New Jersey Devils Season Log

November 17, 2010

The Devils started their season with a daunting task, a matchup with the defending Stanley Cup Chamipon Chicago Blackhawks. The Devils came in confident that they could start a new chapter in their franchise, boasting a new look behind the bench and a a top line that could have 2 40+ goal scorers in Parise and Kovalchuk. Several players had been quoted as saying they could not wait to lace em' up and hit the ice and start fresh after their disappointing 5 game loss to the Flyers last April.



With all the excitement and anticipation in New Jersey's locker room, the season did not start as anyone had hoped. Just minutes into the first period the "Madhouse on Madison" got rocking when Jonathan Towes deflected a shot from the left point past Marty Brodeur and gave the Blackhwaks an early 1-0 lead. The Devils determined not to let their early hopes fade fast, answered midway through the first when the old combination of Elias and Arnott hooked up on a one timer, giving Elias the first goal of the Devils season and knotting the game at 1.



The remainder of the game was what would be expected from two high quality teams, a defensive lockdown. Brodeur and Turco traded save after save and the defenses prevented any real scoring chances throgh the remainder of regulation. The two best opportunities came in the third when the Blackhawks offeense, which had cycled well all game, got the Devils D out of position, giving Marian Hossa a chance to stuff one home down low, but brodeur slammed the pads together keeping the game tied at 1. On the otherside of the ice, with under 30 seconds to go in regulation, Jason Arnott took a blast from the right point that careened off turcos pad and came to Langenbrunners stick, but was cleared out at the last second by Duncan Keith. The game would head to overtime when Keiths clearing attempt went over the boards, so the Devils would begin the extra session on a 4-3 powerplay.



The Devils poweplay was short lived when less than 1 minute in Ilya Kovalchuk took a high sticking penalty and treated the fans to a rare 3 on 3 situation. The Devils defense really looked sharp limiting any shots from Chicago to the blueline and from bad angles, and survived the 3 on 3 and ensuing Chicago powerplay. Finally the man who could have been the goat wound up being the hero. Ilya Kovalchuk was able to streak out of the penalty box and intercept an errant pass by the Chicago D, and all alone in the slot ripped a laser of a wrist shot over the glove hand of Marty Turco. Kovalchuk sent the soldout crowd in Chicago home unhappy, but sent the Devils into an uproar, ending the game:
New Jersey 2 - Chicago 1

Dang nice man. Just to let you know this is not required but thanks anyways. I thought the goal Turco let in was a softee. As a result, I benched him my next 2 games

No, I just enjoy getting into it, Lots of fun on my end. Kovys goal definitely was not his hardest, I agree, but you'll never see the home town publication admit that

November 27, 2010

Since our last update the New Jersey Devils have played 3 games and the competition has not gotten any easier. The Devils road trip continued with stops in Boston and Detroit before returning home to face the Red Wings in the back end of a home and home.

The second game of the season found New Jersey facing off against Tim Thomas and the always difficult Boston Bruins, and from the opening drop you could see the Devils did not have their skating legs with them. With quick strikes from Nathan Horton, Marc Savard, and Michael Ryder the Bruins jumped out to a 3-0 lead when the horn for the first period sounded, and when you have a stud like Tim Thomas in net, Boston had provided all the protection they would need for the night.



Coach John Maclean said "After that first period i really lit into the team. I told them we needed to be stronger on the defensive side of the puck and that we needed to go out and skate hard and play a strong 40 more minutes"

The Devils did just that, New Jersey was able to lock down defensively for the final 2 periods and Jason Arnott even found the back of the net midway through the 3rd, but that was all that the Devils could muster against Thomas and a stingy Bruins D. The crowd at TD Garden went home happy, with a final of 3-1 in favor of the Bruins.

Next the Devils travelled out to Detroit to face another potential Cup contender in the Red Wings. Both teams came out strong and were determined to shut the other down, and it developed into a defensive battle. Both New Jersey and Detroit started the second tied at 0 and after a poor clearing attempt by Colin White, the Red Wings were able to generate the first real sustained pressure in either zone and they did not disappoint the home crowd. Darren Helm was able to shovel home a rebound off Brodeur's blocker and give Detroit a 1-0 lead, which at this point seemed like it just might be enough.



The Red Wings D locked down from there and held the Devils off the board through the 2nd and the majority of the 3rd. With time winding down you could see the devils get a little more determined and perhaps desperate, and one player just was not going to "pack it in". Zach Parise had been skating hard all night but had not been rewarded, and as the clock approached 0, the Devils top line of Parise, Langenbrunner, and Zajac would not yield. With just about 30 seconds left Parise took a pass from Zajac at the left circle and was able to beat Jimmy Howard just inside the post and tie the game at 1.



Overtime continued the defensive struggle and only created 2 shots on goal between Detroit and New Jersey and the game would be decided in a shootout.

Both Marty Brodeur and Jimmy Howard were the stars in the shootout and through 5 rounds at the Joe Louis Arena. Only Ilya Kovalchuk for New Jersey and Henrik Zetterberg for Detroit had notched goals. Finally in round number 7, Andy Greene was able to squeeze a puck between Howard's pads and when Patrick Eaves failed to answer, The Devils were able to steal one in Motown by a final of 2-1.

New Jersey then travelled back to "The Rock" in order to complete their home and home against the Red Wings as well as play their first home game of the season. Unlike the last game, New Jersey would not wait until the third period to score, and midway through the first Brian Rolston was able to tally his first of the season on a one timer from Dainus Zubrus giving the Devils the early advantage. UNfortunately 4 minutes later the Red Wings took advantage of a poorly timed line change and Pavel Datsyuk burried a one timer on a 2 on 1 tying up the contest at 1.



Early in the second Tomas Holmstrom was able to silence a very rowdy Newark crowd when he took a loose puck in the slot and beat marty over his right shoulder giving Detroit a 2-1 lead. Detroit then went into lock down mode and played a stifling defensive game for the remainder. Unfortunately for the Detroit faithful Deja Vu struck again this time in the form of Dainus Zubrus. With just under 20 seconds left in the 3rd Zubrus took a terrific pass from Patrik Elias and with a quick move to the backhand lifted a shot over Howard's glove and tied the game 2-2 with 15 seconds to go.



Both New Jersey and their fans could smell a repeat of the night before and were anticipating some more late game magic, but who would be the hero tonight? Unfortunately to everyones dismay the hero's name was Pavel Datsyuk. Datsyuk was able to knock the puck lose from Brodeur's glove while he was outside the crease and slide his second of the night into a wide open right side of the net, giving Detroit a thrilling 3-2 win over New Jersey in overtime.