it in half of the time. Not to put all of the blame on Rafalski, as White looks just as sleepy, and Lukowitch is responsible for more bad icing than a Shop Rite bakery’s remaindered goods department. Hello, defense? Hit somebody. Move the puck. CLear the low slot. Stay at home, and make it count. As the Under Armour ads say, “Protect this house.” Or else Saturday will be the last hockey game that house sees.

I think Jamie Langenbrunner might be the next Claude Lemieux. I hope he gets the angry veins popping out of his neck, there goes the quiet Minnesota boy kind of fire in his butt that he can convey to the rest of the team. He’s John Belushi in Animal House crossed with the weird Jimmy kid who made the killer shots in Hoosiers.

I think Patrik Elias needs to show why he’s wearing the “C”. C’mon, Patty, one goal in nine games? Assists are good, but after eight — yes, eight — shots in Game 4, there wasn’t a single goal to show for it. Don’t be so fancy, just fire the puck at the net. As we tell our teenage baseball pitchers, don’t aim, just fire it in there.

In a possible bad combination of superstition, karma, and swag, I’ll be on a plane to Japan while the game is in progress, and won’t know if the season continues until the wee hours of Sunday morning. But I’ll have on the lucky t-shirt at 35,000 feet while the Bubba will be there to cheer in person. Maybe I’ll even put on the foil, if I can convince the Japan Air Lines flight attendants that it’s not a weird American thing. Well, it is, but it’s what I think that counts.

Streaks begin and end with small things. One shot turns into a goal. One goal turns into a lead, and a lead wins a game. One win turns into a streak. On the other side, one defensive play prevents a goal. One good backcheck starts things the other way. One good play at the point continues possession in the zone. One thing builds on another. This is how streaks, teams, and fan bases are built.

Colin White skated today (that’s from the Newark Star Ledger, not because I spotted his truck in the South Mountain parking lot on a morning coffee run). Lukowich and Klee are better than they’ve played, and need to prove it before this season ends and their contracts look like cap room for Elias and Gomez. The scoring lines need to do just that, and the whole team will build on the little things.

Wednesday night in the Meadowlands. Time to turn this series around. Time to get back to even, one game at a time. Time to see what Big Lou is made of as a coach as well as a GM. I think we might wear our Euro-Elias jerseys, one from the Czech Olympic team and one from Metallurg (the Russian team on which Elias played last year). Have to have the lucky t-shirt underneath, so I’m leaning toward the basic grey Devils model. T-shirt, jersey, maybe even the little Czech flags we waved for Elias in the 2003 playoffs. One thing at a time, even for the fans.

One of my favorite scenes in The Blues Brothers is where Jake and Elwood are riding in their recently acquired police car, and Belushi increduously asks, “You traded the Bluesmobile for this?” “No,” replies Akroyd, “I traded the Bluesmobile for a microphone.”

So far I’ve watched Lukowich take his eyes off of Peter Forsberg while shorthanded, saw Klee watch pucks skip over his stick on the power play, seen the Devils squander a week’s worth of power play opportunities, and observed the Canadiens, Lightning and Thrashers crawling up the Devils playoff tailpipe.

Lou is rolling his lines, trying to find a combination who can score. Yo, Lou, how about a combination who can control the puck at the blueline at even strength?

We traded the Suglo-mobile for this?

A microphone, a la Jake Blues, I could understand. Too bad the microphone isn’t announcing Devils goals.