Blog Archives
Game 40: Boston Bruins at New Jersey Devils
Game Time: 7:30 PM
TV: NBCSN
Radio: 970 AM
Match-Up
The New Jersey Devils (15-14-10) will play host to the Boston Bruins (25-9-4) tonight for third and final meeting of the season. This is the second game between these teams in the last week. Last Thursday, the Devils shipped up to Boston in a game that saw the Devils throw everything but the kitchen sink at Tuukka Rask, but he stopped all 40 shots. Jaromir Jagr would score in his debut as a Bruin, and the Devils would fall 1-0. These are two teams headed in different directions, as Boston is fighting to win the Northeast Division, and New Jersey is fighting to keep its playoffs hopes alive.
Game Preview – Game 24: Your New Jersey Devils @ Minnesota Wild
New Jersey Devils (12-10-1, 25 points) @ Minnesota Wild (15-7-3, 33 points)
8:00 PM EST
TV: MSG Plus 2
Radio: WFAN 660 AM
Matchup:
Tonight will be the one and only matchup between the Wild and the Devils. Last season, the two clubs played at Prudential Center on January 4, which saw the Wild take a 2-1 victory.
Will the Devils Show Up to Play Tonight?:
Head Coach Pete DeBoer said it best when talking about the Devils first period play on Wednesday night, saying it looked like the team was still in New Jersey.
The Devils found themselves down 3-0 at the end of the first period, which had a lot of fans in an uproar about the team’s play.
Ilya Kovalchuk scored a little past halfway of the second period, to draw the Devils within one, but the Avalanche had other plans, scoring three more unanswered goals en route to a 6-1 win.
While the team’s play hasn’t been spectacular, the team is still ahead of where they were last season at this point. While the Devils already have 12 wins this season, they didn’t get their 12th win last season until game 43.
Against the Wild:
All-time the Devils are 7-2-2-0 when playing the Wild and 3-1-1-0 when playing in Minnesota.
Patrik Elias is the all-time leading scorer for the Devils against the Wild with 8 points (4 goals, 4 assists) in 10 games played.
Even though he isn’t the starting goaltender tonight, Johan Hedberg leads all active Devils players with 12 penalty minutes against the Wild.
Martin Brodeur is 7-1-2 in his career against the Wild with a 2.23 GAA.
Projected Devils Lineup:
Parise – Henrique – Kovalchuk
Sykora - Elias - Zubrus
Tedenby - Carter – Clarkson
Boulton – Sestito – Janssen
Greene – Larsson
Talinder – Fayne
Volchenkov – Salvador
Brodeur
Hedberg
——————–
Things to Know about the Minnesota Wild:
- The Wild are coming off a 3-2 win over Edmonton on Wednesday.
- The Wild are currently the number one seed in the West and second overall in the NHL.
- Minnesota has won four times when trailing in the third period. The Wild has outscored its opponents 20-16 in the third period. The Wild has eight wins when trailing or being tied after the second period.
Wild Leaders:
Points: Koivu (20), Heatley (15), Setoguchi (13)
Goals: Cullen (8), Setoguchi (8), Clutterbuck (7)
Assists: Koivu (16), Heatley (9), Bouchard (9
+/-: Latendress (+7), Koivu (+6), Stoner (+6)
Projected Wild Lineup:
Setoguchi – Koivu – Heatley
Wellman – Cullen – Bouchard
Johnson – Brodziak – Powe
Gillies – McIntyre – Staubitz
Schultz – Lundin
Zanon – Stoner
Spurgeon – Scandella
Backstrom
Harding
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Game Preview – Game 21: Your New Jersey Devils vs New York Islanders
New Jersey Devils (11-8-1, 23 points) vs New York Islanders (5-10-4, 14 points)
3:00 PM EST
TV: MSG Plus 2
Radio: WFAN 660 AM
Matchup:
Today’s black Friday matchup will see the Devils and Islanders meet for the first of six meetings this season, as well as the first game of a home-and-home series. The Devils won the season series last year, 4-2-0. Two of those four wins came in overtime.
Devils vs Blue Jackets Recap:
On Wednesday, the Devils hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets at Prudential Center and were able to secure their seventh win in 10 games.
Dainius Zubrus scored the only Devils goal in regulation, and Ilya Kovalchuk & Zach Parise scored in the shootout to give the Devils their 11th win of the season. Last year, the Devils didn’t get win number 11 until game 42 of the season.
Martin Brodeur also kept the Devils in the game by making 35 saves on the night.
The Devils, now 11-8-1 on the season, are now tied for third place in the Atlantic Division with cross-Hudson rivals, the New York Rangers.
Palmieri sent to Albany (AHL):
Yesterday was not a Happy Thanksgiving for Nick Palmieri who was informed that he was being sent to the Albany Devils of the AHL.
Palmieri’s play this season has not been up to par with his play last season. Last season, Palmieri had nine goals, eight assists and a plus-9 in 43 games.
So far this season, Palmieri only has three goals, three assists and is a minus-5 in 19 games played.
Palmieri didn’t play Monday against the Panthers and played just over eight minutes on the fourth line in the Devils win over Columbus Wednesday.
Palmieri’s demotion comes when Eric Boulton is also in Albany on a conditioning stint. It also means that Mattias Tedenby can expect some more ice-time as he still looks for his first goal of the season.
Against the Islanders:
All-time the Devils are 74-80-20-1 when playing the Islanders and 29-47-12-0 when playing at the Nassau Coliseum.
Patrik Elias is the all-time leading scorer for the Devils against the Islanders with 74 points (30 goals, 44 assists) in 71 games played.
Zach Parise has 33 points (17 goals, 16 assists) in 36 career games against the Islanders.
Johan Hedberg is 6-6-2 in his career against the Islanders with a 3.02 GAA
Projected Devils Lineup:
Parise – Henrique – Kovalchuk
Sykora - Elias - Zubrus
Tedenby - Carter – Clarkson
Pelley - Sestito – Janssen
Greene – Larsson
Tallinder - Fayne
Volchenkov – Salvador
Hedberg
Brodeur
——————–
Islanders’ Bad Luck Continues:
The New York Islanders found themselves down 1-0 early to the Philadelphia Flyers Wednesday night, but were able to score three unanswered goals to take a 3-1 lead.
However, a subpar performance from goaltender Rick DiPietro saw the Flyers tie the game and win it in overtime.
The Islanders find themselves on a three game losing streak, and have dropped the last 13 of 16.
Random Islanders Stats:
The Islanders have given up a goal on their opponent’s first shot of the game in each of their last two games and a total of five times this season. They are 0-3-2 when this happens this season.
The Islanders are 4-1-2 when scoring first and 1-9-2 when allowing the game’s first goal.
To coincide with the Devils’ third period problems, the Isles have been outscored 15-1 in the final frame over their last seven games, including three empty net goals. So far this season, the Islanders have been outscored 26-8 in the third period.
Projected Islanders Lineup:
Moulson – Tavares – Parenteau
Grabner – Nielsen – Okposo
Martin – Bailey – Niederreiter
Haley – Reasoner – Ullstrom
Streit – Staios
Macdonald – Hamonic
Mottau – Jurcina
Montoya
DiPietro
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Game Preview – Game 19: Your New Jersey Devils @ Florida Ice Cats
New Jersey Devils (10-7-1, 21 points) @ Florida Panthers (10-6-3, 23 points)
7:30 PM EST
TV: MSG Plus
Radio: WFAN 660 AM
Matchup:
The Devils will get their first look at the Florida Panthers this season. They will play the current Southeast Division leader four times this season. Last year, the Devils and Panthers split the season series 2-2, but the Devils outscored the Panthers 12-10.
Devils Roll Past Lightning:
The Devils and Lightning met up on Saturday Night as the Devils came off a split back-to-back series against the Bruins and Sabres. The Devils hoped to ride the momentum they gained as they scored five goals on the Sabres last Wednesday.
After the first period remained scoreless, the Devils went into the third period leading 3-0 with goals from Dainius Zubrus, Patrik Elias, and David Clarkson.
The Devils defense held the Lightning to only 13 shots between the first two periods of play, but the Lightning came out firing in the third period. Brodeur kept the Lightning scoreless for 51 minutes until Martin St. Louis and Ryan Shannon would score within a minute and a half of each other to pull the Lightning within one.
Ryan Carter would score a goal with 2:03 left in the third, to seal the Devils victory.
Leaders for the Devils:
Points
Elias – 18 points
Parise – 11 points
Henrique – 11 points
Goals
Elias – 8 goals
Clarkson – 7 goals
Parise – 6 goals.
+/-
Elias +2
Fayne +2
Greene +2
Wins
Hedberg – 6 wins
Brodeur – 4 wins
GAA
Hedberg – 2.45
Brodeur – 2.88
Save %
Hedberg – .914
Brodeur – .888
Against the Panthers:
All-time the Devils are 43-21-9-0 when playing the Panthers and 20-12-5-0 when playing in Florida.
Patrik Elias is the all-time leading scorer for the Devils against the Panthers with 40 points (20 goals, 20 assists) in 47 games played.
Ilya Kovalchuk, however, has the most career points against the Panthers with 63 points (32 goals, 31 assists) in 53 games played.
Martin Brodeur is 36-14-8 in his career against the Panthers with a 2.00 GAA.
Projected Devils Lineup:
Parise – Henrique – Kovalchuk
Sykora - Elias - Zubrus
Tedenby - Carter – Clarkson
Pelley - Mills - Janssen
Greene – Larsson
Tallinder - Fayne
Volchenkov – Salvador
Brodeur
Hedberg
——————–
Panthers Hot Start Has Them Looking at Playoffs:
With the acquisitions the Panthers made this offseason, fans didn’t know what to think. They had lost star goaltender Tomas Vokoun to the Capitals, and signed Jose Theodore to replace him between the pipes. The Panthers also had Kris Versteeg, Scottie Upshall, Brian Campbell and Tomas Fleischmann all join the squad.
Currently Versteeg, Campbell, and Fleischmann are all averaging close to a point a game and somehow the Panthers find themselves in first place in the Southeast division with the competitive Capitals and Lightning looking up.
The last time the Panthers made the playoffs, Pavel Bure led the team in points and Bill Clinton was the President of the United States.
Panthers Career Stats Against Devils:
Stephen Weiss leads active Panthers in career points against the Devils with 16 points (5 goals, 11 assists) in 28 games.
All-time leaders for the Panthers include Scott Mellanby and former Devil, Rob Niedermayer, both have 20 points against the Devils as Panthers.
Jose Theodore is 7-14-2 in his career against the Devils with a 2.67 GAA.
Projected Panthers Lineup:
Fleischmann – Weiss – Versteeg
Sturm – Goc – Kopecky
Dadanov – Santorelli – Bergenheim
Kennedy – Matthias – Skille
Campbell – Garrison
Ellerby – Jovanovski
Weaver – Kulikov
Theodore
Markstrom
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Game Preview – Game 11: Your New Jersey Devils @ Broad Street Bullies
New Jersey Devils (4-5-1) @ Philadelphia Flyers (7-4-1)
7:00 PM EDT
TV: MSG Plus
Radio: WFAN 660 AM
Matchup:
This marks the second of six games between the two clubs this season. The Flyers and Devils last played on October 8 which was the Devils home opener, which saw the Flyers ruin the night by shutting out the Devils, 3-0.
Last Game Recap:
Wednesday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs saw a lot of back and forth action. The Leafs would score, and then the Devils would tie it up. Unfortunately, Joffrey Lupul would lead the Leafs with a hat trick in the second period, giving them the 5-3 win.
The big story of the game was the return of Martin Brodeur in goal. Brodeur had missed nearly three weeks while recovering from a sore shoulder. It is no lie that Brodeur appeared to be rusty in his return, but did produce a highlight reel save on Leafs forward Phil Kessel. The save was almost the same move that Brodeur injured his shoulder on. Afterwards, Brodeur said his shoulder felt fine.
Elias sets Devils Record:
With his 93rd career powerplay goal on Wednesday night, Patrik Elias passed John MacLean and is now the franchise record holder for most powerplay goals. When asked about breaking the record, Elias told the media that it’s “not important at all if it happens in a loss.”
Not only was that goal Elias’ 93rd career powerplay goal, it also saw Adam Larsson’s first career NHL point. Larsson got the primary assist as he fed the puck beautifully to Elias.
Elias felt bad for not collecting the puck for Larsson as a souvenir. Here’s a picture of the puck.
Against the Flyers:
All-time the Devils are 87-70-18-0 in 54 games played against the Philadelphia Flyers
When playing in Philadelphia, the Devils are 32-45-11-0 against the Flyers.
Patrik Elias is the residential Flyer killer, with 70 points (32 goals, 38 assists) in 70 career games.
Projected Devils Lineup:
Kovalchuk – Parise – Sykora
Elias - Zubrus – Clarkson
Tedenby - Henrique - Palmieri
Mills – Carter – Janssen
Greene – Larsson
Tallinder - Fayne
Volchenkov – Salvador
Hedberg
Brodeur
——————–
Flyers Goaltending:
Ilya Bryzgalov was signed to be the Flyers number one goaltender. But things seemed iffy for the Flyers between the pipes when both Bryzgalov and backup Sergei Bobrovsky gave up a combined nine goals against the Winnipeg Jets. After that, Bryzgalov told the media he had “lost his way.”
The Flyers even announced on Monday morning that Bryzgalov was not going to talk to the media except in postgame (only if he played). However, the club is informed that it violated the league’s media policy and soon the media ban was lifted. Goalies can continue to talk to the media on a daily basis, but they will have a time limit.
All seems to be right with the number one right now as he has only allowed three goals in back-to-back wins.
Hot Flyers:
Look out for Scott Hartnell, who has scored five goals in five games, and has collected 10 points in that span.
Projected Flyers Lineup:
Hartnell – Giroux – Jagr
van Riemsdyk – Couturier – Voracek
Simmonds – Talbot – Nodl
Rinaldo – Holmstrom – Shelley
Timonen – Coburn
Lilja – Meszaros
Gustafsson – Carle
Bryzgalov
Bobrovsky
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Game Preview – Game 7: Your New Jersey Devils @ Southland Monarchs
New Jersey Devils (3-2-1) @ Los Angeles Kings (5-1-1)
10:30 PM EDT
TV: MSG Plus
Radio: WFAN 660 AM
Matchup:
Tonight marks the second and final matchup between the Kings and the Devils this season. The two clubs met at Prudential Center on October 13, which resulted in the Devils winning 2-1 in a shootout.
Devils News:
After dropping a second straight game Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the New Jersey Devils look to get back on the winning side.
Fans are worried about the team’s performance due to injuries to Jacob Josefson (broken clavicle), Travis Zajac (torn achilles) and Martin Brodeur (sore shoulder). They’re even going as far as to compare this season to last season already. With the Devils record being 3-2-1 through six games, they already have a better record then they did at this point last year. The Devils did not win it’s third game until their 11th game last season on October 29, and did not win their fourth game until game 14 on November 3. Last season, on October 25, the Devils were 2-7-1.
With the absence of two key centers, Devils Coach Peter DeBoer made a drastic change during the team’s practice yesterday. In Saturday’s game, you saw Parise, Elias, and Sykora playing together as well as Kovalchuk, Zubrus, Palmieri. DeBoer switched things up by swapping Parise and Zubrus. I know you’re thinking, “Wait, there’s three wingers on one line now.” You’re right. Zach Parise will be playing at center tonight in between Kovalchuk and Palmieri. Parise was drafted as a center, and had played center under Brent Sutter a couple seasons back. Parise said the change came as a bit of a surprise and was a little nerve-wracking as he hasn’t played center in years.
Breaking News:
Petr Sykora has the flu and may not be able to play tonight, the team says. If he is unable to play, you will see Mark Fraser skating at Left Wing tonight, expect major lineup changes.
Against the Kings:
All-time the Devils are 25-25-4-1 against the Kings, but only 9-14-3-1 when playing IN Los Angeles.
Patrik Elias has the most points against the Kings as a Devil, four goals and seven assists in 14 games played.
Dainius Zubrus has the most career points against the Kings with 15, five goals and ten assists in 17 games played.
Johan Hedberg is 1-6-0 against the Kings in his career, sporting a 4.09 GAA.
Projected Devils Lineup:
Kovalchuk – Parise – Palmieri
Sykora/Fraser - Elias - Zubrus
Tedenby - Henrique - Clarkson
Pelley - Mills - Janssen
Greene – Larsson
Tallinder - Fayne
Volchenkov – Salvador
Hedberg
Kinkaid
——————–
Kings News:
The main story for the Kings, without a doubt, is the hot play of young goaltender Jonathan Quick. In his third, fourth, and fifth starts of the season, Quick became the franchise record holder for the longest shutout streak. His 1-0 victory of Dallas on Saturday has now gone 188:10 without allowing a single goal. Luckily for the Devils, he will not be playing tonight. Jonathan Bernier is expected to get the start in goal.
Stud defenseman Drew Doughty has missed three straight games after suffering an upper-body injury against the Philadelphia Flyers on October 15. He was placed on Injured Reserve on October 16 and is eligible to come off for tonight’s game; however he’s not expected to return for another 7-10 days.
The Kings are also a hot team at the moment winning four straight games, and collecting points in five straight games. This dates back to the game at Prudential Center on October 13 in which the Devils beat the Kings 2-1 in a Shootout.
Kings Leaders:
Anze Kopitar leads the team in Points (10), Goals (4) and Assists (6).
Jonathan Quick leads the Kings in Wins (5) GAA (0.81), Save % (.972) and Shutouts (3)
Projected Kings Lineup:
Gagne-Kopitar-Williams
Penner-Richards-Brown
Richardson-Stoll-Moreau
Clifford-Lewis-Hunter
Scuderi-Johnson
Mitchell-Voynov
Martinez-Greene
Bernier
Quick
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Game Preview – Game 5: The No Way, Jose Land Sharks @ Your New Jersey Devils
In their only matchup of the season, tonight the San Jose Sharks will take on the New Jersey Devils.
Big stories are stemming from the game tonight, including Colin White’s return to New Jersey. As you may remember, White was bought out by the Devils during the off-season to free up salary cap space. The question is, when White steps onto the ice, will he be booed or applauded for his time here in NJ?
On the injury front, Martin Brodeur has been sidelined due to his injured shoulder. Brodeur has said that it is getting better, and he hopes to travel with the team in the upcoming road trip. Due to this injury, Johan Hedberg will make his third start of the season. Currently, Hedberg has been standing on his head…berg, while in goal. He has a 3-0 record with a 1.41 GAA. Dressing as the backup tonight will be rookie Keith Kinkaid. Coach Pete DeBoer stated he hates having players on the bench that he doesn’t use. With back-to-back games tonight and tomorrow, at Pittsburgh, it IS possible that Keith Kinkaid could start tomorrow night. Only time will tell.
Meanwhile, the Devils have not played a single game since last Saturday in Nashville. After the great comeback victory, the Devils had five long days off in between that game and tonight’s game. Can the Devils still ride the momentum of their three game winning streak? Or will these days off come back to hurt them? Ilya Kovalchuk hopes to keep leading the way for the Devils. He has been averaging just over 27 minutes per game, which put him fourth in the NHL. While it’s fourth in the NHL overall, it’s first among forwards. He currently leads the team in points (4) and is tied with Zach Parise for the team lead in goals (2).
Coach DeBoer will be making one lineup change tonight compared to the last game at Nashville. Despite his fight having sparked the comeback, Cam Janssen will be the healthy scratch on offense, and Mark Fraser will be the healthy scratch on defense. Lines were altered during the Nashville game, and they remained the same way during practice the past couple of days.
Here are tonight’s projected starting lineups:
Devils:
Parise-Elias-Zubrus
Kovalchuk-Josefson-Palmieri
Tedenby-Sykora-Clarkson
Boulton-Pelley-Mills
Larsson-Greene
Salvador-Volchenkov
Tallinder-Fayne
Hedberg
Kinkaid
———-
Sharks:
Pavelski-Thornton-Marleau
Havlat-Couture-Clowe
Ferriero-Handzus-Mitchell
Winchester-Murray-McGinn
Murray-Boyle
Vlasic-Burns
White-Demers
Niemi
Greiss
Tonight is Hockey Fights Cancer night at Prudential Center. For more information on what will be going on throughout the arena tonight, check out this post.
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Game Preview – Game 2: Hurricanes @ Your New Jersey Devils
“Oh no. Not again.”
Those were quotes I heard upon leaving Prudential Center this past Saturday night after the New Jersey Devils lost their home opener by being shut out against Atlantic Division Rival, the Philadelphia Flyers.
My response: It’s only one game. Chill out. There are 81 more games, and 81 more chances to win. This is not the same team as last season. We just weren’t the best team Saturday night. All will be well.
Personally, despite the loss, I was impressed with the playing of some of the newcomers. Adam Larsson looked calm and collected, and it was his first NHL game. The kid will only get better. I was also happy with the play of Brad Mills. In a way he’s reminding me of a John Madden. Only time will tell.
The Devils (0-1-0) have the chance to put critics to rest today as they take on the Carolina Hurricanes (0-1-1) at a special holiday start time of 1:00 PM.
As Coach DeBoer told the media Sunday after practice, “They haven’t been off to a great start with one point (0-1-1) in their first (two games) and we obviously weren’t happy with our (first game). So, I think you’re going to see two desperate teams going at it tomorrow.”
DeBoer also said the team needs to cutdown on turnovers and up their game speed. He stated he believes the Devils were playing at a practice speed, Saturday night, while the Flyers played at a NHL level speed.
At Sunday’s practice offensives lines were switched around, and are projected to look as follows, as per Tom Gulitti:
Parise-Elias-Sykora
Kovalchuk-Josefson-Palmieri
Tedenby-Zubrus-Clarkson
Boulton-Henrique-Mills
Defensive pairings are the same as Saturday’s home opener:
Greene-Larsson
Tallinder-Fayne
Salvador-Volchenkov
The Devils, in hopes of a win, are desperate enough that they are starting Johan Hedberg, in only the second game of the season in a game that’s not the second of a back-to-back series. Last year Hedberg didn’t get his first start until the eighth game of the season.
As I said earlier, it’s only one game. This team will only get better. Just remember last season. We have to take this one game at a time.
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Summer Recap: New Jersey Devils
In the offseason of the NHL, many fans get stir crazy. There are only a few big milestones for fans to pay attention to. The rest of the summer is filled with the latest NHL hockey video game and maybe some outdoor events that teams hold around the league. For those fans that check in once in awhile or don’t really pay attention during the summer months here is a recap of where the Devils are at with signings, coaching changes and more.
