Unexpected and surprising would best describe Sunday's game between the Devs and the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. The Islanders gave goalie Evgenie Nabokov, the every-day starter, a break and started Anders Nilsson. Nilsson was an American Hockey League call-up after the Islanders have been plagued with injuries at net, losing Al Montoya and Rick Dipietro. That was the first unexpected event. To make it even more shocking, he shut-out the Devils and earned his first career win! On the opposing end of the ice, another shocker occurred. This one was not as out of the blue, but Devils' coach, Peter Deboer, went back to starting net-minder Martin Brodeur. Back-up goalie Johan Hedberg had just blanked the Capitals just two days prior, but I guess that was not enough to earn another start.
Anders Nilsson, the story of this game, is shaped liked a monster. The 6'5" goalie had been rocked in his first NHL start. He allowed five goals in two periods against the Penguins on November 21st. If there was anything about that game that he carried over, it was unnoticeable. He was a gem on Sunday.
Brodeur made just as many saves at Nilsson, 24. However, evidently the Islanders had one more shot and scored. Kyle Okposo, number 21 for New York, put a wrist-shot past and below the glove of Marty Brodeur for his 15th goal this year. Unfortunately, the second period goal was never responded by Jersey. And that was all she wrote.
A factor of the game for the Devils was their inability to stay out of the penalty box, otherwise known as the sin bin. New York drew six Jersey penalties, all two-minute minors. Even though the Islanders never scored on the power-play, it forced the Devils to be one man short for the overall duration of over half of a period. Who knows how many the Devils could have scored if they were even-strength with the Isles for that time-period. Special teams indirectly changed the game a good amount Sunday. They must work on staying out of the box, and focus on a tough matchup coming up. It should be a war against the Rangers on Tuesday.
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