After dropping two straight to the rival Philadelphia Flyers, the Devils bounced back Sunday with a huge 6-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lighting with goals from Patrik Elias, Jason Arnott’s pants, Nick Palmieri’s first NHL goal, Dainius Zubrus, and two from David Clarkson.
This was a game where it all seemed to come together. Marty Brodeur bounced back from giving up some bad goals to have a strong second and third period, the lines were clicking, the team had speed, and the penalty killing was spot on. This has happened before, however. When the Devils defeated the Capitals 5-0 and won three of four at the end of November, everyone thought the team was going to turn it around. Since then, the Devils have won three games, the coach was fired, Rolston was put on waivers and re-entry waivers, and the captain Jamie Langenbrunner was traded. One step forward, eleventy billion steps backwards.
The Devils need to be able to build on this win, go to Tampa Friday, and do it again. If things keep going the way they have been going this season, the Devils will go on another large losing streak. It is obvious that they are not going to make the playoffs at this point but the team still needs to work on getting better at all aspects of the game in order to get some kind of chemistry and winning attitude going into the offseason and next season.
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Vladimir Zharkov is becoming one of the hardest working forwards on the team. Despite his size, he is very strong along the boards, has great vision, and passes very well. The only problem with his game is that he is nearing the ’50 NHL games played’ mark and has yet to put the puck in the back of the net.
In Philadelphia on Saturday, he had a glorious chance in the third period right in front of the net and couldn’t lift the puck over Boucher’s pads. I believe once he gets one, they will come in bunches. His confidence has been shattered by his string of awful luck. Other than that, he provides youthful speed and energy to a lineup that really needs it and his play has been very noticeable. He reminds me of a young Jay Pandolfo with more natural skill.
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Mattias Tedenby was a healthy scratch again on Sunday after having to take warmups first. I don’t quite understand what is going on here. Tedenby is going to be a star in this league. He has an infinite level of talent, speed, and hockey sense. He is also a tough guy to get the puck away from . At first, his size would make coaches think that it would be easy to knock him off the puck but it really isn’t. I don’t understand why Jacques won’t insert him into the lineup. The same thing happened last season to Bergfors. I remember in December of 2009, Bergfors scored twice in a 4-2 win over the Flyers. After the game, Jacques told the media he wasn’t very pleased with the way Bergy played. Soon after that, he became a healthy scratch on and off until he was traded in the Kovalchuk trade. Bergfors is a good player and Tedenby is going to be a GREAT player and I hope his development and growth isn’t stunted because of this. If anything, send him back to Albany to get some playing time!
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Since I seemed to be right calling the MacLean firing, Rolston waiving, and Langenbrunner trades, I am going to go out on a limb here and say Jason Arnott is going to be the next to go. Yes, these moves have all been obvious. Arnott has seemingly asked for a trade when he told the Star Ledger that he’d gladly waive his no trade clause to be moved to a contender. In that case, do it! The Devils can get another draft pick from the deal most likely. After he is traded, the Devils should bring Jacob Josefson back up to the big club, insert Tedenby into the lineup, and see what they can do.
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The Devils have most of the week to practice and relax before heading to Tampa for a Friday night rematch. Tonight is the gold circle member’s skate with the team function, tomorrow the Devils will have off from practice, and then will get in some good practice time Wedensday and Thursday. This is a pivotal point once again. Will the Devils keep up the momentum and grab another win? Or will they revert back to this year’s pattern of one win then another long losing streak?
It is very important right now that the Devils get their youth valuable NHL experience so there is less of a learning curve in training camp and the preseason next season. I also think the Devils should bring up Alexander Urbom shortly. He is going to be a very valuable defenseman on this team.