| 17 September 2009
First pre-seaon game is in the books and it was a 3-2 shootout win over the rival Rangers. Devils looked good through most of the game but they had a tendency to just stop doing whatever they were doing and the Rangers made them pay for that. Devils were up 2-0 at one point and the Rangers capitalized on the Devils mistakes and were able to tie the game. Yann Danis looked very good in goal and went the distance, including stopping five of six shooters he faced in the shootout.
David Clarkson looked very good and to me, he showed us he's the time of guy who is comfortable standing in front of the net and putting home those "garbage goals." I liked the fact that Lemaire put him on the PP because he's the type to stand in front of the goalie. Shanahan got to wear the "C" for the night because Langenbrunner got the night off and even though Shanahan was playing in Langenbrunner's spot as well, doesn't mean that Jamie will lose either position on the team.
Zack Parise's shootout goal to extend the shooutout to extra frames was certainly a beauty. In fact, I'm not sure Parise even needs more time to get ready for the regular season. I was commenting at the TV that I thought Zajac should have followed Parise in the shootout, thinking he would end it, which he eventually did in the 6th round. I wasn't impressed with Bergfors at all during the night, especially in the shootout.
I know it was a preseason game but didn't it feel like a regular season matchup between these two? A lot of intensity, a few fights, a close low scoring game settled in a shootout. The bad thing is that the Devils don't play again for another week, and its likely that a few guys will get a ticket back to Lowell based on one game. The good thing is that the Devils get a week to try and tune-up the mistakes they made last night that allowed the Rangers to jump back in the game.
Overall, I thought the Devils played a very good game. I don't normally talk about other teams in the league if they aren't playing NJ, but I just wanted to mention that the Devils attendance last night was a shade over 10,000 and the Phoenix Coyotes first home pre-season game was seen by just over 4,000. Maybe the league shouldn't worry about keeping the franchise where they are.
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