Patrik Elias could barely get out of bed six months ago,crippled and weak with a case of Hepatitis A he caught overseas during the lockout.The illness forced him to miss the first half of the season while he got his strength back.
In yesterday ‘s 6-1 mauling of the Rangers in the opening game of the Battle of the Hudson,Elias played with
the strength of an army as he racked up six points.
That ‘s right,he had a hand in every single one of the Devils ‘ goals and almost single-handedly chased the
Rangers out of the Meadowlands with a scary sort of wizardry on the power play in a game referees Paul Devorski
and Brad Meier handed to the special-teams units.There was magic in the red Warrior stick Elias wielded.Everything he touched seemed to somehow find its way into the net behind a dethroned King Henrik Lundqvist.
“I felt nervous,butterflies, excited,” Elias said..”Like it ‘s a playoff game against the Rangers.”
Elias ‘ six points – he scored two goals and dished four assists,three of which were primary helpers – is the second-best output in the Devils ‘ long and storied playoff history.Only the eight points Patrik Sundstrom dumped on Washington in Game 3 of the 1988 Patrick Division Finals ranks higher in the team record books.
“Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don ‘t,” said Elias,the leading playoff scorer in Devils history with 84 points in 103 games.”I ‘m glad they went in.” It was appropriate that Elias,who should receive some MVP recognition for
helping to turn the Devils ‘ season around (they went 30-9-4 after his Jan.3 return), scored the first and last goals
of yesterday ‘s game.Both beat Lundqvist over his deep-fried catching glove, zaps the goalie had no chance of stopping.
Some believe Elias should be the Devils ‘ captain,,that he should wear the ‘C ‘ no Devil has worn since Scott Stevens hung up the skates.Yesterday was the first playoff game the Devils went into since Stevens ‘ retirement,,the
first with his No.4 and Ken Daneyko ‘s No.3 hanging from the rafters overhead. One day,perhaps Elias ‘ No.26 will hang alongside those banners.
evan.grossman@nypost.com
Scoring big
Devils ‘ individual single–game playoff scoring records:
POINTS PLAYER GOALS ASSISTS DATE
8 Patrik Sundstrom 3 5 4-22-88
Patrick Division finals vs.Washington
6 Patrik Elias 2 4 4-22-06
Eastern Conference quarterfinals vs.Rangers
5 Alexander Mogilny 2 3 4-28-01
Eastern Conference quarterfinals vs.Toronto