Devils Remain Undefeated After Two games

Wow, where do I even begin?! First things first, the Devils and Flyers both played their bottoms off in this one. I mean, when there are 29 penalties given, adding up to 70 PIMs overall, you have to believe that this win for New Jersey was not handed to them on a sliver platter. So congratulations to the Devils, as the "Marty Marty shut-out" party" breezed pucks by "Bryz" and the Flyers. The pace of the game was very fast, and fighting for the puck was the name of the game. Now "fighting" in this game did not just mean doing it for the puck. Many scrums took part after the whistles in this contest, not to mention a few fights one-on-one. I would even say that the physicality was negative for Philadelphia, because they took two unsportsmanlike penalties and they accumulated more time on the ice for their sub-par special teams.

As I mentioned in the game preview, the Philadelphia special teams have been atrocious. I also stated that a key aspect of the game for the New Jersey is to stay within their game and out of the penalty box. Well that obviously ended up not mattering... While Philly has some very dangerous attackers on their power play, for some reason it has just not clicked yet this year. At the start of the game, even strength, Philadelphia outshot New Jersey by a good margin. Despite the fact that the Devils got an early goal, I feel the Flyers outplayed the Devils to begin the night. Well that all ended once the penalties arrived. Yeah, the Devils committed the first two penalties that were almost back-to-back, but it still changed the game. When the Flyers' power play was unsuccessful on both attempts, the Devils were given another momentum booster on top of their first goal. It was then that the Devils evened the playing field and let the goalies decide the game. Whenever the amount of time players serve in the penalty box is anything like this, the game is decided by two factors. One of them is obviously who can play stronger on the power play or penalty kill, but the more important one is which goalie can stay solid longer.

New Jersey's first tally came from Travis Zajac once again to open the night's scoring. It was only 1:07 into the game when Dainius Zubrus chased his puck into the Flyers' zone along to left-side boards. He then carried the puck around the back of the net and fed a pass to defenseman Bryce Salvador at the high, right point. Salvador took a shot on net that rebounded in front of the net to Zajac who swept up the puck, moved around Bryzgalov, and netted his second goal of the season.

Nearing the end of the first period, Flyers defenseman, Braydon Coburn, committed an interference penalty. New Jersey wasted little time before capitalizing on it, as David Clarkson scored ten seconds later. The power play started in the face-off circle to Bryzgalov's right, where Travis Zajac won the puck back to Marek Zidlicky. Zidlicky passed over to Kovalchuk along the blue line, setting up a shot that went wide left and bounced behind the net on the end-boards. And now this part is very interesting. As David Clarkson skated across Bryzgalov, "Bryz" straightened out his arm to protect his crease, leading Clarkson to knock Bryzgalov's stick out of his hands. Thankfully for the Devils, Clarkson still had his own stick and came out of a small mess behind the net with the puck. Clarkson pushed the puck in the near corner of the net where Ilya Bryzgalov could have had his stick for what I like to call, a "working man's" goal. Leaving twenty-five seconds on the clock before the buzzer to end the first period, Jersey led 2-0.

If Kimmo Timonen did not learn in the past few years to keep Ilya Kovalchuk away from any breakaways or penalty shots, I can guarantee you the lesson has been learned. In the second period, the two vets were one-after-another skating towards the Flyers net. When Timonen, behind Kovalchuk, hooked Kovy forcing a penalty shot, it was now Ilya vs. Ilya. Ilya Kovalchuk got Bryzgalov to drop to his stomach, which just made things a piece of cake for Kovy. Kovalchuk brought the puck to his backhand and then immediately to the inner crossbar inside the goal. That final goal of the game brought it to a 3-0 New Jersey lead.

The Flyers' net seemed "humangous big" to the Devils tonight. Three goals on three shots is what you would see if you looked at the jumbotron after Kovalchuk's penalty shot goal. I would say Martin Brodeur was really something else tonight in his performance, but he is usually this good so it would not be as accurate for this circumstance. Great save after great save, followed by a better save. Thats what he did tonight. It was shut-out number 120 and counting for the future hall of famer.

The Devils next game is at home on Friday, January 25, against the Washington Capitals at 7PM ET. The hunt for 3-0-0 is on! Go Devils!

Rivalry Renewed: Flyers @ Devils 1/22/13

7:30PM ET, Tuesday night will be the first of five meetings this season between the long-time rivals, New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Flyers. The two teams split last year's season series 3-3. This game is the opening home game for the Devils and "The Rock" will be rockin'! After beating the Islanders in a hard-fought game, the 1-0-0 Devils look to build on their performance against a strong Philadelphia team. The Flyers, also known as the "Broad Street Bullies", are 0-2-0 and looking to push the Devils around in their own playground.

The keys to this game will be:
~Ilya Bryzgalov must show up. He has a 3.05 GAA and has not been at all who the Flyers need him to be in these first few games.
~Philadelphia's special teams needs to start working. Their penalty kill is horrendous so far, and their power play is not much better.
~New Jersey needs to start strong, control the pace, and shoot the puck at Bryzgalov.
~The Devils need to stay disciplined against their rivals and stay out of the penalty box. That was a big topic during their playoff series last year.

Without the talent of Flyers forward, Danny Briere, in their lineup due to injury, the Devils will seem a bit tougher than otherwise. Philadelphia's actual "bully", Zac Rinaldo, is questionable to play due to a cut from a skate against the Buffalo Sabres. On the Devils side of things, Adam Henrique is still recovering from thumb surgery and remains out of play.

Devils Deny Islanders On Opening Night

Assistant Coach, Scott Stevens, behind
the Devils Bench

The Islanders are officially the first victims of the 2013 New Jersey Devils. On Saturday night, the Devils traveled into a sell-out crowd of over 16,000 fans at The Nassau Coliseum. Those first 60 minutes of New Jersey Devils hockey in 2013 came with a few ingredients; hustle, aggression, defense, and in the end, a well-deserved two points.

Both goalies played well, and each earned a star in the 3-stars of the game. Islanders goaltender, Evgeni Nabokov, made huge saves to keep his team in contention to win the game. Across from Nabokov, the legend himself, Martin Brodeur, did not show signs of slowing down where he left off last season.

At 14.01 in the second period, the first goal of the game and season for these two teams came off Travis Zajac's stick. On a 2-on-1, Zajac, who recently re-signed for another eight years with New Jersey, received a BEAUTIFUL saucer pass from Ilya Kovalchuk. Islanders captain and defenseman, Mark Streit, lay down between Kovy and Zajac to block the pass. While Streit's maneuver would work against most skaters and force them to shoot, Kovalchuk's passing ability is one many do not have and never will. However, a lot of credit should go to the goal's unsung hero, Henrik Tallinder. The secondary assist getter and defenseman, Tallinder, controlled the puck above the Devils' defensive face-off circles and saw the Islanders were in the midst of a line change. With Kovalchuk waiting to stay onsides at the start of the Isles' zone, Henrik Tallinder rifled him a tape to tape pass covering the whole neutral zone and more. It was from there that the 2-on-1 occurred and was successfully completed. The scoreboard read 1-0 in New Jersey's favor.

With New York fighting to come back and win their opening home game, their efforts paid off at the 7:12 mark of the third period. There was a large battle for the puck in the left corner behind Brodeur, leaving the center of the Devils' zone wide open. Unfortunately for New Jersey, the Islanders came out with the puck and targeted Travis Hamonic who was streaking towards the net for the pass. Hamonic lasered a wrist shot past Martin Brodeur, as he had all the time he needed. His shot beat Brodeur's glove, which is definitely a rarity for shooters against Marty, but you have to give credit to Hamonic's perfectly-placed shot. All of a sudden there was a tied, 1-1, game with just 13 minutes to play.

Turns out, last year's 30-goal scorer, David Clarkson, planned on continuing his scoring ways. Just 65 seconds after Travis Hamonic's game-tying goal, Clarkson sniped Evgeni Nabokov's five-hole with a wrister from the top of the face-off circle on Nabokov's left side. Evgeni was screened completely, and Clarkson's shot made it through many legs before Nabokov's. That was the final goal of the game and the devils had proved victorious to start the season.

Every game of the shortened season is much more important, leaving no room for a slow start. Hopefully the Devils can jump on the Flyers on Tuesday, January 22 at home. Go Devils!

Remember This?

"HENRIQUE! IT'S OVER!"

This is eye candy to get us all pumped for a great year!

HOCKEY IS BACK! Season Preview

Wow, what a frustrating journey. I was not one of the optimistic people who thought there would be a season at some point, but I sure am one of the many ecstatic hockey fans today. I CANNOT WAIT to resume watching the Devils and the NHL.

Now I hate mentioning this, but it will be in my mind the whole year. The Devils lost the hardest working player in the league, their captain, and a superstar all in one package. Zach parise signed a contract with his hometown team, Minnesota Wild, over the offseason. In my opinion the Devils had built their gameplans and play-styles around him. From intensely forechecking, to fighting players off the puck, it was all perfectly resembled by work-horse Zach Parise. You will be missed.

Last season ended with a bummer. Coming up with a loss in the Stanley Cup Finals feels awful. No doubt about that. To put things in perspective, the Devils rolled into the Playoffs as a 6 seed. They defeated their two division rivals in the 5-seed Flyers and 1-seed Rangers. Congratulations to the Los Angeles Kings for an outstanding playoffs. They finished the 1, 2, and 3 seeds in the Western Conference with ease. In fact, the Devils gave them the most trouble. New Jersey brought the series to six games.

The NHL season begins on Saturday, January 19. Martin Brodeur and his New Jersey Devils will take on the New York Islanders at The Nassau Coliseum in Long Island. I am very curious to see what the lines for forwards will be, with a different group of guys. The departures of Petr Sykora, Eric Boulton, and Alexei Ponikarovsky will make things interesting. I believe David Clarkson has to continue his scoring ways and favor that in his play-style. Another question mark I have is who will be line-mates with Ilya Kovalchuk.

Captaincy for the team is up in the air. Zach Parise is gone and the team is in need. Ilya Kovalchuk is the most appropriate and likely for the job, seeing that he is a lead player who will be around for a long time. I would like to watch him receive the "C" and see how he deals with it. Another candidate is Patrik Elias. He has been a verbal leader for quite some time. However, he is aging and the Devils cannot afford to lose another captain soon. The Devils have lost two captains within a very short span of time. Kovalchuk will be here for quite a while, give it to him.