[Devils-list] Pittsburgh

[Dustin Coker]

>
> It's not just this game. Look at the last three meetings between these two
> teams. We really could have made a statement against them today.
> Extended our run towards their streak and showed them that we can beat
> them and the Devils really dropped the ball. I never said we sucked or
> weren't going anywhere. I just said that based on the way we have played
> against them I'd take Pittsburgh is a series against us.  This is the only
> Eastern Conf team I fear. We have not shown that we can beat them with
> Lemieux (the 9-0 drubbing was before he came back).
>
>
Indeed!  If the argument here is over the way we play vs. just the Pens, I
have to agree.  And Lemieux hasn't even been a factor in their wins, and
that is what is scary as far as a playoff series with them goes.  Straka and
Kovalev go off on us almost every time except the 9-0 island.  In a seven
game series, you know that Jagr and The Plumber can't be held at bay for
long.  I thought that we had them where we wanted them, esp. with the Kov
suspension and the fact that the Whaler-Canes zapped 'em 5-3 in their last
game.  But Robinson knows that we lost a five game series with them, and I
feel that he and the staff will have a game plan ready if we face them in
the playoffs.  That doesn't mean that a series with them doesn't make me
nervous.  Better to fall asleep now than when it really counts.
  From all the articles out there, it seems that the players knew that
history was being made, but didn't really seem to care about it, only about
playing well down the stretch and getting ready for what they hope will be a
return run and not an early ticket to sand and sun.  I agree with Rick, we
needed this reality check, and Pitt's Czechs farm team did the job.