Devils' Kovalchuk eager to face Lundqvist
Ilya Kovalchuk handles the puck during the second period of a game against the Islanders. Credit: AP
Ilya Kovalchuk is in the third round of the NHL playoffs for the first time, which for a lesser player would be a nice milestone, barely worthy of note to anyone other than hard-core fans or family members.
But considering the expectations when he came to New Jersey 2½ seasons ago, the size of his contract and the level of his talent, getting this far with the Devils is a big deal for all concerned, including Kovalchuk himself.
"It is special, because it took me 10 years to get that far,'' he said after the team's final practice before Monday night's Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Rangers.
"Now it's my second-and-a-half year in Jersey, and my family is here with me now, we all moved here, and that makes a huge difference for me. Last year, I was without my kids, so it was kind of difficult.
"We didn't start the season real well. So it was an even more difficult time. But then we turned the season on a little bit and felt better about ourselves and we knew this year was going to be totally different.''
It has been for the 6-3, 230-pound Kovalchuk, who finished the regular season with 37 goals and 46 assists in 77 games after ending 2010-11 with 31 goals and 29 assists. Those aren't eye-popping numbers for a guy who signed a 15-year, $100-million contract before last season, but he has played a well-rounded game and bought into the new coaching regime of Peter DeBoer.
Through the first two rounds of the playoffs, Kovalchuk led the team with 12 points, including five goals. One of those was an insurance score in the clincher against the Flyers, a series in which he was hampered by a back injury in Game 1 and missed Game 2 before returning with renewed vigor for Game 3.
Kovalchuk had not won a single playoff series with the Thrashers and Devils before this spring. Now he has won two.
The 29-year-old Russian has credited 40-year-old goaltender Martin Brodeur with mentoring him. One lesson he appears to have picked up is the history and intensity of the Devils-Rangers rivalry. Just in the nick of time.
"You play against them eight or seven times in the same year and they're really close to us, too, and we are close in the standings,'' he said. "And fans always bring this extra motivation. And it's a big event in this area.''
Someone asked Kovalchuk about the book on the Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist being to aim high. Does he plan to alter anything about his shooting in the series?
"I'm pretty sure the goalies watch the videos and they know who they're going to face and do their adjustments,'' he said. "But I think for us, it's going to be very important to create a lot of traffic in front of these guys, because it's not a secret he plays butterfly style and he will go down every time.
"I actually like to play against him. And it's a great challenge to play against the best, and we'll take the challenge any day.''
It's what advancing deep into the playoffs is all about, right?
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