Blog Archives
Game 13: New Jersey Devils vs. Carolina Hurricanes
Start Time: 7:00 PM
TV: MSG+
Radio: WFAN 660 AM, 101.9 FM
Matchup:
Your New Jersey Devils (8-1-3) will face-off against the Carolina Hurricanes (6-4-1) Tuesday evening for the first of three times this season, and is the only time Carolina will visit The Rock this season. The Devils are coming off of a massively successful weekend, sweeping a home-and-home series with the Pittsburgh Penguins, winning both games 3-1. The Hurricanes are coming off of a 6-4 victory against the New York Islanders Monday evening and are looking to put some more distance between them and the struggling Tampa Bay Lightning for the Southeast Division lead.
Game 11: New Jersey Devils vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
Start Time: 1:00 PM
TV: NHLN-US, MSG+
Radio: WFAN 600 AM, 101.9 FM
Matchup:
As the state of New Jersey braces for what will probably be the worst snow storm of the year, the New Jersey Devils (6-1-3) are preparing for what could be one of their most important weekends of the shortened season. Saturday afternoon, the Devils will play the first game of a home-and-home series against their Division Rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins (8-3-0). The Devils enter the game winning their last three, most recently a convincing 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Penguins have won their past five games, consisting of wins against the Rangers, Devils, Islanders, and the Capitals twice.
New Jersey Devils:
One of the key factors to the Devils three-game winning streak is obviously the team’s strong penalty kill. The Devils have killed off all 16 penalties called against them in those three games, with Kovalchuk even scoring a short-handed goal against the Lightning. While averaging over 5 penalties a game is not where the Devils want to be, being able to kill those penalties is a huge boost of confidence for the team. After giving up 3 power-play goals against the Islanders last week, the Devils really started being more aggressive on their penalty kills, pressuring the offense to make mistakes. On top of that, the Devils goaltending has been superb as of late. Hedberg posted a shutout against the Islanders, and Marty let in three goals in his previous two outings, making some truly stellar stops in both games. After 10 games, the Devils are only averaging 2.1 goals against, tied for 5th in the NHL.
Pittsburgh Penguins
What is there to say about the Penguins that hasn’t already been said? Their offense has been as lethal as ever this season, and the Penguins have one of the best goalie pairs in the NHL. Marc-Andre Fleury (5-2-0, 2.38 GAA, 0.909 Sv%) is looking to erase all memories of his terrible performance during last season’s playoffs, and Tomas Vokoun (3-1-0, 2.08 GAA, 0.927 Sv%) has played spectacularly when filling in for Fleury. The Penguins are currently averaging 3.46 goals per game, tied for second with the Chicago Blackhawks, trailing only the Tampa Bay Lightning (4.20).
What to Watch For
Martin Brodeur will start career game number 1,200 Saturday afternoon, yet another milestone in the massive book Marty has written through his career. With the way Marty has been playing lately, I wouldn’t worry about last week’s performance getting to him. Marty’s made a career out of bouncing back from tough losses, and he’s put on a clinic in his past 2 starts. Look for Marty to continue his strong play and for the defense to continue supporting him. While the Devils penalty-kill has been strong, the Devils will want to stay out of the box more, but don’t expect them to play more conservative because of this. The offense has been clicking as of late, with Clarkson (7) leading the team in goals, and tied with Elias for the team lead in points with 13.
The Penguins offense will be fueled by the usual suspects: Crosby, Malkin, Kunitz, and Neal. Look for them to test Marty early and often, trying to break through and have another high-scoring game against the future Hall-of-Famer. Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to get the start against Marty on Saturday afternoon. While the Penguins are sporting one of the highest-scoring offenses in the league, don’t expect that to intimidate the Devils. After all, they held the #1 team in the league (Tampa Bay) to just two goals on Thursday.
With the Central/North New Jersey area currently being pounded by winter storm Nemo, don’t expect a sell-out crowd at the Prudential Center tomorrow. Who knows, maybe this generation will get a chance to have their own 334 Club. Regardless, expect Devils fans to show up ready for a good game.
Hard At Work Behind The Scenes
Before I became involved with the organization as a Devil’s Army General, I really didn’t think much about the behind the scenes aspects of running a hockey club. You see the players and coaches on the bench, you can watch the Zamboni crew between periods, you hear about general manager’s making roster changes, and maybe even the owner or president will pop in and out of TV broadcasts and press releases. The truth is there is an unbelievable amount of people behind the scenes, often doing the work of even more people that I never even imagined as a fan.
Game 9: New Jersey Devils vs. New York Rangers
Start Time: 7:00 PM
TV: MSG+2 (Devils broadcast), MSG (Rangers Broadcast)
Radio: Bloomberg 1130 AM
Matchup:
Your New Jersey Devils (4-1-3) will face-off against the New York Rangers (4-4-0) Tuesday for the first of four times this season, and the first time since the Now-Classic Game 6 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals. Chances are, if you’re reading this, I don’t need to tell you how that game went down. During the regular season last year, the Devils split the season series with the Rangers (3-3-0) going 2-1-0 at the Prudential Center. Patrik Elias led the Devils in points (2G, 3A) while David Clarkson led the team in goals (3). After a 6-game series with the Rangers in the playoffs, the Devils finished 2011-12 with a 7-5-0 record against their cross-river rivals.
We’ll see you at the Digital Zone
Being one of those people who is probably too honest for her own good, I’m not going to lie. The lockout really upset me. I was mad. Beside myself mad. I was at the point where I was hoping they’d just write off the whole season and let me get on with my life. BUT, being who I am and how big of a fan I am… of course I was first in line to get my tickets to opening night! I couldn’t WAIT to get back to The Rock!
Save The Date! Devils Generals Party for Sandy Relief
SAVE THE DATE!
Please join The Devils Army Generals for a party
to benefit those affected by Hurricane Sandy.
Thursday, December 6th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
There will be 3 party locations: Clifton, Ramsey and Edison at Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza
20% from each check will be donated to benefit Sandy relief for anyone wearing
Devils gear all day long! There will even be a live auction at each location.
Show your Jersey pride by joining us for this special and important event.
Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza
852 St. Route 3 Clifton, NJ
80 Parsonage Road Edison, NJ
984 Route 17th North Ramsey, NJ
Please join us in supporting our families, friends and neighbors.
We are Jersey’s team and most importantly we are Jersey Strong!
RSVP on Facebook.
5 Things I Learned in Albany
I’ve been planning a trip to Albany since what would be the start of the NHL season and I wasn’t letting Sandy get in the way. After waiting in a long line for one of the few open gas stations, I filled up my tank and used that precious fuel to drive up to Albany and watch the Albany Devils take on the Connecticut Whale at the Times Union Center. This was my first trip to Albany, here’s what I learned.
New Jersey Devils Focus on the Fans
The Devils have taken the idea of fan interaction to a whole new level.
If you haven’t been following along on the official Facebook page and Twitter account, you missed your chance to vote for the newest member of the Devils Dancers.
After holding auditions for the upcoming season, the Devils took their top three contenders and let the fans vote on who should get the last spot on the dance team. Gabrielle, Sarah and Sarah-Ashley put their fate in the hands of the Devils Army and the winner was revealed at Texas-Arizona in Hoboken this past Tuesday.
This is just another way the Devils have gotten the fans directly involved with the organization. The most obvious fan-focused program is right here, the Devils Generals and Mission Control. This program is the first of its kind in the sports industry and focuses only on interacting with the fans not only through social media, but through viewing parties and making the Digital Zone the cool place to be during intermissions.
With these events along with featuring Fans of the Week, posting photo submissions on their social media pages (have you seen the official Pinterest page recently?), and letting the fans design last season’s playoff towels, you can’t deny the Devils are really focusing on building the fan community.
As for who the fans chose as our newest Devils Dancer - Gabrielle is a Jersey girl from East Hanover and won her spot with more than 14,000 fan votes. Congrats to Gabby, welcome to the Devils Army!
Summing Up The Season – Finally!
How do you sum up a season in which you had very little expectations? When you consider that the Devils missed the playoffs last year, had the 4th pick in the draft and found out early in the season that they would be without Travis Zajac for quite some time, there was indeed not a lot to be optimistic about for the 2011-12 season. I went into it expecting very little, and the Devils far exceeded anything that I could have ever hoped for as a season full of doubts turned into one that amazed me and left me full of pride by the time the smoke cleared!
Summing Up The Season: The Best Is Yet To Come
From missing the playoffs in 2010-2011, to making it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2011-2012, there’s no shortage of things for us Devils fans to be proud of after this season. On the ice and off the ice, this has been one of the most thrilling seasons for me. Whether it was work, school, or family, no matter what was troubling me on a daily basis, I knew I could go home, turn on the Devils game and everything would be alright.
When I sit back and try to think of a favorite highlight from this season, a few come to mind.
