Devils survive early hiccups, pound Ovechkin-less Caps

November 14, 2009   ·   Hasan   ·   Jump to comments

It seems as if every year the Devils have quite a few of these games where I assume the letdown is coming (and I get proven wrong, like two nights ago in Pittsburgh), after all it’s only human nature to slip up after a certain amount of success – especially in the long road that is the regular season.  Winners of seven straight and thirteen out of fifteen coming into tonight’s game with the Caps, playing their third game in four nights eventually you figure the team’s just not going to have it that night.

Could be as Butch Goring on Hockey Night in New York says…the Devils don’t believe in human nature.  Or maybe the Devils just aren’t human right now.  Either way, the Devils’ 5-2 win over the Caps kept the train rolling downhill – now winners of eight straight and an incredible 14 of 16.  Normally it’s a cliche but tonight it was true – everyone really did contribute.

Yet early on it looked as if I would be right this time about the letdown, although the Devils weren’t helped by a non-existent penalty call on Matt Halischuk where it appeared Alexander Semin just blew a tire – or got tripped by an invisible man.  Either way, the Caps played tic-tac-toe on the ensuing power play, with Tomas Fleischmann scoring on a one-timer at 4:15.  Merely 47 seconds later, the Caps threatened to run the Devils out of the Rock when Mathieu Perreault slid one under Martin Brodeur’s pads that looked stoppable.  I was first-guessing even playing Brodeur tonight in the middle of a four-game in six night stretch.  Wasn’t Yann Danis supposed to take some of the workload off of Marty at last?  He certainly did nothing wrong in his two starts.  Perhaps Jacques Lemaire was also worried about a letdown.

Many teams might pack it in down 2-0 in the midst of such an impressive run – but not this Devils team.  If the contreversial penalty on Halischuk was a bad break at least the hockey gods saw fit to give the Devils a good one to balance it out when Colin White’s prayer from the blueline deflected off something in front (either a stick or a Caps player) and past Jose Theodore at 9:47 for the big defenseman’s first goal of the year.  Jamie Langenbrunner – who has apparently been dinged up himself but playing through it – and Danius Zubrus got the assists on Whitey’s unlikely goal.

Still, the Devils were outshot in the first period and trailed 2-1 when New Jersey got their first power play chance of the game and didn’t waste it, after Langenbrunner rifled a one-timer past Theodore to tie the score at 5:44.  Cory Murphy and Nicklas Bergfors assisted on the captain’s fourth goal of the year.  With the score tied, Brodeur made one of his best saves of the year stoning Chris Clark off a rebound and all told made 27 stops this evening, earning predictable praise from the Hockey Night in NY crew – with Mike Keenan saying (twice for emphasis) that he’s the best goaltender in the world.  Soon after Brodeur’s stop on Clark came a decisive play by the two forwards you would expect it to come from, when Travis Zajac hit Parise in stride with a long pass and Parise beat Theodore on a breakaway for his tenth goal of the year at 14:40, giving the Devils a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

A couple of criticisms about this year’s Devils team by the nitpickers is that they have to score more goals and can’t possibly keep winning one-goal games every night (of course, we heard this same nonsense in 2003).  Personally I feel the offense will be fine once Patrik Elias returns to form – as it is, he’s been pointless in the only four games he’s played, although at least tonight he was a +1 as opposed to the -1 he’d been in each of his first three games, and putting him with Parise and Zajac seemed designed to get the talented Czech going. 

Until then at least everyone else is picking up the slack, and the Devils for one night did manage to put some distance between themselves and the other team after Halischuk scored his first NHL goal with just 56 seconds left in the second, after nice passing from fellow rookies Bergfors and Tim Sestito left Halischuk open for a wrister that gave the Devils a two-goal cushion heading into the third.  For his part, Sestito got his first NHL point and was effective in his 13:30 tonight, giving Devils brass something to think about when some of the injured players return.

With the momentum all on New Jersey’s side, they struck the final blow in the third period when Murphy scored his second of the year at 3:15, off a Zajac assist.  Although Murphy only played 10:37 tonight he did have two points and at least wasn’t the horror show defensively he has been at times earlier this year when he cost the Devils big in games against the Rangers and Thrashers.  On the other hand, Andy Greene – the player Murphy actually beat out a spot for on Opening Night - continued his solid play logging another twenty-five minutes with a +3, though his point streak got stopped at five straight games.

Still, there’s little rest for the weary as the Devils make the trek to Philly for a Monday telecast on VERSUS, attempting to tie the NHL record with ten straight road wins to begin a season and also avenge their Opening Night loss.  You know Brodeur will be especially primed for another big showing in the City of Brotherly Love after his bad performance against the Flyers at the Rock that night.

Notes: Although Alexander Ovechkin claimed in the morning skate he was playing tonight, evidently he got overruled by coach Bruce Boudreau, so it looks like he will make his return at the Garden Monday, I’m sure Derek’ll just love that.  New Jersey’s game against the Flyers is the start of the three-game road trip and the Devils won’t return to the Rock until the night before Thanksgiving when they play Ottawa.

BoNY Three Stars:

1. Jamie Langenbrunner (goal, assist, +1)
2. Colin White (goal, +1, 21:28 TOI)
3. Matt Halischuk (goal, +1)