‘Boring’ Devils win second straight OT game

December 6, 2008   ·   Hasan   ·   Jump to comments

 

I guess beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, since before tonight’s game in Montreal the Canadiens’ Chris Higgins lamented the fact that the Devils were the four most boring games on their schedule.

Maybe that mindset is why Montreal lost 2-1 in overtime and haven’t fared very well against the Devils over the previous decade in general (other than last year where they went 3-1).  Or perhaps overconfidence creeped in since the Habs did have some success against us last year and for the first time in seemingly forever faced a Brodeur-less Devils team.

Whatever the case, again Scott Clemmensen proved to be up to the task making 25 saves - and some of them of the eye-opening variety, especially early.  Clemmensen does still need work with his rebound control, as evidenced on the Habs’ only goal late in the first period when he failed to catch a Andrei Markov wrist shot and the puck fell in front for Matt D’Agostini to put home the rebound.

After being outshot early, the Devils settled down in the second period and their effort was rewarded when Jamie Langenbrunner tied the score at 4:05 by firing a slapshot seemingly through Carey Price (the puck trickled in off his pads), taking advantage of a turnover and skating the length of the ice in the process.  While it was only the captain’s fourth goal of the year, at least he seems to be rounding into form after a frighteningly slow start.   

While the Devils dominated the third period outshooting Montreal 11-4, as usual the Habs’ whiny fans did their best to intimidate the refs when they started a steady stream of booing after a puck deflected off of Zach Parise‘s stick and cut Markov badly, as if Parise somehow meant to deflect the puck and injure Markov.  A couple minutes later, the fans’ constant complaining had its desired effect when a phantom penalty was called on Jay Leach.  Fortunately the Devils killed it off and amazingly received a power play of their own in the final half-minute of regulation when Alexei Kovalev went off for tripping.

Overtime proved to be short and sweet when the Devils converted on the PP, after Patrik Elias‘s cross-ice pass found Parise with a wide-open net, and the budding star scored his fifteenth of the year, giving the Devils their second road OT win in three nights and concluding a very successful five-game, two-week road trip at 4-1.

Too bad the Devils don’t play again till Wednesday’s home tilt against the Penguins, but at least they’ll get a well-deserved ovation at the start of the game as tribute to not only the recent hot streak but the resilience they’ve shown in the process.   

BoNY Three Stars:

1. Zach Parise (Game-winning PP goal)
2. Scott Clemmensen (25/26 saves)
3. Carey Price (29/31 saves)