New Jersey Devils Win 4-2 Over Calgary Flames
By Dia Sparrow
Last night’s game was one of the more exciting games of the season for the New Jersey Devils. Here’s your recap.
Let me start off by saying that I was invited by the Devils to sit in their Social Media Suite and live-tweet the game from the Pucks and Pitchforks Twitter. The organization had selected a group or two of people to sit up in the suites and use social media to promote the game. It was a huge deal. The NHL was there, they had promoted the Devils on their Snapchat Story and twitter, and they rode the Zamboni during intermissions and stuff. Overall, it was an incredibly cool experience. Definitely something that the Devils wouldn’t have been able to do in past seasons.
One of the things I love the most, is watching the organization growing and developing in ways such as this one. Warms my little heart.
Anyway, on to the game itself.
The Devils came out onto the ice for the first period with incredible amounts of energy. I’m not sure if it was because Cammy* was back, if it was because coach Hynes had ripped into them at practice on Monday or if the Devils had just managed to get a good night’s sleep. But, they just came out and showed more energy than they had in quite a while. I was impressed.
Five minutes into the first period, Adam Larsson put the puck top shelf and opened the scoring for the Devils. It was a beauty. Which is surprising, because Larsson has been about as useful as a sock that doesn’t have a match, and has a hole where your big toe is supposed to go. But, I’ll give credit where credit is due, the kid definitely stepped up his game last night. The goal was assisted by recent Albany call-up, baby Reid Boucher.
Nine minutes into the game, Sean Monahan scored on the Flames powerplay and tied up the game.
The period ended with the Devils leading 10-9 in shots on goal.
The second period started, and the Devils came out with just as much energy as they had in the first, if not more.
Fifty-Seven seconds into the second period, Cammy set up Stempniak, who buried the puck to give the Devils a 2-1 lead. 17 seconds after that, Boucher knocked the puck back, giving the Devils a 3-1 lead. This was Boucher’s first multi-point NHL game. The Flames tried to challenge Boucher’s goal for goalie interference, but the call on the ice stood and the Devils kept their 3-1 lead.
Shortly after, the Devils went back on the PK and the Flames cut the lead by one.
At the end of the second period, the Devils lead in both goals and shots on goal with 3-2 and 22-17, respectively.
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The third period was boring, for the most part. The Devils had definitely lost their steam and the Flames didn’t totally look like they knew which way was up. This made for a lack of goals and a lack of entertainment, honestly.
Towards the end of the period, the Flames did the smart thing and pulled their goalie.
And for the first time in what seems like forever, the Devils scored an empty-net goal. Thank you, Captain Andy Greene.
The game ended with the Devils winning 4-2. This was Boucher’s second game winning goal in a row. Another fun fact is that the Devils hadn’t beaten the Flames since November of 2010.
Next: News and Links: Cammy IS Back
*Before the game, Michael Cammalleri reached out to the MSG Network Staff, then press and Devils management and requested that moving forward, no one calls him “Mike.” At Pucks and Pitchforks, we will respect his wishes and only refer to him as Cammy (which is fine with him) or Michael.