At the Red Line

Wow two posts in one day!  Have I just seriously jumped on the Devils beat during their time in crisis?  No no, I’m simply waiting for software to finish installing on my reassembled and reformatted PC.

Coach Lemaire tried jockeying around lines, and it did work for a goal, but at the end of 65 minutes, the teams were tied up 1-1.  The loan Devils goal? A nice slap-shot by Brian Rolston.  Thanks to the heads up pass by John Oduya, Rolston took the pass in a near-breakaway play and simply shot it through Buffalo netminder Ryan Miller.

That tied up the game.  Yet again the Devils could not generate the offense needed to score.  It’s now a confidence thing – holding the stick too tight, missing passes and shooting wide.  It’s a funk they’ve gotten themselves into.  It’ll work itself out, I’m sure, so I’m not bringing out the shiny red panic button yet.  (I can’t believe it’s been two and a half years since I broke that out!)

Truthfully the Devils lost this in the shootout.  None of the two Devils who made attempts scored – Zach Parise or Jamie Langenbrunner.  The lack of confidence really showed.  Jamie attempted a fake shot and Miller didn’t budge.  Jamie had no where to shoot and just shot right into Miller.  Parise didn’t do much better, almost skating past the Buffalo goalie while trying to push the puck through Miller’s pads.

The nail in the coffin came from when Jochen Hecht (who I’ve determined has too many h’s in his name) skated towards Brodeur, Marty sprawled across the ice out way too far in a move I can only believe was supposed to be a poke check, and Hecht calmly skated around him and slid the puck safely behind him.

Again, it’s a funk the Devils are in.  I’m not angry, as the Devils have a little wiggle room in the standings.  But I believe I speak for the entire Devils fan community when I say "snap outta this guys!"

For now, we’ll just have to cross our fingers and hope for the best.  I don’t think getting David Clarkson back is going to help our ailing offense, but perhaps when he, and other injured Devils like Patrik Elias and others, return – they will once again play coherent hockey.

GameDay, Rants & Raves

Rumors of my death are quite exaggerated.  I apologize for lack of updates, but at the moment I am trying to put my computer back together after taking it apart piece by piece.  Hard drives – never rule out the hard drive.

In Devils news, they’ve been playing poorly lately.  Perfect time to begin blogging again.  I should really think about praising the team when things are going well.

We can’t point at a million different thing, goalie fatigue is a big topic these days.  But here’s the dirty little secret: I don’t care if Brodeur let in 3 goals or 30 goals.  If the Devils don’t score, there isn’t a chance they will win.  Martin Brodeur’s play isn’t what it was a month or so ago, but that may also have something to do with the fact that his teammates had the puck more often at that time as well.

It sometime surprises me how key a key player is.  We talk about depth and how important it is – and how great the Devils are atop the NHL standings with all their "depth," and then I turn around and the Devils seem one dimensional.

Did I loose my 3D glasses at the movies last week? What happened here?

Chico last night pointed to all the injuries and how the team wasn’t "meshing" well at the moment, but this doesn’t appear to be that much worse then earlier in the season.

I have my own theory, of course: I’m to blame.  I went to opening night and the team stunk.  The game stunk.  It was by far the worst opening night I’ve ever been to.  Then, after a few weeks, things began to pick up.  Now it’s November and things are turning out very well.  All of a sudden, things begin to decline near the end of December, right when I get a couple of pairs of hockey tickets.  Low and behold, I go to a game last Friday, and they stink!

Okay, so last Friday against Montreal wasn’t all that bad, but I’m starting to think I’m cursed.  My next game is the one in March when they are wearing the Red, White and Green jersey’s.  If I were a betting man, I’d bet against them since I’ll be in attendance.

Rants & Raves, The Team

With the recent injury to David Clarkson, you start to worry about the big names piling up in the Injured Reserve list.  Rob Niedermayer, Jay Pandolfo, Paul Martin, and even John Oduya are all out with one problem or another.

A nice update from Rich Chere over at the Star Ledger today confirmed that some of our clientele will be returning to the bench.

Jay Pandolfo practiced today for the first time and appeared to be successful.  He did not take any hits from his teammates, but feels comfortable enough getting around the ice.  Wednesday night’s matchup may be too close for a return, but most likely for a return this weekend against the Red Wings.

John Oduya was slated to also practice his first time today but missed it.  Coach Jacques Lemaire reported he wasn’t ready yet.  He is set to make his practice debut on Tuesday.

Rob Niedermayer is anticipated to play in Wednesday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks – Lemaire reported.

Dainius Zubrus (who I left out of my previous injury report – sorry!) is out with a broken knee cap.  He has no estimated time to return, and I wouldn’t expect to see him back until at least after the Olympics.

—

On a nice side note, Stan Fischler reminded me that the Devils are competing with the Penguins and Capitals for the lead in the East. While that in itself is not too surprising or warrant reminding about, what should be noted is that they are consistently doing it without guys like Alex Ovechkin and Sid the Kid.

How about that?

The Team

It’s been a little while since I last posted, and since the Devils have been fighting a strong battle on ice to keep at the top of the standings, I figure now is a good time to jump back in this!

The biggest story after today is how the Devils continue to perform well even after a number of players sit out injured.

• David Clarkson is set to miss 4 – 6 weeks with a fracture just above his ankle.  This is the Devils most recent loss from the matchup against the Boston Bruins on Friday afternoon.
• John Oduya and Rob Niedermayer have spent their time on the Injured Reserve list and are due to begin practicing on or around Monday.
• Paul Martin has a fractured left forearm which sits in a cast still.  He is still 2 – 3 weeks away from being able to join the Devils in practice.
• Jay Pandolfo, who dislocated his right shoulder when former teammate Mike Rupp knocked him into the boards, may require surgery, but as of two weeks ago, the answer was no.

With all of the injuries, the Devils have made some significant calls to Lowell and have brought up a few from the minors, which has worked out well.

Still anchor players like Brian Rolston, Zach Parise, and Jamie Langenbrunner have kept the Devils from getting in some real trouble.  Additions like Patrik Elias, who recently returned to the lineup from a off-season surgery, has also stepped in and helped out in a big way.

Now getting back to the game at hand, the Devils trounced the NY Islanders with a score of 6 – 1.  I can’t even recall the last time the Devils won with 5 goals in hand, but looking back they did manage to do it three times last season – the most recent being February 28 when they beat the Florida Panthers 7 – 2.

The Devils did not play a very good first period and after 20 minutes found themselves down 1 – 0.  However goals from Mike Mottau and Brian Rolston in the second period gave the Devils a 2 – 1 lead that the Islanders were unable to recover from.

Midway through the third period the Devils scored three times in the span of just 2 minutes.  The goals came from the sticks of Patrik Elias, Zach Parise and Brian Rolston.  Patrik Elias scored again with only 45 second left in the game to get the Devils to 6 goals.

—

Some other points of interest:

• Martin Brodeur broke the all-time minutes played record on Friday afternoon against the Boston Bruins.  The record was announce to the Boston fans when it was broken in the second period, who stood up and cheered for Marty.  Not for nothing, but those are hockey fans.
• Zach Parise right now sits second in the league in shots on goal, only 3 behind Capital Alex Ovechkin.  Zach also currently leads the league in Plus/Minus and has a 10 game point streak.
• The Devils right now sit above the Pittsburgh Penguins for the divisional lead, and have played two fewer games.

GameDay, The Team

So I have to make this quick, but I’ve noticed I don’t post as much when the Devils are doing well… typically the opposite of what most people do.

But seriously, a 7 game winning streak?  9 straight road wins? When did this all happen?

And to top it all off, the Devils find themselves tied for the conference lead with the team they will see next, the Washington Capitals, on Saturday.

I have to say, personally, I’m impressed with their play.  They may not appear like it at all times, but they are consistently fighting.  They are always pushing.  When they get scored on, you hold your breath hoping that they come back to play strong.  The Devils seemed a bit weak after the Penguins broke the 0-0 tie in the first.

But as they have been doing in the past, they are coming back game after game and playing hard and wearing their opponents out.

As I said earlier, I can’t type much at the moment, so I must depart now.  But even with all the injuries and Elias’ slow return, still not at 100%, the Devils are finding ways to win.

Go Devils!

Rants & Raves

The holidays seem to be reaching earlier and earlier in the year.  In fact, I was so busy that I didn’t get to see a single minute of hockey from Friday or Saturday’s game.  Sick, I know.

Nevertheless, even without my persistent cheering/criticizing through my television, the Devils still managed to win.  Go figure.  In fact, they are doing so well, they have just past the Rangers for second place in the division, fourth in the conference.

On a side note, the Devils actually sit third in the conference if you ignore the whole seating arrangement of each division leader sits first, second, and third.

On another side note, the Devils are in some tough company.  Following the rules of my first side note, Atlantic Division teams sit first, third, fourth, fifth, and seventh.

Anywho, so with all of this wonderful play, including a five game winning streak, a perfect record on the road, and even our backup netminder stepping up to win in those back-to-back matchup’s, the Devils seem to really be on a roll.

Oh yeah, and they’ve also been dropping like flies.

Bryce Salvador, who has been trying to injure himself the past few games, finally succeeded on Saturday night "tweaking" his right ankle once again, this time enough to make him sit out for the remainder of the game.  He’s claiming he will be able to play on Wednesday.

Patrik Elias, who came on board for Friday night’s home victory, did not travel with the team on Saturday night.  He should be on the ice for Wednesday night, however.

Paul Martin (fractured left forearm) and Johnny Oduya (lower body injury) will be out for a while, no new news on them.

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Devils will be returning home on Wednesday for a game against the Ducks, and then will also make a quick trip to Pittsburgh to play the conference leading Penguins the following night.  Expect a Broduer/Danni matchup like the past week.

News, The Team

In an effort to continue with the updating of njdevils.info and it’s sibling sites, I wanted to post a quick update as to my status and give you some good news.

First, our hosting provider has moved us to a new, faster, more stable server.  To be honest, our current hosting provider has been better and more reliable than any other hosting provider we’ve ever been on since 2002.  And the fact that they felt the need to move us to something better makes me a very happy customer.

Second, we are a stones throw away from finalizing our Game Day Box Score editor, to help us make all of those wonderful updates I’ve been promising you.  I’m anticipating it to reach completion sometime at the end of this week or the beginning of next week.  Once that has reached completion, it will take me a few days to get this year up to date, and then finalize last year’s box scores – 90% of the data for last year is already in.

Once all of that is done, I will continue to work on what I had discussed previously,

• Upload all missing photos for every game.
• Begin working on videos for this season.  I’ll work on last seasons soon.
• Finish up Members Area and re-create the mailing lists.
• Work on Members Area of the News Center.

Rants & Raves

Complaints from Home Ice aside, the Devils are having great success on the road.  In fact, it’s so good, they are tied for second place in NHL records for most consecutive away wins to start the season with 7.  (First place belongs to the 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres with 10).

The game wasn’t in the Devils pocket from start to finish.  In fact, it didn’t look like the Devils were at the top of their game, missing players like Patrik Elias, Jay Pandolfo, and Paul Martin.

It took David Clarkson, in round 4 of the shootout, to score the tiebreaking goal and win the game for the Devils.  Tampa Bay netminder Antero Niittymaki did an excellent job of keeping the puck out of the net, but one goal by Travis Zajac in the second got the Devils ahead by one.

Tampa Bay tied things up in the third with a rush down the ice.

Overtime came and went without any incident, and the shootout began.  The first three shooters for the Devils were Zach Parise, Jamie Langenbrunner, and Travis Zajac.  No surprise there, except that they all pretty much tried to same type of shot and either missed or hit Nittymaki’s glove.

Martin Brodeur kept the Devils in by stopping every shot that came his way – almost.  The first shot by Andrej Meszaros went past Brodeur but rang it off of the post glove side.

Nevertheless, at the end of three rounds, the shootout score was tied at 0.  Tampa Bay stuck Vincent Lecavalier stepped in for the fourth shot and still could not find the back of the net for the Lightning.  David Clarkons happened to be the Devils fourth – a bit of a surprise as you would not consider him as a forward with the scoring touch.

Clarkson, as you may recall however, was slated to have the breakout season of his career and has shown a more offensive edge with the team, and currently sits third in total points and goals, only being beaten by Zach Parise (6g, 8a, 14p) and Travis Zajac (6g, 5a, 11p).

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Devils next game is at home (sigh) against the Washington Capitals.  The team is looking to get only their second win at home.  Although they sit fifth in the Eastern Conference, only 3 points behind the fourth place Rangers, they will soon be in trouble if they continue to loose at home.

Still, although they have only played in 12 games, their last 10 game record is 8-2-0, the same “Last 10″ record of the Pittsburgh Penguins (who sit first in the conference) and the Buffalo Sabres (who sit third).

GameDay, The Team

I won’t lie, I didn’t catch the whole game.  But from what I have seen, they just are not able to muster anything at home.  They are unbeaten away, but home now they sit at 4 losses and 1 win.

Why is the Prudential Center the worst place for them to play?

It’s just a mental thing.  They come in now with the anticipation of loosing.  You can’t deny the fact that yes, they have had some tough opponents at home to start the season.  But there was very few times in tonight’s game that the Devils looked like they were putting up much of a challenge.

Defensively the Devils were without Paul Martin, easily the Devils number 1 defenseman.  They are also missing Jay Pandolfo

But fact is, they still cannot win at home.  Devils coach Jacques Lemaire doesn’t want the fact that they simply play much better away to get into the players head simply because he doesn’t want them to focus on that from now on.  I think it’s too late.

The Devils need to clean up their play in front of Martin Brodeur.  Martin’s absence cannot mean the end of defense, and based on the fact that Martin was present in the other 3 home losses means that he is not the reason for tonight’s bad game.

I’m not going to dwell on this further.  The Devils will be playing away tomorrow – it is rumored the backup netminder Yann Dannis could take the ice tomorrow, but that would go against what Jacques wanted to do – he was hoping to sure of the Devils defense before he put Dannis in net.  That may not be something that occurs anytime this season, so Jacques may need to break that promise.

GameDay, Rants & Raves

Warning: I’m not happy about this loss.  The following article is being written in this unhappy state and thus may sound like the game was much worse then it actually was.  My bias should be considered when reading.  Thank you for your attention to this warning.

Not much has changed on the Devils front.  In the past 6 games, the Devils have a 3-3 record.

This may not sound too bad, but in the 6 total games, one of them was a great game.  The Devils – Washington matchup was perhaps the best game they’ve played in a long time.  But the wins against the two Florida teams I don’t consider a strong win.  Against competitive teams, like the Flyers, Rangers, and now the Thrasher, the Devils fail.

Yes, Washington I also count as a competitive team – that’s the silver lining to this cloudy season.

Power Play – still sucks.  They went 0 for 6, including a brief 5 on 3.  In fact Atlanta scored a short-handed goal on one of the last power plays the Devils had.

Fact is, they are not getting in the middle of the ice, their passing the puck around looking for an open lane and not making opportunities.  To be successful, you cannot simply wait for a mistake, you must make them make a mistake.

Their over passing lead to the giveaway that eventually lead to the short handed goal that did the Devils in during the third period.

Defense – still sucks.  The defense was on their heals while Atlanta passed and skated the puck around them.  One of Atlanta’s goals came from a play in which two Thrashers skated down on one Devils defenseman – Johnny Oduya.  The correct play in this situation is to prevent the pass to the other rushing forward and let the goalie handle the man with the puck.

Instead, Oduya let the pass go right through him, Brodeur couldn’t get over to the opposit side, and the shot went in.  Oduya was spinning trying to recover and never had a chance of helping Brodeur out.

Oduya wasn’t the only man in trouble.  Bryce Salvador (I believe) was caught in an obvious set play in which the Atlanta Thrashers plant a man in front of Brodeur – Antropov, Peverley passes the puck to him, Antropov quickly passes it back and Peverley shot it in to the now out-of-position netminder.  Salvador was the monkey in the middle of this play and literally had his back to the man making the shot because he was too confused as to where the puck was going.

This was just abysmal.  Thankfully, I can’t put much of the blame on Brodeur.  There was a goal by their young draft pick, Evander Kane, who shot one that appeared to drop just below Brodeur’s glove and into the net.  That was, from my point of view, the only goal he should have really stopped.  Say he did, the Devils still lost 3-2.

Penalties – bad penalties – added salt to the wound.  The Devils took way too many penalties, including their third "Too Many Men on the Ice" penalty of the season – giving the Thrasher not just the man advantage for two minutes, but also the momentum.

Colin White took a tripping penalty that was just lazy – in going to reach from the puck, he instead pushes a player’s skate out from under him.

In total, the Thrashers only had three power plays to work with, but the Devils penalty killers let them score two goals.  The Penalty Kill, as crazy as this may sound, didn’t seem that bad to me, but Defense overall needs work.

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The Devils will take the ice again tomorrow night against the Carolina Hurricanes.  There is no word yet on who will be sitting in goal.  Martin Brodeur would love to, and Jacques Lemaire wants to hold off on installing Yann Danis until he’s certain the team can support Danis.

To be honest, the team can’t support Brodeur either right now.  I’d say throw in the backup netminder and give Brodeur a rest.  There’s no need to overwork him this early in the season.  And maybe without the assurance of Brodeur in net the defense will kick it up a notch.  I guarantee if you look at tape from last year, when Scott Clemmensen was in net, the Devils defensemen looked a whole lot better.

GameDay, Rants & Raves, The Team