By: Tim Brennan
Going into tonight's matchup, there were two different stories. The first being the New Jersey Devils who have been a pretty good job of losing leads and just missing out on what should have been wins, as their 1-3-1 record in the last five games goes to show. The other side shows a Nashville Predators team that has been on and off, showing that they can put together great efforts in 5-3 win over Colorado last Thursday and just recently a strong 2-1 win over the New York Rangers; however this team also lost to San Jose in a game where they fell apart after a power play goal and also allowed a late goal against the Islanders that led to a shootout, with the Isles coming out victorious. Basically whichever team showed that they wanted to get out of a rut was the team that would come out on top.
New Jersey took the initiative to get on the board first, as Travis Zajac lit the lamp at 9:49 of the first period after Jamie Langenbrunner drew Predators goalie Pekka Rinne out of the crease, leaving Zajac alone in the slot to bury it into the empty net. Devils forward Dainius Zubrus took a tripping penalty, leading to a power play opportunity for the visitors, who sits 23rd in the league at 16.8% efficiency. Nashville tied the game up late in the first off of a tic-tac-toe passing play that started with J.P. Dumont handing it off to Dan Hamhuis and ending with Colin Wilson setting up fellow rookie Cal O'Reilly in the high slot, where he fired a snap shot over the left shoulder of Martin Brodeur.
If this seemed familiar to the Devils as of late, then being scored on less than a minute into the second period to lose all momentum from a dominating first is a normal occurrence. Predators agitator Jordin Tootoo put his team ahead just 46 seconds into the period, taking a shot from a few steps over the blueline that found its way past Brodeur. If you thought that the Devils were just going to sit back and take another loss, think again. They answered back with a tally from Patrik Elias, who has four points in four games since returning from concussion symptoms. Elias received a pass from Mike Mottau at the opposing blueline and flew into the zone, ripping a slapper to the inside of the far post. Elias' goal came a minute and fourteen seconds after Tootoo gave the Predators the lead.
Devils coach Jacques Lemaire changed things up during the game, placing Patrik Elias in between Ilya Kovalchuk and Jamie Langenbrunner to start the third, and that smart move paid off. The moment that every single New Jersey Devils fan had been looking forward to, seeing #17 blaze past opponents to put in his first in the red and black, finally came during the third period. After several strong shifts by Kovalchuk during the game, he notched his 32nd goal of the year (more importantly his first as a Devil), when he received a no look backhand pass from Elias that he picked up, pulled back and fired barely over Rinne's glove. Kovalchuk's goal ultimately turned out to be the game winner in a strong effort from the Devils.
The Devils added two more goals in the third, a power play tally from Zach Parise, his 27th on the year, and later on an empty net goal from captain Jamie Langenbrunner. All in all, the Devils ended the game with five players having multiple point games: Kovalchuk, Elias, Parise, Langenbrunner and Zajac. With the win tonight and the Penguins overtime loss to the hands of the Rangers, the Devils currently sit first in the division and second in the Eastern Conference. It was a statement game for the Devils tonight in the fact that they had been in a rough patch lately and hopefully this success will lead to more victories once the NHL resumes play after the Olympics.
The Devils will take on the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh Saturday evening. The game will be available on MSG Plus (HD).
Posts
