Once Again, Devils Are Bedeviling

In the wastelands of the Meadowlands, a nearly forgotten team is flourishing.

To the east, the New York Rangers are on a 12-2-1 run. To the south, the Philadelphia Flyers are unbeaten in 13.

The New Jersey Devils? It has been only 19 months since they won the Stanley Cup, but their fame flamed out quickly when they failed to make the playoffs last season, becoming the first team to do so the year after winning the Cup since the 1969-70 Montreal Canadiens.

This season, the Devils have a 20-12-3 record that puts them back among the Eastern Conference’s elite.

“If we keep playing winning hockey, we’re happy,” said winger Brian Rolston. “We don’t care about the notoriety. The Flyers and the Rangers are playing great.

“When we play the Rangers or play Philadelphia, there are quite a few fans here to root for the other team. You’re playing at home, and half the crowd is for the other team. It’s always been like that, for as long as I’ve been here. The Devils are never the No. 1 team--even when we were the No. 1 team.”

The Devils have lost only once in their last nine games, and they are doing it with defense, much as they did during their Stanley Cup run.

They average a paltry 2.71 goals a game, winning by holding opponents to 2.4.

That’s a slim margin for error, and goalie Martin Brodeur keeps it covered. Against Buffalo and dominating goalie Dominik Hasek on Dec. 23, the Devils couldn’t score. No problem. Brodeur made 37 saves for a 0-0 tie.

Tight games are the rule when your offense lacks punch. The Devils have played 12 one-goal games, and won eight. When they score first, they’ve won 19 times, using the slightest advantage to batten down the hatches.

“That definitely keeps the excitement in the game,” said winger Bill Guerin. “That’s the way we want it. We feel like in a close game like that, we’ll come out on top.”

It didn’t work that way last season, when losing raised the tension level among players and with Coach Jacques Lemaire.

“More guys wanted to get their points. It’s human nature,” Rolston said. “We didn’t play our system and we didn’t win.”

They still need more scoring and they’re somewhat unproven this season, losing to Philadelphia and the Rangers in their only meetings, though they own a shutout of Florida. The misery of last season is behind them, however.

“Going into other rinks the first couple of months of the season, people wanted us because we were the best team,” Brodeur said. “At the end of the season, it was, ‘Look at those guys. They were on top, now they can’t even win a game.’ We didn’t have respect. It was tough.”

REALLY FLYING

Philadelphia hardly fell apart without Eric Lindros, going a respectable 12-10-1 as he sat out the first 23 games of the season because of a groin injury.

But with him? It is little short of incredible. The Flyers are 11-2-2 since his return--and the two losses came in his first two games while he was still getting his stamina back.

Lindros has nine goals and 22 points during the Flyers’ 13-game unbeaten streak--the longest in the NHL this season.

Hardly to be overlooked is Lindros’ linemate, John LeClair, who has scored 24 goals and had consecutive two-goal games over the weekend. He has 11 goals during the 13-game streak.

Recently acquired defenseman Paul Coffey said he’s glad he no longer has to try to stop LeClair.

“When he wants to score, he scores,” Coffey told the Philadelphia Daily News. “He’s too big. You can’t stop him when he gets the puck one on one. He beats you any time he wants.”

SEEING RED

Some Russian NHL players were unhappy with Russian Ice Hockey Federation officials after the team’s disappointing World Cup showing, variously blaming General Manager Valentin Sych and Coach Viktor Tikhonov for the outcome.

Detroit defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov has been most outspoken, with searing quotes appearing recently in the Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets.

“Sych appointed himself the general manager, like Brezhnev decorating himself with Hero Stars,” Fetisov reportedly said. “For so many years he has been a sports functionary. He will stay in his office for many years, and the Russian team will keep losing. He and his deputy . . . are not professionals. They only want to grab benefits from the state.”

Such controversy raises the specter of difficulty between NHL players and the Russian federation over the 1998 Winter Olympics, intended to showcase the NHL for the first time.

“There were some problems in the World Cup,” said Mighty Duck goalie Mikhail Shtalenkov, a backup on the World Cup team. “But there’s almost a year left. Maybe someone can say now they won’t play, but it’s over a year until the Olympics.”

The Russian NHL players were unhappy about training in Russia instead of North America, and had problems with accommodations, equipment and their travel schedule. They were eliminated by Team USA in the semifinals.

Whether Fetisov’s comments will affect other NHL players’ thinking remains to be seen.

“He is close to the end of his career,” Shtalenkov said of Fetisov, who will be 39 by the Olympics. “Maybe he wants to be the GM. If Sych is gone, maybe he will be the GM.”

WORTH A REVIEW

Here is an idea so simple, it should be obvious.

Why not set up monitors to allow referees to review plays themselves instead of relying on a video goal judge for the final call?

Give Duck Coach Ron Wilson credit for making the suggestion before the Ducks’ beef on the Rangers’ game-winning goal in a 3-2 loss Friday, by the way.

Video goal judges play an important role, but how difficult could it be to see that the referee also has access to video on complex and crucial calls, instead of conferring at such length by telephone from the ice to the press box?

SLAP SHOTS

St. Louis talked to Jacques Demers about its coaching job for four hours late last week, but he withdrew from consideration over the weekend--perhaps because of money. Still in the mix: assistant coaches Joel Quenneville of Colorado and Paul MacLean of Phoenix. . . . Goaltender Ed Belfour’s situation in Chicago seems to be getting worse, with the Blackhawks reportedly shopping him because Belfour can become an unrestricted free agent after the season and because of his strained relationship with Coach Craig Hartsburg over the goalie rotation. . . . Pittsburgh rookie Patrick Lalime, 22, might prove capable after the Penguins were hit with a double-dose of goalie injuries, losing Ken Wregget to a potentially troublesome hamstring pull last week after losing Tom Barrasso to shoulder surgery. Lalime, 6-0-1 this season, recorded a shutout against Buffalo on Saturday.

The dual coach-general manager seems to be a disappearing breed--witness the firing of Keenan--leaving only Detroit’s Scotty Bowman and the Islanders’ Mike Milbury. That’s probably as it should be. How absurd is it that Milbury has left the team to his assistants to scout the World Junior Championships in Switzerland? Last season, he missed seven games. . . . Milbury apparently doesn’t think he needs much help, firing Assistant General Manager Darcy Regier the day after Christmas, saying it had been difficult to work with the former interim general manager. . . . The Los Angeles area has one winning pro hockey team--the Long Beach Ice Dogs, who are 22-10-7. Center Stephane Morin, formerly of the Quebec and Vancouver organizations but now a free agent, has 39 points in 24 games after being acquired in a trade. . . . Here’s an impressive statistic in the wake of the news that snow postponed San Jose’s game in Vancouver on Sunday: There has never been an NHL snow-out in Edmonton, the league’s northernmost outpost. . . . The game in Vancouver will be made up Jan. 20. . . . Colorado goalie Patrick Roy, Quebec born, purchased the Beauport Harfangs of the Quebec Major Junior League with two partners after the team nearly moved to Lewiston, Maine. Said team official Louise Marois: “Patrick Roy is my new boss.”