A bleh first period, worse broadcast

November 21, 2009   ·   Hasan   ·   Jump to comments

Honestly I haven’t spent much time watching the Devils get destroyed by the Dallas power play in the first period, as I’ve been doing other things but seemingly every time I turn on the TV the Stars have tacked on another goal.  Oh, I did see Brian Rolston actually score on a breakaway (what a shock) in the first minute of the game to give the Devils a 1-0 lead.  Then when the MSG+524 channel – actually channels 99 and 414 on my TV – showed the assists they were supposedly from Rob Niedermayer and Colin White. 

Of course, I was surprised because I’ve been led to believe Robbie Nieds wasn’t coming back until Wednesday at the earliest then even more befuddled when I heard Doc Emrick say the assists actually went to Jamie Langenbrunner and Mike Mottau, and of course Robbie Nieds is a scratch again.  Is someone drunk in the production studio?!  Not to mention the audio’s insanely soft and the scoreboard itself is so miniscule you need a magnifying glass to see it.  With that kind of production the game might as well be blacked out!

From what I could gather the Devils actually outshot the Stars in the first 11-9 but three of those shots went past surprise starter Yann Danis, as the Stars’ power play cranked in two goals.  I guess that can’t be much of a surprise given the increasing number of penalty killers on the shelf.  Still, I was stunned to hear last night that Danis would be starting since it wasn’t a back-to-back and there are three days off after this game.  Danis doesn’t get a start when the Devils play four games in six days but does get a start this week?!  Granted I like that the backup goaltender is not just a hood ornament this year but it’s almost like we were playing him to make up for not doing so last week.  Admittedly though none of the goals were really his fault judging by the highlights.

A more mild surprise was that Rod Pelley was scratched and the Devils put seven defensemen in the lineup including Matthew Corrente.  One time when I did have the game on however, I saw Corrente was playing wing!  I love you Jacques but wow, putting a defenseman on the wing in his first NHL game?!  Talk about a head-scratcher.  Fellow rookie Tyler Eckford took his second penalty in two games and that led to one of the Stars’ goals, as Dallas went 2-2 on the power play.

I guess the lineup is going to be a little random at this point with all the injuries, and the penalty kill especially has been hurt by the losses of Robbie Nieds, Danius Zubrus and Jay Pandolfo.  I can also understand the logic of scratching Pelley for Corrente given the minutes the defensemen have been logging as well as the lack of icetime for the fourth line, and Pelley doesn’t have the right to be upset as he claimed he was.  Not after a mere two goals and six points in his first 87 NHL games.

UPDATE: So Danis’s night didn’t last long as he was pulled to start the second in favor of Martin Brodeur.  Sigh…I know Jacques does have a tendency to do this from time to time but I hope this doesn’t hurt Danis’s standing too badly in the coach’s eyes.