Notebook: Tverdovsky enjoys sticking it to former team
By Wes Goldstein | SportsLine.com Staff Writer
Players rarely admit to any additional motivation when playing against teams that traded them, but New Jersey's Oleg Tverdovsky has no problem owning up to the emotional boost he gets facing the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in the Stanley Cup Finals.
"I don't think it can get more exciting playing in the Stanley Cup Finals against any team, but against the Ducks, maybe I have a little extra edge," said Tverdovsky, who came to the Devils last July along with Jeff Friesen in a deal that sent Petr Sykora the other way.
Tverdovsky, an offensive-oriented defenseman who sometimes struggles in his own end, did not play in eight of New Jersey's nine previous playoff games before the Anaheim series began, but has suited up twice against his old team precisely because Devils coach Pat Burns thought he might be a little more driven.
"I think he'll want to show them something," Burns said before the series.
Tverdovsky didn't cause any problems in the first game of the series, but he made the coach's hunch really pay off in Game 2 when he assisted on New Jersey's first two goals with shots from the point.
Asked if he was frustrated at his lack of playing time in the postseason, Tverdovsky was a little more guarded than when talking about his old team.
"It's my ninth year in the league and I try to control my emotions and stay positive," he said. "We have a lot of good defensemen and depth, and any of us who gets the call gets the job done. It's tough not play, but I just try to work hard all the way through and stay in condition to be ready when it's my turn."
Struck in neutral
Anaheim defenseman Keith Carney says one of the reasons the Mighty Ducks are having so much trouble creating any offense against New Jersey is the Devils' excellence playing in the neutral zone.
Carney says New Jersey is playing the kind of style Minnesota tried in the third round of the playoffs, but obviously far more effectively.
"They have the one forward applying pressure and the other two backing off when we do move it up," Carney said. "We're trying to get the puck in quick and be first on the puck, but their 'D' are allowed to back up because when we make the quick pass up to our forwards, it's the wingers that are playing him."
Carney said that is preventing the Mighty Ducks from using their speed to outrace the Devils defensemen when they chip the puck in.
"The 'D' is already there," Carney said. "We're going to have to find a way to manage the puck better, maybe by taking the ice they give us and just skating."
Total recall
One of the nicest defensive plays in the game came midway through the second period when New Jersey's Jeff Friesen stopped a potential clear break by Rob Niedermayer, pokechecking the puck off the Anaheim forward's stick after he had broken around Devils defenseman Colin White.
Friesen said he was able to react quickly because he remembered Niedermayer using a similar move to score on the Devils earlier this season when he was still with the Calgary Flames.
"It was kind of a broken play because Whitey was flatfooted coming off a change," Friesen said. "(Niedermayer) scored almost an identical goal like that on Calgary so I was thinking he was driving the net. It's just part of all of us contributing to our defensive game."
Since you asked
Anaheim coach Mike Babcock had several things to complain about after the game, notably the way his team was outworked by the Devils, but he refused to criticize the officials even though it seemed like he wanted to.
When asked about a second-period penalty to Petr Sykora, which nullified a Mighty Ducks power play and to many seemed as though the Devils could have been called for diving, Babcock took a pass. On that subject, at least.
"I'm not here to discuss officiating, but there is no question there is obstruction," he said.
