Devils win roller-coaster game in Tampa

November 23, 2008   ·   Hasan   ·   Jump to comments

I literally didn’t watch the start of this game because I was tuning back and forth between Jets postgame and even a little bit of the Red Bulls’ soccer cup game and I was seconds away from turning it off when the Devils built a 5-0 lead in the second period and Tampa looked as if they were mailing it in.

Then the roof didn’t quite cave in but boy did it leak buckets. 

Three goals by Tampa in the span of 3:42 late in the second period gave everyone associated with the Devils a serious case of agida but after some anxious moments in the third, Danius Zubrus‘s breakway goal finally sealed it up and gave Zubrus his first hat trick as a Devil (with a fourth minutes later for good measure) in a 7-3 final, giving the Devils their fourth straight win and improving their record to 11-7-2.

Early in it was clearly all Devils as they outshot the Lightning 15-6 and scored twice, the first came less than two minutes in from a nice deflection by Mike Rupp off an Anssi Samela shot for Rupp’s first goal of the season, the second one towards the end of the period from a more familiar goalscoring source – Zach Parise with his thirteenth.

Zubrus started his night to remember early in the second period with a hard wrister that somehow eluded Caps Lightning goaltender Olaf Kolzig shortside.  Admittedly I felt pretty good about the outcome when I heard Kolzig was starting, thanks to an injury to Mike Smith, as the Devils have always done very well against Ollie the Goalie.  Kolzig’s night wasn’t going to get any easier when Zubrus got a goal on his next shift as well - with an assist from Lightning defenseman Marek Malik who allowed Zubrus to crash the crease and whack home a loose puck for his fourth of the season.  When Brian Gionta got his sixth midway through the second and extended his goalscoring streak to four straight games, Kolzig’s night was mercifully done and he gave way to Karri Ramo.

Maybe if Kolzig was pulled a goal or two earlier, what happened next might have proven more costly.  Radim Vrbata scored to spoil the shutout bid, then Martin St. Louis found room on a four-on-four less than a couple minutes later to make it 5-2 with the snap of a wrist.  Then Ryan Malone was hauled down after he got behind the Devils defense, proceeded to convert on a penalty shot and just like that the score was 5-3.  Brent Sutter used his timeout after Malone’s goal, no doubt with some choice words for the players.

Tampa – dopey third jersey and all – continued to dominate late in the second and early in the third until Zubrus’s goal put it away and enabled the Devils to relax.  Then the team took control and he added another one for good measure, tripling his goal total for the season in a single game. 

New Jersey’s performance was so dominant for most of the night I hardly remembered that there was no John Madden (injury) or Mike Mottau (suspension) in the lineup, in addition to all the other Devils already on the shelf.  Scott Clemmensen made 26 saves for his third win of the season.

BoNY Three Stars:

1. Danius Zubrus (four goals, +3)
2. Patrik Elias (three assists, +2)
3. Brian Gionta (goal, assist, +3)