Battle on the Hudson by Tim Sullivan

Author:Tim Sullivan [Sullivan, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Triumph Books
Published: 2012-09-20T05:00:00+00:00

• The Rangers had only lost three in a row twice during the regular season

• The Rangers still had only lost four postseason games total across three series

• The Rangers, if you combined the regular season with this series, were still 8–3 against the Devils

While all of those factors could help motivate the Rangers, it was hard to think the Devils wouldn’t be prepared for anything, knowing they had two chances to win one game to get to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time.

“It’s hard to say, because you know it’s such a cliché, but we really thought about things as one game as a time. We didn’t look very far down the road,” Randy McKay said. “The next game was the new game to worry about, and there really wasn’t any time to look at the future and the past. Lou and Jacques would not stand for that.”

As the final seconds ticked away, MacLean threw a shot in from center ice, which was stopped by Richter, and finally, it was over. It was so silent—and empty—in the stands, the television microphones could easily pick up the Devils celebrating on the ice.

And who was the first one to hug Brodeur? Nicholls, who bounced back from the suspension in grand fashion, and operated as if directed by a higher power on this night. Brodeur greeted him, smiled, calmly took off his mask, and went about with his winning tradition. He turned, took a victory drink, put the Gatorade bottle away, wiped off the sweat from his face, and flicked it to the ice, just like he had with all but one shot during the game. As usual, the Devils were professional in their celebration. Indeed, they were the typical Devils at the end: calm, subdued, businesslike, and ready to play the next game.

“You come in every day, and there is an expectation to uphold, and it’s an expectation and a reputation that we formed internally, inside the building,” said Brodeur, who stopped 25 of 26 Rangers shots on this night. “Sometimes, it’s hard to live up to it, because it’s not an expectation of the fans or the media, it’s an expectation of us, of the management, of the organization. But, without question, it keeps everyone accountable as far as your work habits, and your game preparation.”

But in the end, as great as Brodeur, MacLean, and Chorske all were, the night belonged to Nicholls. Perhaps Don LaGreca put it best when describing Nicholls. LaGreca, a talk show host on ESPN-AM 1050 in New York and one of the radio voices of the Rangers, grew up a Devils fan in Hawthorne, New Jersey. On his way up through the business, LaGreca covered the series for Sports Phone, a retro form of the Internet, if you will, in which patrons would dial a number to hear a sports report from an up-and-coming broadcaster. It was indeed a different time for sports journalism in New York back then, but one LaGreca will not forget, for several reasons.

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