Devils Take Sens out of Office; Win 5th in a row

After defeating the New York Islanders on Friday night, the Devils had to re-focus quickly as they went up north to face the Ottawa Senators in Canada’s Capital. The first period was scoreless up until a goal at the 14:00 mark by Milan Michalek (his seventh) and just like that the Devils were down 1-0, similar to last nights affair. There were solid saves through out the first period from both Brodeur and Leclaire, leading one to believe it was going to be a low scoring affair once more for the Devs.

In the second period the Devils increased the amount of pressure put on Pascal Leclaire, but he continued to make good saves against them. Then at 11:09 of the period, Brian Lee got his first goal of the year after cruising into the Devils zone and taking a shot from the far side of the boards just after crossing the blue-line and it trickled pastBrodeur through his five hole and the Sens took a 2-0 lead. After the soft goal given up by Marty, the Devils really took it to the Sens, working hard in front of the net, winning battles in the corners and drawing penalties. Finally, they chipped away at the lead after Zach Parise crashed the net amongst a scrum of players at 15:35 of the second, shooting the puck high on Leclaire and the Devils were within one after a power play goal from Parise.

In the third, Jersey continued the momentum they built from the second. After another Senator penalty the Devils were on the power play once more and at just 4:38 into the third, David Clarkson got his fourth goal of the year after a brilliant faked shot/pass from Niclas Bergfors and they evened the game up at two a piece. At this point the Sens seemed to be letting the Devils do whatever they wanted and a team like New Jersey will not hesitate to take advantage. Therefore, after yet another Senator penalty, Andy Green put the Devils ahead with a high wrist-shot from the point that sailed over Leclaire’s glove side and the Devils took a 3-2 lead. The Senators from there had a little more jump to their step, but it was too late. Any attempt they made, Martin Broduer shut down. New Jersey had completed a comeback after falling down 2-0 and scored three unanswered power play goals, going 3-6 on the man advantage for the night.

Since this was the second game in as many nights for the Devils, Patrik Elias was a healthy scratch for the game, as they do not want to push him as he gets back into game ready condition. Tim Sestito made his Devil debut tonight to fill a roster spot left out by Elias and he played fairly well with 8:53 of ice time. Zach Parise had 1 goal and 1 assist, as did David Clarkson. Andy Greene had the game-winning goal, Bergfors had a spectacular assist that set up the game tying goal and Langer had the other 2 assists.

Tonight’s game was very encouraging for any Devil fan to watch. It showed once more that this Devil team is as resilient as any in recent years and has shown they can indeed come from behind. As of right now, the team is hurting with injuries, but if we can continue to scrap these wins out, at this point in time, wins can come in any way necessary. Don’t you think those Cane’s fans would take a win in any way they can get one right now? With players out and those who are coming back from injuries still, for the Devils to be able to continually win like this says a lot about what they are made of this year and hopefully when we are all complete, we are that much better for it.