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!