Did the Devils stay behind at the Rock?

March 7, 2009   ·   Hasan   ·   Jump to comments

If you’ve played any sort of hockey videogame in your life, there have no doubt been many times where you started a game off bad and hit reset.  It doesn’t work that way in real life otherwise Martin Brodeur and the Devils would have hit the reset button on today’s first period in Long Island, where he gave up three goals and the team played by far their worst period since the second period of that Atlanta debacle two months ago.

Yeah on the one hand you can’t really get upset given that the Devils have been 18-4 in their last 22 games, although no doubt Devil fans all over the internet are freaking out over the team stinking it up in their first game post-deadline and screaming how Lou Lamoriello should have done more, it’s a rite of passage seemingly every year after the deadline. 

Still this isn’t just a subpar Isles team, I’m sorry – this is a dreadful AHL-caliber squad that just traded its captain.  I could buy the flu and schedule excuse from the 4-0 loss a couple weeks ago but there’s absolutely no excuse for today.  Not when the team’s been hot, had three days off and the memory of said loss fresh in mind.

If the team wasn’t so bad I’d probably be ripping the refs who were almost as bad in the first period.  Did Brodeur try to embelish contact by Tim Jackman just 1:42 into the game on a goaltender interference that wasn’t called?  Perhaps but the fact remains, Jackman did skate into the crease and made contact with Brodeur, which at the very least distracted him before Radek Martinek slapped a rebound into an open top half of the net. 

It seemed as if that goal disjointed the team as a whole and Brodeur in general, although a questionable high-sticking call on John Madden midway through the period that eventually led to an Islanders power play goal didn’t help matters.  Kyle Okposo one-timed a rebound past Brodeur after he made a save off of a Josh Bailey shot and the puck hit off of Paul Martin.  As the team’s performance went from bad to worse, Martin got caught along the boards leading to a breakaway goal from Jeff Tambellini that trickled through Brodeur’s five-hole. 

Soon after the third goal, backup goaltender Kevin Weekes left the bench and began to stretch.  I doubt he’ll come in for the second period, usually it takes a deficit of four goals for any Devils coach to consider pulling Marty, especially considering the wins record is in reach.  It doesn’t appear likely that Marty will add to his wins total this afternoon though.  If things change I’ll be back with a recap later after enjoying the outdoors on a (finally) beautiful weather day.  A goal would be nice at least after being outscored 7-0 in their last four periods on Long Island.

UPDATE: Well looks like the boys have come to play, a Brian Gionta deflection 29 seconds into the second period have finally put the Devils on the board.  Maybe there will be something to write about later.

Notes: Nicklas Havelid played 7:24 in the first period, leading all skaters in icetime and was on the ice for the first goal.  In the (for bragging rights) Metro Ice challenge, the Devils and Rangers are currently tied with 14 points.  If nothing changes today, the two teams’ showdown on March 30 will be for the Metro Cup, since it’s the last Battle of the Hudson game remaining.