Watch It: MSG+  Listen To It: 660 AM

The Last 10 Games: New Jersey is 7-3-0 and Carolina is 3-5-2.

Season Series:  This is the third time they meet this season, the two teams only play each other four times in the regular season. The Devils won both of the games played in NJ between these two teams this season.

Know Your Enemy: Shutdown Line

What We Think of the Hurricanes: Not a great team and honestly, hard to think of them as a great team when the hired John MacLean to be their assistant coach and well, we know what he did to our team last season. However, both meetings against Carolina this season have come down to the wire so while not a great team, an evenly matched team.

What I Am Looking For Tonight: A full 60 minutes. The other night against Washington, the Devils were amazing for 40 minutes and then that last 20 the wheels completely fell off. Same thing happened against the Rangers, thought NJ played well the first two periods but just blew it in the 3rd. Should be an interesting 3rd tonight because if I am not mistaken, Carolina can't seem to hold a 3rd period lead either. Hopefully there is no Christmas hangover tonight. I know I am suffering from it!!

Tonight, the Devils will be without defenseman Tallinder and Larsson, who if flying back from Sweden at the moment.

This is the final road game for 2011 and lets hope it ends on a good note. The Rangers game left a bad taste in my mouth and the Caps game, well it didn't leave me feeling to good about our abilities to hold on to a lead so hopefully this game in Carolina will make me feel a little better.

Projected Lines:

Parise-Henrique-Kovakchuk
Sykora-Elias-Zubrus
Tedenby-Zajac-Clarkson
Boulton-Carter-Janssen

Salvador-Fayne
Volchenkov-Foster
Urbom-Taormina

Johan Hedberg
Martin Brodeur

Yuck.  Yuck.  Yuck.

That was just awful.  It pretty much proves that the last two games in which the Devils scored a total of 11 goals were just flukes.  Dammit.  I so wanted to believe that the Devils had finally found a way to become an offensive threat in the now old-ish "new" NHL.  Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Tonight's game actually started out ok with Travis Zajac scoring the first goal of the game and his first of the season.  Then, it all seemed to go downhill from there – slowly at first until the final minutes of the 3rd period when it all just kind of snowballed out of control.  And the real kicker is how that snowball started.

The Devils were on the power play and gave up a short handed goal to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead.  After that, the Devils basically had 6 attackers and the final goal was scored into the empty net with 6 seconds remaining.  I do have to say, though, that the various 6 Devils attackers kept the puck out of that empty net better than I've seen Marty keep pucks out of the net this season.

Which leads me to the most glaringly obvious yet painful observation of the night.  Marty wasn't able to come up with the big save.  He should've had that short-handed goal that I mentioned above.  Foster played the pass perfectly and all Marty had to do was stop the shot.

I was sitting watching the horror show that was the 3rd period and wondering how the Devils always make other goaltenders look amazing.  As is often the case, the Devils had way more shots than their opponent throughout the game, so why do they always have such a difficult time finding the back of the net (the previous 2 games notwithstanding)?  And then it hit me.  It's not that the other goaltenders are that amazing necessarily.  Other teams just happen to have goaltenders who can make those big, game changing saves.  (Think Marty circa 1995-2003).  And they have goaltenders who can not only last an entire game but actually improve as the game goes on.

And the Devils don't.

In a huge rivalry game like this one with the team's confidence level at an all time high, the goalie has to make those big game changing saves.  He has to.  And, I'm sorry, but I've got to call a spade a spade.  Marty hasn't been able to do that in a long time.  At least not on a consistent basis.  In fact, I think Hedberg has probably made more big saves of that caliber than Marty has this season.

It's sad.  It's heartbreaking.  It's the end of an amazing era...but the Devils really need to find themselves a number one goaltender who can carry them through the playoffs.  They need to make a trade for a top goaltender or at least one that the players can feel confident playing in front of and that they can depend on to make those game changing saves.

I'm not sure why Marty was given the start tonight...I guess because he should have been riding high off his win against Montreal on Saturday.  And he played decently for the first half of the game.  But when it came down to Marty making the big save with the game on the line, just one on one with the shooter, he choked.  Big time.

I know you can't put the blame on one player and it's a team sport blah, blah, blah...  But this is becoming a usual occurrence rather than an exception.  And that can't be allowed to happen if the Devils plan to go far into the playoffs.

(UN &)FUN FACT:

The shorthanded goal given up by the Devils tonight is the 10th one they've given up this season...twice as many as any other team.  However, they also lead the league in shorthanded goals scored with 7...1 more than Carolina has.

Watch It: MSG+  Listen To It: 660 AM

The Last 10 Games New Jersey is 6-4-0 and New York is 6-3-1.

Season Series:  This is the first time we get to see our hated rival this season.

Know Your Enemy: http://www.nyrangersblog.com/

What We Think of the Rangers: There is nothing to like. We hate them, it’s no secret we hate them but the one thing we hate more than the Rangers is losing to the Rangers.


What I Am Looking For Tonight: A win, plain and simple. The Devils are on a tear lately having scored 11 goals in their last 2 games. They need to just keep continuing whatever it is that they are doing that is creating so many goals.

The defense has to be tight tonight because we need to protect Marty. It’s no secret that the Prudential Center will be half full of Ranger fans so if Marty has a game where he gets beat early and beat often, the arena will be rocking with the Marty chant.

Elias is out of the game tonight which leaves a decent sized hole in our lineup. Parise, Henrique and Kovy, we are looking to you to fill the void.

Projected Lines:

Zach Parise - Adam Henrique - Ilya Kovalchuk
Petr Sykora - Travis Zajac - Dainius Zubrus
Mattias Tedenby - Ryan Carter - David Clarkson
Eric Boulton - Tim Sestito - Cam Janssen

Matt Taormina - Mark Fayne
Anton Volchenkov - Kurtis Foster
Bryce Salvador - Adam Larsson

Martin Brodeur 

This week the Devils played 3 games in the Friday to Thursday stretch. A loss at home last Saturday afternoon and then set out on a road trip to Florida that saw a win in Tampa Bay and a shootout win against the Panthers.

Zach Parise – He had his 6 game point streak snapped against Montreal on Saturday but instead of going into a shell like some players do when a streak is snapped, he lit up the score sheet in Tampa Bay with a goal and two assists and then found the back of the net against the Panthers. He ended the week at a +3. He did have a chance to tie the game against Montreal but couldn’t bang home a penalty shot late.

Henrik Tallinder – I continue to watch this guy make mistakes and he made a doozy of a mistake on Tuesday against the Panthers. A quick stick check made Tallinder cough up the puck which allowed Veersteeg to skate in all alone and put home the breakaway. Thankfully the Devils rebounded quickly as a team and cut the lead to 2-1 minutes later but mistakes like that can be complete game changers. At least he’s making Larsson’s transition from living in Sweden to living in the US a little easier, so he’s not a complete failure!!

Kurtis Foster – He played on game for NJ having come over in a trade after the Tampa game and didn’t register a point but he played 25 shifts for a total of 21:53 on the ice and was thrown out there on the power play. I thought he did really well for not having ever practiced with the team. Looks like he might be able to add some much needed punch to our power play.

Marty Broduer – I thought he had a much better week, even though he both won and lost a game this week. He didn’t get burned early and often like he had been doing and I thought he played his best game in a while against the Panthers on Tuesday. Two major defensive mistakes led to goals on Tuesday and they were goals that really wouldn’t be fair to criticize him for. He was lights out in the shootout which is ALWAYS helpful.

The Matchup:  Dallas Stars (18-11-1) vs. New Jersey Devils (16-13-1)

8:00 pm at the Rock

TV/Radio:   MSG PLUS (HD)/WFAN 660 AM

Know Your Enemy:  Stars of Big D

What We Think Of The Stars:  This is the 2nd of 2 meetings between these teams this season.  The Stars took the first game 3-1 on October 29th in Dallas.  The Stars are in the midst of a 3 game winning streak thanks to rookie goaltender, Richard Bachman, who has allowed just 3 goals in the last 3 games.  The Stars lead the Pacific division.

Tonight’s Game:  It’s going to be a special night for the Devils organization and its fans as the team retires only the third number in its history.  Just in case you missed it, the Devils are retiring Scott Niedermayer’s number (27) tonight before the puck drops.  Darren wrote a nice article honoring Nieds which you can read here.  The excitement doesn’t end there, though.  Devils fans are in for even more of a treat as Travis Zajac returns to the lineup.  This will be the first game Travis has played all season after having surgery in August to repair a torn Achilles tendon.  Look for DeBoer to break up the Parise-Henrique-Kovy line by putting Parise back with Zajac and Henrique and Kovy on another line.  This should provide the Devils two strong scoring lines.  Let’s just hope that Travis doesn’t take too long to get back into the swing of things and that he and Zach can rekindle the chemistry they always seemed to have with each other.  And, as if that’s not enough, Anton Volchenkov and Henrik Tallinder could both be back in the lineup tonight, too.  If the Devils need a spark to get going tonight, they certainly have plenty to choose from.

FUN FACT:

In Darren’s article referenced above, he shared my feelings about Nied’s number being retired by the team he chose to leave.  Nieds was on “NHL Hour with Commissioner Gary Bettman” on Thursday, and it was nice to hear him acknowledge how generous the Devils are being by retiring his number despite the fact that he left to play elsewhere:  “Going to the rink tomorrow, it’s going to be a little emotional in that sense, because for them to feel that highly of what I did there, even considering that I decided to play somewhere else, makes it to me more special.”  At least Nieds recognizes how magnanimous the Devils are being in honoring him in such a poignant way.

I’ve said it a number of times that when I look at NJ, I see a team that is missing something that makes them a good team, I don’t know what it is but something is missing. I do however know what isn’t missing and that is quit. While I look at NJ as a mediocre team, there is just no quit in these guys.

Down 2-0 last night, the Devils immediately answered and then battled back to force a 2-2 tie, overtime and ultimately another shootout. The Devils have been lights out when it comes to the skills competition this season. After last night’s victory, they are 7-1 in the shootout this season. That’s 7 extremely important points. Without those 7 points, the Devils would be somewhere near 13^th or 14^th place in the conference. With those 7 points, we are currently 8^th.

We made a number of defensive mistakes last night that got NJ into a 2-0 hole but I thought Marty played a very solid game. The first goal our defense hung him out there by Larsson throwing the puck to the middle of the ice where it was picked off and a simple pass and shoot play made it unstoppable for Marty. The second was another defensive goof by Talinder and Versteeg just beat him to the puck and put in yet another shorthanded goal.

But like I said, there is no quit in this team. A little less than a minute later, Elias put some life into this team and cut the lead to 2-1. Later in the third, Parise tied the game and the Devils were able to keep the Panthers off the scoreboard the rest of the way.

This game was a little chippy as we saw Janssen get into a fight with Barch early on and then Kovalchuk and Parise get into a big old mess at the end of the second. Clarkson was close to getting into a few situations as well.

All in all a great win because any time you come out of back to back games and skate away with 4 points, you can’t really complain about much.

Next game is Friday where #27 gets raised to the rafters.

Watch It: MSG+  Listen To It: 660 AM

The Last 10 Games New Jersey is 5-5-0 and Florida is 5-3-2.

Season Series:  This will be the second time these two teams face each other this season. The last time, the Devils blew a 3-0 lead and lost 4-3 in regulation. Took a while for NJ to get over that loss.

Know Your Enemy: One of the few teams we don't cover at Bloguin....

 What We Think of the Panthers: They are for real. I thought it was a fluke the way that they started the season and took control of their division early but typically when you’ve played 30 games,  it paints a picture of what kind of team you are. They aren’t scoring a ton of goals and they aren’t keeping a ton of goals out of the net, they are just finding a way to win.

 What I Am Looking For Tonight: If they get the lead, stop sitting back on it because any time the Devils sit back, bad things happen. Look at last night, they got an early lead, sat back a bit and watched the lead vanish. They regained the lead but again sat back and thanks to time running out, the Lightning couldn’t complete the comeback but they were certainly coming at us full steam ahead.

1. Keep with the confidence while shorthanded. Sure, rushing up the ice while down a man makes me nervous because I picture odd man rushes back the other way but last night it worked.
2. Be careful when it comes to the defensive side of things. With Volchenkov and Greene out of the lineup, the Devils don’t have a lot of room to make mistakes when stuck in their own zone.

Who Is Kurtis Foster: He’s a defenseman that certainly needs to improve his game if I am going to like him. He’s a big dude 6-5 226 but he’s not very physical and doesn’t do a great job when it comes to hitting people. However, 14 of his 22 points last season came on the power play so if he helps improve our PP and doesn’t look worse than Talinder out there, what’s not to like?

Possible Line Combinations:

I have little clue since we made this trade…

Petr Sykora - Patrik Elias - Dainius Zubrus
Zach Parise - Adam Henrique - Ilya Kovalchuk
Eric Boulton - Ryan Carter - David Clarkson
Mattias Tedenby - Tim Sestito - Cam Janssen

Henrik Tallinder - Mark Fayne
Bryce Salvador - Kurtis Foster
Alexander Urbom - Adam Larsson

Martin Brodeur
Johan Hedberg

Yes, you read that correctly.  The Devils defeated the struggling Tampa Bay Lightning in regulation, 5-4, last night.  This is important because, for once, the Devils got 2 points without giving their opponent any.  Hopefully, this will be the beginning of many more regulation wins to come.

Tonight, the Devils may have a more difficult task when they face the irksome Florida Panthers.  You may recall the last time these two teams faced each other (on November 21st), the Panthers rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the 3rd period to win the game 4-3 in regulation.  The good news is, the Panthers are on a 2 game losing skid.  The Panthers have certainly surpassed everyone’s expectations so far this season, though, so the Devils need to ride the momentum from last night’s win into Sunrise, FL.


And just in case it escaped your notice (as it did mine), the Devils made a trade yesterday.  They acquired defenseman Kurtis Foster and an AHL goalie from Anaheim for Rod Pelley and Mark Fraser.  Foster is apparently a strong offensive defenseman, so let's hope he can add some points.  (Let's also hope he can actually play defense since Anton Volchenkov and Andy Greene are both injured).  I know there are going to be a few diappointed Mark Fraser fans out there, but I think that, if Foster can score a goal or two, this trade was definitly a good one for the Devils. 

FUN FACT:

Adam Henrique is emerging as one of the contenders to win this year’s Calder Trophy as top rookie in the league.  Last night, he had 1 goal and 2 assists combining for his first 3 point game.  He’s second on the team only to Patrik Elias in points (Adam has 26, Patty has 29 but Adam has played 3 less games than Patty), he leads the team in assists (16) and he’s a plus-3.  Adam is also 2nd among all rookies in points and assists.

Watch It: Versus  Listen To It: 660 AM

The Last 10 Games:  New Jersey is 4-6-0 and the Lightning are 3-7-0

Season Series:  NJ leads the season series 1-0 after winning  in Toronto on Nov 19^th.

Know Your Enemy: 

 What We Think of the Lightning:  They are probably having a more disappointing season than we are than we are. The fact is, NJ and Tampa Bay are teams that are used to being in playoff contention at this point of the season and both are in the bottom half of the conference. Both teams are desperate to get 2 points tonight which would be a step in the right direction.

What I Am Looking For Tonight: Notice I changed the title of this category because I just don’t know what to expect from this team anymore but I do know what I am looking from one game to the next.

1. Energy – because the game Saturday afternoon lacked any kind of emotion or energy until late in the game but by then, it was really too late.
2. Discipline – Stay out of the box. Yes we are good at killing off the penalties but we struggle to generate shots on net throughout the game so spending time in the box and killing penalties isn’t going to help us generate shots on net.
3. Be careful of their top scorers. Just because St.Louis might miss the game tonight, don’t do forgetting about Stamkos and Lecavalier.
4. Win…at all cost WIN!!

Why, when the Devils lose, do they do it regulation?  Yet when they win, they usually have to accomplish it in OT or a shootout.  Mark my words…all of those 3 point games are going to come back and haunt this team at the end of the season.

But there are other problems to address right now.  Like today’s loss to the Canadiens.  Is it me or have the Devils reverted back to their old school ways of taking the 2nd period off?  It sure looked like that today.  The 1st period, I thought the Devs played really well.  At least they seemed to dominate the play.  True, they failed to capitalize on any scoring chances and took boneheaded offensive zone penalties, but I felt like they controlled the puck for most of the 1st period.  And then they decided to call it a day…until nick Palmieri scored in the 3rd. (Let me just point out that when your only goal scorer of the game is Palmieri, you know you’re in trouble).  Palmieri’s goal seemed to light a small fire under their butts, but of course it was a day late, dollar short type of a deal.  Zach Parise could have tied it late in the 3rd on a penalty shot…but he didn’t.

I’m just not at all sure what is going on with this team or how I feel about them, but something is totally off.  For one thing, neither of the two “elite” players the Devils have are playing up to their talent level.  Zach has basically been MIA, and, while Kovy has at least found the back of the net a few times recently, he seems to be missing his brilliance.  Which begs the question:  WHY IS KOVY PLAYING RW AGAIN THIS SEASON???  He’s clearly not as comfortable there as he is at LW, and we all remember how well this experiment worked last year.  What logic could possibly exist to put, arguably, the world’s best left winger on right wing?  Please, someone enlighten me as to the wisdom in such a move.

One can only hope that when Travis returns more sensical lines will be created.

Seriously, it shouldn’t be this difficult.  These are the Devils…the ’95, ’00, ’03 Stanley Cup Champion franchise.  The perennial leaders of their division.  So, they hit a road bump (MacLean) in the beginning of last season…they proved to the world that they can be the best team in the league during the second half. I expect nothing less of them this year and neither should any of you.  It’s becoming tiresome watching them eek out a win (which, let’s face it, by the time the shootout rolls around is pretty much decided by luck) only to do it again the next night and then lose the following game. Sure, the OT/SO wins are exciting in the moment, but the Devils are playing very precariously by allowing every game to be so close. And, by giving whomever they defeat 1 point, the Devils are effectively only earning 1 point for each of these wins. Just once (well, ok, every game from here on out) I’d love to see the Devs blow their opponent away.  Or at least win by 2 goals.

FUN FACT:

Zach’s penalty shot was awarded because one of Montreal’s defensemen covered the puck in front of his net with both hands.  DeBoer was able to choose any of the five players who were on the ice at the time to take the penalty shot.  Obviously, he chose Zach who was 6 for 7 in the shootout  this season.