AP Photo
The common wisdom with any team going into the playoffs is that you don't want to peak too early. Many factors can contribute into this: injury, chemistry, strength of schedule and just plan luck. If players were robots (or at least cyborgs, like the Terminator), then the mental aspect of momentum wouldn't come into play -- have a bad game, shake it off and treat the next game as brand new.
However, we're dealing with real people here with varying degrees of mental toughness. Team history and personal history (and personal demons) can creep into one's psyche, causing doubt. We've seen it all too many times -- when a player or team's confidence drops, everything falls apart, but one good break and that belief comes back. The legs pump harder, the shots seem crisper, the timing...
This whole thing, all the rancor and resentment you get now from John Tortorella vs. Peter DeBoer, really has its roots in a 1982 migration, when the Devils moved from Colorado to Jersey and became the fiscally responsible... more »
onathan Quick carried more than his share of the load to help the Los Angeles Kings advance to the Western Conference Final. Sunday night, his teammates returned the favor. Quick took an evening off from Conn Smythe contention,... more »
Devils-Rangers has a chance to be one of those epic playoff series fans will talk about forever. If only the Rangers didn’t have such an enormous advantage in goaltending. Hey, don’t point the pitchfork at me. This was the... more »
Email
Print
Share