After getting absolutely owned in Chicago on New Years Eve, the Devils faced off against the Wild in hopes to bring in the new year with better results then they left the old one. The game was certainly a “wild” one (and yes, pun was indeed intended) as it had a little bit of everything tonight. The crowd was buzzing in the state of hockey tonight as the Xcel Energy Center had 19,155 Wild fans backing their boys. They also saw the return of their teams first and only coach prior to this season in Jacques Lemaire. The Wild organization and fans were always fond of Jacques as was he of them and their passion for hockey.
The first period had no goals, as you would expect when these two meet. However, both goalies had to be sharp. There were several scoring chances for each club. Jamie Langenbrunner had a very nice chance as he streaked into the Minnesota zone and took a quick shot on Niklas Backstrom, but the Finnish goalie turned it aside. Martin Brodeur displayed his short memory from last game, stopping all 11 Wild shots in the first period; he was making very athletic, responsive saves tonight. His counter part at the other end was equal to the task, not facing as many shots but still got the job done. Both teams left the ice surface with the scoreboard at 0-0 after one. Then the second would be a whole hell of a lot different.
A loose puck was in the neutral zone by the Devils bench and the Wild were taking a long time on a change, Dean McAmmond saw this from the bench and capitalized. He quickly jumped on as a Devil jumped off and he grabbed the loose puck, bolted into the Wild end and roofed a pretty backhander over Backstrom’s shoulder to put the Devils on top 1-0 (5:13 into the second from Patrik Elias) Shortly after McAmmonds goal, Minnesota took a penalty giving the Devils their first power play opportunity of the night. Now in their last two games New Jersey had done nothing on the power play, so to get something tonight would be a big lift for the PP unit. Well with about 40 ticks left on the PP Jamie Langenbrunner received a cross ice pass from Patrik Elias and one timed the biscuit into the back of the twine and Jersey took a 2-0 lead (6:57 into the second from Patrik Elias and Vladimir Zharkov). This PP goal was made possible by the nice puck movement down low by Zharkov who cycled the puck to Elias and then posted up in front of the net which took Langenbrunners man away from him, leaving him wide open for Elias to find, and bing, bang, boom…Devils get a goal.
Now it was the Wild’s turn to have a say in the outcome of tonight’s game, as they would not go quietly into the cold Minnesota night. While on a 4-4 New Jersey got caught back-checking after a failed attempt on a rush thus giving the Wild an odd man rush of their own. This happened because of a poor decision by Travis Zajac who seems to be doing this a little too much lately. While the Devils had a two on one he was looking to pass the puck to Parise the whole time, yet had a clear lane to shoot, instead he forced it over to Zach and the Wild snatched it up and broke out into a three on two leaving Parise and Zajac behind. Then it was a Merek Zidlicky tape to tape pass to Eric Belanger for the goal, Brodeur didn’t stand a chance at stopping it (9:08 into the second from Zidlicky and Havlat). The Wilds next goal would come in very similar fashion as their first. The Devils had a power play and an excellent scoring chance but it turned into a Wild rush up ice and they turned it into a goal. Martin Brodeur had to make a fantastic initial save on Mikko Koivu, yet he had no one in front of him to clear out the garbage and Koivu snatched up his own rebound and roofed it over a sprawling Brodeur as the period was winding down (19:22 into the second from Miettinen and Schultz). After what looked like a strong Devil period, the Wild took advantage of Devil mistakes and it seemed like we were heading into the third period all tied at two. However, with just 1.8 seconds remaining in the period, Captain Langenbrunner got his second goal of the night (on the power play again) and the Devils regained the lead (19:56 into the second from Mottau). Langer just took the puck and threw it on net after there was a minor pile up in front of Backstrom and it deflected off of someone or something and trickled in.
So after some key mishaps that lead to Minny getting back into the game, we got a lucky goal to end a five goal second period and maintained a one goal lead heading into the third. What would the third period bring? Would it be more like the first or were we to expect a shootout like we saw in the second? There was no shootout but the deciding period would certainly see some high octane action. Brodeur had to be solid in net again as the Wild came out hard to begin the period. However, Jersey would not allow the Wild to claw their way to a tie game for a second time. While cycling down low in the Wild end, Rob Niedermayer skated his way to the front of the net and was slashed, but the puck slid perfectly from his possession onto Jay Pandolfo’s stick and Backstrom wasn’t ready as Pando banged it home, 4-2 Devils (11:35 into the third from Niedermayer and Elias).
The Wild would get another goal before it was all said and done from Andrew Brunette after a “wild” sequence of events in front of Marty (16:09 into the third from Zidlicky and Koivu). I can’t even give a justifiable description on this goal, just watch the highlights and you will get the picture. Marty fell to the ice after the first shot he saw and the puck traveled behind the net, however, Marty stayed on the ice. I don’t think he quite knew where the puck had gone. Mikko Koivu (man this guy has really elevated his game this year by the way) got a back hander off on Brodeur but it went behind the net, then it was a mad scramble in front, the puck somehow found its was back to Koivu, who just tossed it in the air and it bounced off of Andrew Brunette’s head and in! Whewwww, this is a lot to say, once again if you got lost somewhere in that translation, just watch the highlights.
Now it was a 4-3 hockey game and the Wild fans had hope. They would pull Backstrom in a desperate attempt to tie the game up; however, on this night it was just meant to be that the recently named U.S. Olympian, Jamie Langenbrunner would get his first career hat trick. He intercepted a neutral zone pass and cruised into the Wild zone for an easy capper to the hat trick, congrats Jamie and it could not have come in a better place then in his home state of Minnesota!
This was a real up and down night for the Devils who were outplayed by the Wild for a good portion of the game. But, hard work and perseverance pays off in the end with the result being another Devils victory. This was a great remedy to the ugly loss they took on New Years Eve in Chicago. They could have played a much better game, but a win on the road sometimes gets done by any means necessary. This win came on a day where the Capitals and Penguins both lost and the Devils notched points 58 and 59, moving into first place in the Eastern Conference.
Up next for New Jersey will be the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night at The Rock at 7:00 PM EST. This will be the second meeting of the year between the two as the Devils will look to avenge a 5-3 loss the Stars handed to them in Dallas in November.
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