Please excuse Ilya Kovalchuk if his emotions sometimes get in the way of his spectacular moves and blistering shot.
“I’m an emotional guy and I should stay away from some of that stuff in front of the net, but you have to play tough so sometimes things happen out there,” Kovalchuk said.
Players and fans of the New Jersey Devils saw another side of their prized midseason acquisition on Friday night in a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Round at Prudential Center.
Kovalchuk not only produced an empty-net goal, a pair of assists and a plus-2 rating, he also took a game-high six minutes in penalties on the way to earning his first Stanley Cup Playoff victory in six career games.
“It’s nice,” Kovalchuk said of leaving a playoff game as a winner for the first time. “That’s what the playoffs are about. I knew I was going to win at some point. When we come to the rink tonight, we had no doubt in our minds we were going to win. We battled hard; we were down a goal twice and came back to win. It was great teamwork and everyone battled so hard and Marty (Brodeur) made unbelievable save in the third period and (Dainius Zubrus) scored a great goal.