Ken Daneyko knew it before perhaps even the players on the ice did.
“Something is going to happen here,” the former Devils defenseman said after New Jersey made it 3-0 in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference final against the Rangers.
Minutes later that something turned out to be Rangers winger Mike Rupp taking a shot at Devils goalie Martin Brodeur, leading to a raucous scene on the ice and a screaming match between the teams’ coaches.
It is all part of the surreal scene inside the network’s Midtown studio as Daneyko and Rangers legend Brian Leetch watch their former teams again battle for a spot in the Stanley Cup.
“This whole thing is a mind-blower to me,” studio host Al Trautwig says in between the second and third periods, while preparing to lead the 90-minute, 11-man postgame show. “These guys used to beat the crap out of each other and now I got Leetch sitting here saying, ‘Hey, Dayno.’ But getting a chance to watch the games with these guys is amazing.”
And the two could not be more different as they take in the game. Daneyko, who was a part of three Devils Stanley Cup-winning teams, oozes emotion throughout: Celebrating two first-period goals that gave the Devils a lead they would not relinquish, criticizing a sloppy play that led to a Rangers scoring opportunity and nervously waiting out the final minutes even though New Jersey enjoyed a comfortable advantage.
All the while Leetch, who led the Rangers to that 1994 Stanley Cup that included taking out the Devils in seven games, scribbles notes quietly without emotion. The fact the Rangers held a 2-1 series lead at the time helped calm his nerves.
“For me the losses aren’t as hard because I know the series is still going on,” said Leetch, who might be a bit more nervous now that the Rangers trail 3-2 heading into tonight’s Game 6. “When it’s all said and done, one of these teams will be moving on and that will be the hard part.”
“Yeah, if the Devils lose this game and it’s 3-1, and for all intents and purposes it’s over,” Daneyko chimes in.
The closest things get to heated is when Daneyko remarks the Devils have a chance to be the first team to put up four goals against the Rangers in the playoffs as the third period winds down, “not like that’s what the players are thinking about.”
“Not that you were thinking about it,” Leetch responds with a laugh.
Throughout the game, which they started watching in the green room before heading over to the studio for the final two periods, the former defensemen discuss the play, serving as a likely preview for what the postgame show will feature. But the conversation also flows off-topic with the outbreak of broken sticks leading Daneyko to remark how much lighter they are in today’s game.
“You could bench press Mario Lemieux’s stick, it was so heavy,” Daneyko said.
Daneyko warned he is not quite as talkative when the Devils are losing.
“Game 3, I wasn’t saying much,” he said of the Rangers’ 3-0 win. “Obviously, I have a little rooting interest. I can’t hide that after being with the team for 20 years. I say that at the end of the game win-lose, as tough as it may be I will give an honest assessment.”