Defense and effort optional at the Rock tonight

October 16, 2009   ·   Hasan   ·   Jump to comments

With three straight road wins heading into tonight’s game at the Rock against the usually lowly Atlanta Thrashers, I admit I thought this would be a layup.  Even though funny things usually happen against this team, I suppose I was guilty of thinking we would come into tonight with the momentum we gained on the road and that this was the same old Thrashers, and perhaps they still are, despite their 3-1 start.  Admittedly in my season preview, I said that I thought the Thrashers could be a few spots higher if they somehow got solid goaltending but I really didn’t expect it to come from Ondrej Pavelec, who made 28 saves tonight and has done the job so far this season for Atlanta.

If they still are the same old Thrashers however, than tonight’s 4-2 loss was even more discouraging.  Maybe in a few weeks we’ll all look back at this game and shrug, but right now it’s not a laughing matter after the Devils dropped to 0-3 at home this season, and losers of four straight at the Rock dating back to last year’s playoffs.  Despite outshooting the Thrashers 30-19 in the game, far too often the Devils looked confused and outclassed in the final two periods against a supposedly lesser team.

Honestly, even though the Devils were muddled in a scoreless tie after the opening twenty minutes, I was encouraged – not just by the 15-4 shot total but the overall effort level and execution.  Then for whatever rhyme or reason, it all simply dissapeared after that.  Even with Travis Zajac giving the Devils the lead with his fourth goal of the season at 8:07 on a slap shot from just inside the blueline, Jacques Lemaire’s club still wasn’t the same team in the second period being outshot 9-5 and failing to score (or even attempt to take shots on net) during two power plays late in the period. 

Special teams proved to be a sore spot throughout the night.  Not only did the Devils go 0-6 on the power play with clinics in bad passing and futile last-second shots that got easily blocked, but the Devils’ penalty killing didn’t look so hot either going 1-3 on the night.  That’s a good average in baseball but terrible when it comes to hockey and Rich Peverley would score the first of his two power play goals for the Thrashers at 14:27 off a rebound.  Even more galling, Peverley’s first power play goal came after a too many men on the ice penalty, the Devils’ third in their first six games already.  You would think a bench with Lemaire and his long-time assistant Mario Tremblay would be better organized.

If the second period was a warning sign, the third would prove to be a total disaster.  To start with, Thrashers’ first-round pick Evander Kane atoned for two minor penalties earlier in the game by dekeing Cory Murphy out and beating him to the inside, eventually scoring his second NHL goal at 1:36.  Just as galling as the fact that Murphy allowed Kane to beat him to the inside one-on-one (a no-no at any level of hockey much less the NHL) was the fact that he’s failed to deliver offensively in three games, surely earning himself a trip back to the pine in favor of Andy Greene for tomorrow’s game against Carolina.  Yes, you can say it was a questionable decision by Lemaire to play Murphy tonight but I understood it.  It’s early in the season and you want to keep everyone fresh and see what they can do.  Especially since Greene really hasn’t shown enough (yet) to warrant an automatic place in the lineup, though he has had three nice games to start this season.

That said, Murphy’s faux pas would prove decisive.  Especially after Peverley’s second goal at 5:55 which made the score 3-1 came off a bad Colin White penalty.  On both power play goals, the Thrashers displayed quick-decision making and a willingness to shoot the puck, two things badly needed on the Devils’ own power play.  Even with a clueless power play however, the Devils nearly got back into the game when Zach Parise scored his second of the season at 13:10.  Yet, when the Devils received their sixth power play of the game moments later I was screaming to decline it and knew bad things were going to happen, especially since by this time Lemaire was desperate enough to give Rod Pelley and Illka Pikkaranen power play time, which was slightly more ludicrious than old Yankee manager Billy Martin literally pulling an entire lineup out of a hat.

Still, I couldn’t have imagined just how bad the Devils’ final fatal power play would get, when the Thrashers not only got a breakaway but had at least three people alone on Martin Brodeur while the Devils’ defense was nowhere to be found until finally Chris Thorburn made a nice play reaching back with his stick to pull the puck out from under Brodeur and into the open net, sealing the Devils’ fate this evening.

On the bright side?  At least Andrew Peters finally deigned to fight, though his timing might have been a bit questionable seconds after Zajac’s goal.  His fight with Eric Boulton was fierce with both their helmets coming off, with the slight edge going to the ex-Sabre.  And we all got nice little calendars tonight, though the train ride home proved eventful when some dope missed his stop at Summit and pulled the emergency brake, delaying the train for fifteen minutes.  Guess it was a fitting end to another crappy night at the Rock.

BoNY Three Stars:

1. Rich Peverley (two goals, +1)
2. Ondrej Pavelec (28/30 saves)
3. Travis Zajac (goal, +2)