Devils hold off Isles 2-1 in Elias’s return

November 7, 2009   ·   Hasan   ·   Jump to comments

Even before tonight’s game with the Islanders, the Devils had a busy day tending to the revolving door that is their roster.  First, the Devils put Rob Niedermayer and Johnny Oduya on IR, meaning they’ll both miss at least the next couple of games – including what would have been a reunion between Rob and brother Scott, now each on opposite sides from where they were during 2003’s memorable Stanley Cup Final.  Also, the Devils wound up losing Jay Leach on waivers after the Canadiens claimed the defenseman when the Devils tried to bring him back up from Lowell.  At least the news wasn’t all bad, for Patrik Elias made his long-awaited return to the lineup last night.

While the forecast remains cloudy off-ice due to the injury list, it’s all sunshine and roses on it, as the Devils beat a game Islanders team 2-1 at the Rock for their second straight home win and tenth win overall in fourteen games.  Ex-Isle Yann Danis did the job again tonight, making 23 saves to stick it to his former team - including some of his best work in the final, tense minutes (more on that later).

Given the Devils’ tendency to start slow at home, the first ten minutes didn’t come as much of a surprise as the Islanders dominated early, outshooting the Devils 9-1 to start the game.  Ironically, things got off to a flying start with David Clarkson’s wild fight against Tim Jackman just forty seconds in.  While the fight was pretty close to a draw, the Isles did get the upper hand where it mattered as Clarkson’s holding penalty gave them a power play.  Colin White further complicated matters by taking an interference penalty at 2:19, giving the Isles back-to-back power plays and 21 seconds with a two-man advantage. 

During the penalty kills came arguably the Devils’ best moment of the period when on Elias’s first shift he nearly created a goal with some fancy stickwork, poking the puck through an Islander defenseman and retreiving it, resulting in a terrific chance that went just wide of the net.  Even after killing both penalties however, the Devils still couldn’t prevent the Isles from jumping out front when Frans Nielsen beat Danis from just inside the faceoff circle 6:23 in after some sloppy defending gave him a quality scoring chance that he wouldn’t waste.

Despite the fact they still trailed going into the second period, at least the Devils started to play better going into intermission though most of their shots on goal weren’t what I’d consider real high-quality.  Still, it would take a lucky break to bring the Devils back even, from an unlikely source to boot – Cory Murphy.  The little defenseman that looked so good offensively in the preseason finally contributed to the offense when it counted, somehow beating Biron with a shot from the point that found its way in through a maze of bodies and off of the beleaguered Martin Biron (given his career record against the Devils) for his first goal of the season at 2:38.  Even more surprisingly, Illka Pikkaranen and Rod Pelley got assists on the goal, as the fourth line actually contributed in a positive way last night.

Now tied, the Devils started to gain more momentum after the Murphy goal and at 13:40 of the second period, a revived power play proved decisive when Andy Greene set up Brian Rolston for one of his patented slapshots from the blueline - and this time it found the back of the net for Rolston’s fourth goal of the year and second in two nights.  David Clarkson also had an assist on what would prove to be the winning goal.

There was little action early in the third period as the Devils sought to protect their lead, though to their credit they didn’t fall back (at least early on), there were few narrow misses - a Clarkson shot off the crossbar real late in the period was one.  On the back end, the Devils were a bit vulnerable as there were open Islanders in prime scoring positions time and again but many weren’t seen and passes didn’t get to their intended targets.  To the Devils’ credit, they kept phenom John Tavares quiet the majority of the game, though he had a prime scoring chance in the final minutes when he deked in close and was stonewalled by Danis.  Danis also stopped Mark Streit with a nice save, but in the final seconds could do nothing about a Kyle Okposo shot that seemed set to trickle through during a frantic netmouth scramble – until Travis Zajac came out of nowhere to save the day, coolly shooting the puck back under Danis and out toward safety.  For some reason, Mark Joanette blew the whistle when the puck was clearly not under control and it acutally wound up costing the Devils an empty-net goal, as Zajac’s clear trickled in. 

Oh well, at least the Devils hung on for a 2-1 victory – their tenth win in the last twelve games.  Danis became only the fourth Devil goaltender to win his first two starts with the team, the others being Alain Chevrier, John Vanbiesbrouck and of course Martin Brodeur.  After a slow start, the Devils outshot the Isles 30-15 the remainder of the game and will travel to Ottawa tonight, trying to extend their perfect road record.  Not making the trip will be Elias, who won’t be playing back-to-back nights which in my view is pretty prudent.  Goalies sit during back-to-backs (even Brodeur now apparently), why not forwards just getting their conditioning back after a lengthy injury?  Especially since Brent Sutter’s whining last year about Elias not being in the lineup against the Flyers contributed to him coming back too soon, and not being the same player in the playoffs.  Apparently there will be a call-up from Lowell though technically it isn’t neccesary as the Devils do have 21 players still active with Pierre Luc-Letourneau Leblond being the only healthy scratch last night.  As if it needed to be said, Brodeur will be playing tonight in Ottawa looking once again for the shutout that will tie Terry Sawchuk on the all-time list.

Notes: Remember Dean McAmmond?  Well the Devils signed him back to Lowell recently and yesterday he got a two-way contract, despite the fact that he’s under the weather and won’t be available this weekend he will be joining the team soon.  And so the roster turns again.  New York lost defenseman Radek Martinek to injury late in the third period when he had to be helped off the ice, but the nature of said injury is unknown at this time.

BoNY Three Stars:

1. Brian Rolston (PP goal, 6 SOG)
2. Yann Danis (23/24 saves)
3. Frans Nielsen (goal, +1)