The Moose? The Moose!!!

Martin Brodeur... what else can you say about him?  Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year.  10 All-Star Games.  8 seasons with 40+ wins, most ever.  2 Gold Medals.  3 time Stanley Cup winner.  4 Vezina Trophies.  5 Jennings Trophies.  All time leader amongst goalies in wins and shutouts.  Quite possibly... the greatest goalie of all time.

But what you cannot say is that in the 2010-2011 NHL season, Martin Brodeur has been the best goalie on his team.  That honor belongs to Johan Hedberg, aka "The Moose".  As the Devils stumbled out of the gates and were tied with the Islanders for the least points in the NHL after 20 games with Brodeur suddenly sidelined by an elbow injury, "The Moose" stepped up off the bench and has temporarily rescued the Devils season.  Hedberg and the Devils have won 3 of their last 4 games, accounting for 37.5% of their 8 wins through 24 games.  Most of this is due to Hedberg's brilliance in goal.

Over the past 4 games, Hedberg has allowed only 4 goals and has made 113 saves on 117 shots on goal, an overall save percentage of .966.  2 of these victories have come in the shootout, only allowing 1 out of 7 shootout attempts hit the back of the net.  He defeated both the Philadelphia Flyers and the Washington Capitals, the top 2 scoring teams in the NHL and 2 of the NHL's elites, allowing one goal in those 2 games combined.

The Devils are fortunate to get such great play from "The Moose", because they are still struggling immensely on offense.  Though they broke out for 5 goals against the Capitals, they only scored 1 goal each against the Flyers and the Calgary Flames, leading to 1-1 ties that went to shootouts.  Sandwiched between the 1 goal efforts was a game in which they failed to score against the worst team in hockey, the New York Islanders, in a 2-0 loss.  100 million dollar man Ilya Kovalchuk is only converting on 5.8% of his shots on goal, well below his overall career average of 14.5%.  The team is missing fellow superstar scorer Zach Parise, out until February, and overall the team is shooting a league low 5.9% to go along with their league low 1.77 goals per game average.  While the masters of the neutral zone trap have never been a team marked by their goal scoring, you cannot win with that type of offensive ineptitude.  If the Devils are to get back in the playoff race and fulfill their preseason Cup hopes, they need to pick up the scoring to compensate for when Hedberg starts to play a little less superhuman.

Mark Sanchez has taken the next step

Another game in which sloppy play, blown opportunities, and all around disappointing play highlighted another Jets Sunday.  And, like 7 other times before, the Jets somehow prevailed.  And they did it from the hand of their rapidly improving 2nd year quarterback, Mark Sanchez.  After throwing an almost-certainly backbreaking interception that led to a Texans field goal, Sanchez drove the team down the field 72 yards in 45 seconds with no timeouts.  The drive was highlighted by a 42 yard bomb to Braylon Edwards, followed by a 6 yard game winning touchdown strike to Santonio Holmes with 10 second left on the clock.  Overall Sanchez was 4/5 on the drive, with his incompletion coming on a clock stopping spike.  It was just the latest in a string of Sanchez miracles.

The stats aren't great for Sanchez: 55.2% completion rate, 16 touchdowns to 8 interceptions, and an 81.9 passer rating.  Statistics don't tell the whole story, though.  The overall stats don't, for example, tell you that Mark Sanchez went 9/10 in the final 4 and a half minutes to score 10 unanswered points against the Detroit Lions, tying the game and sending it into overtime... where Sanchez then hooked up with Holmes for a 52 yard pass to set up the game winning FG.  They don't tell you that Sanchez threw the game winning 37 yard touchdown toss to Holmes in overtime 8 seconds before a tie was declared.  Or how the Jets have 3 victories after trailing in the 4th quarter with 5 minutes or less to go in the game. 

Sanchez is throwing 33.1 passes per game in 2010, up from 24.3 passes per game as a rookie.  He has raised his yards per attempt, raised his TD%, lowered his interception percentage, and has compiled more wins as a starter through 11 games than he did in 15 regular season games last year.  What many experts thought would be the Jets undoing has been a strength: The Jets are 10th in the NFL in scoring at exactly 24 points per game, up from 2009's 17th ranking, and the pass offense ranks at 19th... not very high but a giant step from 2009's 31st ranking (second worst only to the Cleveland Browns).  The development of their young, franchise quarterback is the reason the Jets offense has become a formidable unit, and one that has been lethal when it has to be.

Many pundits define greatness as what a player does in clutch moments, when the chips are down.  If Sanchez continues down his current path, he may get there yet.