Road warriors keep winning battles

January 27, 2009   ·   Hasan   ·   Jump to comments

After the two-day skills competition better known as All-Star weekend, finally 24 NHL teams including the Devils and Senators got back to real hockey tonight.  Fortunately for New Jersey the break did nothing to stall their hot streak, as they won their sixth straight game in Ottawa by a 4-1 score – giving the team its 30th win in 48 games overall and goaltender Scott Clemmensen his 20th win this season, a tremendous accomplishment for someone considered to be a third-stringer as recently as two months ago.

Once again, the Devils would get on the board within the first five minutes when Brian Gionta’s cross-ice pass found the skate of Patrik Elias and deflected past Senators goalie Brian Elliott for Elias’s 21st goal of the season.  Even Toronto couldn’t overrule this one, as Elias was clearly attempting to stop and did not kick the puck in.

Midway through the second period Ottawa scored their only goal of the night after a Bryce Salvador penalty gave the Sens a power play, and Daniel Alfredsson’s fine pass found Alexandre Picard open by the faceoff dot and he one-timed the puck past Clemmensen, tying the game at one. 

As has often been the case this year, it wouldn’t take the Devils long to respond.  Elliott was the victim of yet another pair of hard-luck bounces when he was out of position after a shot caromed off the boards, and Jamie Langenbrunner shot the rebound in off of Elliott, giving the captain his ninth goal of the year at 14:19 of the second - and a lead the Devils wouldn’t relinquish.

Leading 2-1 after two, the Devils quickly let Ottawa know who was boss in the third period after a spectacular individual effort by Zach Parise, who charged after a loose puck behind the boards, then while he was falling to the ice fed a no-look pass to Jamie in front for a gimme goal just 19 seconds into the period. 

Perhaps the pivotal point of the third period was after Brendan Shanahan took a double-minor penalty for drawing blood on Alfredsson.  Throughout the entire four-minute power play, the Devils didn’t even allow a shot on goal, killing off any chance Ottawa had of coming back – if not for Parise’s spectacular effort on the third goal I would have given John Madden a third star for his role on the crucial penalty kill.  Moments later, Shanahan atoned for that penalty by scoring his second goal in three games off a two-on-one, when a low wrist shot beat Elliott, sealing the Devils 4-1 win.

Notes: With the Rangers’ 3-2 win against Carolina, the Devils’ victory maintained their one-point lead in the Atlantic Division.  Clemmensen’s 20th win already is far and away above his career total of eight coming into 2007-08.  Elias’s 21st goal exceeded his total from all of last year.  New Jersey plays their eighth road game out of nine in Boston Thursday before returning home for Doc Emrick night at the Rock Friday against the Penguins.

BoNY Three Stars:

1. Jamie Langenbrunner (2 goals, +2)
2. Travis Zajac (2 assists, +3)
3. Zach Parise (assist, +2)