Devils Roast Some Duck;Win 6th in a row

The Devils came into the night in search of their sixth straight win and third home win in a row. Well, simply put, the Devils dominated the Ducks tonight. In a rematch from the 2003 Stanley Cup Final, the Devils welcomed the Anaheim Ducks to Newark, looking for their first regular season victory over Anaheim since that same 2003 season. When it was all said and done, they had their victory over the Ducks to capture their sixth win in a row and they did it in very convincing fashion. New Jersey dictated the flow of game; they owned the battles in the corners, making it very easy for them to cycle the puck and they killed every power play opportunity with relative ease. The most impressive part of tonight’s victory, (same old song and dance folks) was that they had yet another man down from the lineup, as Brian Rolston had to sit this one out with an undisclosed illness. Its one thing to eek out wins in any way you can when your team is injured, but it is entirely something else when you are able to handle a talented team like the Ducks the way they did tonight. They continue to impress their fans as well as prove their critics wrong. This may just be a hot streak right now and it may be that New Jersey is just this good, but the fact that they can get hit with injury after injury and not miss a beat should put the rest of the league on notice.

The Devils came right out of the gate with a goal just 38 seconds into the game when Andy Greene ripped a wrister and Jamie Langenbrunner deflected it home. For the rest of the period the Devils shut down the Ducks, although they gave them two power plays, but were killed quite easily. Martin Brodeur did face an equal amount of shots in the period as Jonas Hiller did, but they were relatively easy saves except for one very nice kick save after a shot from the high slot. The only time during this game when the Ducks had any kind of momentum was at the beginning of the second when they got a goal from Cory Perry at 2:25 in. However, after that the Devils took momentum back with more pressure and were constantly on the offensive. But, the Devils most impressive player of the night, David Clarkson, broke the 1-1 tie at 12:52 with a gorgeous toe-drag wrist shot over Hiller’s blocker side. The Devils maintained a high level of control through out the period, but did take another penalty (this was their biggest flaw of the game). But not even that would deter them on this night. After a very uncharacteristic turnover by Scott Niedermeyer, Zach Parise picked up the pieces and cruised in to jam a high wrist shot into the net on Hiller at 19:47 to finish out the period. The third was the Devils killing two more penalties (very well), winning battles over loose pucks and Marty keeping the lead with some solid saves when they were needed.

The Devils have won six in a row and will be going to Pittsburgh tomorrow night and look to continue their impressive road record. This will be the Devils toughest game of the year. They will have to go to Pittsburgh on 0 nights rest, whereas the Pens have had a day off and are coming off a shut out loss to Boston, so they will be looking for blood. The Devils have been playing great of late though and I look for them to continue to play hard as always, but Marty will have to be on his best game as I anticipate a strong attack from the Penguins offense.