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Senators-Devils makes for intriguing, contrasting East final

This is a case of the standard bearer of Eastern excellence, the New Jersey Devils, taking on the maturing challenger, the Ottawa Senators.

This Eastern Conference finals matchup makes sense on many levels. First, it pits the top two seeds against one another -- no small feat given the nature of this upset-laden postseason. Second, the Senators and the Devils going head-to-head validates their regular-season performances. Finally, the Devils' and Senators' organizations based their development and subsequent success on building patiently from within.

The Devils have an awful lot to show for their patience. This is their fifth conference finals appearance in the past 10 years. Meanwhile, the Senators have made the playoffs in seven successive seasons, with this marking their inaugural passage to the Eastern championship.

In Ottawa, patience was wearing thin based on local expectations -- relevant or not. If anything, the Sens will be tapping recent experience, while the Devils have a wealth of experience from which to draw.

Interestingly, though, any shared history favors the Senators, both recent and dated. Ottawa handled New Jersey in the regular-season series this year. In 1998, the Senators won their first playoff series ... and the opposition was none other than the Devils.

It all has little bearing on this undertaking. What is pertinent is that both these teams are playing at the top of their games. The series features the dynamic Senators power play trying to key the offense against the stifling Devils penalty kill and top-rated defense. It contrasts the quintessential puck possession, skating, flowing attack of the Senators against the structured, station-to-station approach of the Devils. Not that the Senators lack structure, or that the Devils don’t have speed, it’s just that the Senators try to push the puck up the ice when on the attack, while the Devils rely on defensive discipline to generate turnovers that fuels their counterpunch offense.

And that is precisely what is most intriguing about these two teams facing off for the right to play for the Stanley Cup. Will the Senators continue to display the poise and patience to avoid costly turnovers between the bluelines? And can the Devils muster up enough pressure to feed their own offensive needs?

To that end, the Devils have to get strong defensive efforts from their second and third lines, as well as the second defensive pairing of Scott Niedermayer and Colin White. Unlike the first two rounds -- when the Devils only had to shut down one line -- the Senators have three lines that can score and feature the best collection of right wingers in the game.

White playing the left side, in particular, has to make sound decisions and be a force physically without taking unnecessary penalties and putting the Sens on the power play. Stevens alone won’t be enough against Daniel Alfredsson, Marian Hossa or Martin Havlat streaking down the right side.

At each end, the goaltenders mirror their respective team’s status and position entering this series. The Devils’ Martin Brodeur is highly regarded and rightfully touted as the best in the game. He has been the mainstay and backbone during the Devils’ outstanding run since ’94. Patrick Lalime, on the other hand, is in the process of building his resume. Both were All-Stars this year, and Lalime’s consistency has slowly but surely garnered him grudging credibility. A trip to the finals will only add to his growing list of accomplishments.

Similarities? Differences? Regardless, the opportunity for both is exactly the same and with that, we can expect an outstanding display of hockey from the top seeds -– an opportunity to glimpse and gauge the best the Eastern Conference has had to offer over the previous 10 seasons against the team looking to prove it has arrived.

 

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