INSIDE HOCKEY

With their immaculate road record of 7-0-0, the Devils were looking to change things around at home on Wednesday night.  Their 1-4-0 home record was by far less than stellar to everyone.  Going into Wednesday night’s game against the Washington Capitals, they were hoping to change that dismal home record and generate some wins at home.

Fortunately for the Devils, Alexander Ovechkin was out of the Capitals lineup with an upper body injury.  Without Ovechkin, the Devils had a much better chance at winning this one at home.

But with Ovechkin away, the Capitals were looking to become a more solid team without their Russian super-wonder.  Ovechkin is expected to be out for the next two weeks.

As for the Devils injuries report, the Devils received good news after being delivered a couple of harsh blows when they lost both Jay Pandolfo and Paul Martin for 4-6 weeks.  The Devils learned that Patrik Elias'return to the lineup will be very soon. 

Elias is currently day-to-day and practicing with the team.  There is no current timetable for Elias’ return, but there is a possibility that he may return as early as Friday when the Devils host the New York Islanders.

For those watching Wednesday’s game at home, if it appeared that the Devils arena lacked in the fan department around the arena, how can you expect hockey to compete when the New York Yankees are playing just a few short miles away in the World Series?  After all, the Devils were playing on the same night that the Yankees would win the 2009 World Series in the Bronx. 13,498 fans showed their Devils pride by skipping the Yankees game and heading to Prudential Center for Devils hockey. 

For both the Yankees and the Devils, it was a good night for NY-area sports.

New Jersey Devils vs. Washington Capitals, 3-2

The first period got off to a very slow start for both teams.  At the 17:10 mark, Tyler Sloan got his first goal of the season with a lucky break at the blueline that kept the puck in the Devils’ zone.  With a turnover at the blueline, Chris Clark kept the puck in, passed it up to Matthieu Perreault, who sent it up to Sloan, where he went top shelf on Marty Brodeur, giving the Capitals the first goal of the night.

In the second stanza, a few of the older players on the Devils started to look like they worked best together.  Brian Rolston helped to lift the scoreless Devils to a 1-1 tie at 3:33 with a wraparound Semyon Varlamov‘s net.  Three of the oldest forwards on the team contributed to that goal: Rob Niedermayer (34) and Jamie Langenbrunner (34) (Rolston is 36 years old).  It goes to show that these three talented oldie but goody forwards can still produce just as well as the ZZ Pop line (Zach Parise (Z), Travis Zajac (Z) and Jamie Langenbrunner (Pop – because of his age as compared to Zach and Zajac)).

Martin Brodeur had a great night as the legend made some intense moves in front of the net. One of Marty’s brilliant kick saves looked just like a soccer kick in the air.  His moves on the ice are still as eye-poppingly entertaining as ever.

At 17:52 Clark and Devils forward Rod Pelley dropped the gloves at center ice.  This had been a brawl in the making.  Pelley and Clark had exchanged some words earlier down by Varlamov’s net earlier in the period.  Clark was ready to fight at the start, but it took another 15 minutes before they could really get a go at each other.

In the final period, the Devils were able to bounce back and swipe the rug right out from under Washington's feet.  They were able to capitalize on a hooking penalty from Alexander Semin.  Nineteen seconds into Semin’s penalty, Nicklas Bergfors, on the power play unit with Parise and Zajac, tallied the first power play goal for the Devils.

Another hooking penalty from Capitals Brendan Morrison at 14:24 awarded the Devils another power play.  Bergfors was the one to capitalize on his second power play goal at 15:10, improving the Devils power play 2-4.  The goal was originally awarded to Zach Parise, but the change was made at the end of the game.  

“I told the ref that I didn’t get it,” Parise said after the game. 

“It was probably hard to see,” Bergfors said.  “With such a hard shot from Travis.  It doesn’t matter.  It was a huge goal.  That’s what matters first.”

“With Bergie, it looked like [the power play] worked pretty well,” Parise said of their power play success.  “We did a lot of good things.  We had a lot of puck possession in our own zone.  We had a good game tonight.”

Bergfors commented that he liked playing on the same line as Parise and Zajac.

“They’re such great players,” he said of his linemates.  “They kind of raise your level.  It’s much easier...to get out there and work harder.”

“He was one of our top players tonight,” coach Jacques Lemaire said of Bergfors.  “He’s got good skills.  I just felt that playing with [Parise and Zajac], he’s going to push through harder.  I just felt the three guys together, especially two older with a younger guy would motivate them...encourage them.”

But like most moments of glory when a team starts to believe they’ve already won the game, they start to slip up and get a shocking wake-up call that the game isn’t over yet.  That wake-up call came in the form of Tomas Fleischmann at 18:23 when he tallied another goal for Washington.

But after that goal, the Devils shook themselves out of their high moment to defend the last 1:37 of the game to keep the Caps from tying up the game and sending it into overtime.  Their effort in the final moments helped to capture a win at home, the Devils second of the season.

“It feels good to get a win at home,” Parise said.  “We have to start winning.”

The Devils host the New York Islanders on Friday.

“Islanders have played really well right now,” Parise said.  “We have to make sure we’re ready to play against them.”

NOTES

The Capitals are currently (.470) in their win/loss ratio after Wednesday night’s loss.  If their next game is a loss, they will be (.500) (i.e. 8 wins, 8 losses).

Rob Niedermayer was injured during Wednesday night’s game.  He left the game with an upper-body injury.  He was not on the ice Thursday morning for practice. 

With the possibility of Niedermayer being out of the lineup for Friday, the focus now turns to Elias returning in time for the Islanders game.

Andy Greene was by far the Devils best defenseman on Wednesday night.  He has stepped up his game dramatically during Paul Martin’s absence.  He has attempted to make more shots on goal, and even collected an assist during Wednesday night’s game.

“He’s been steady,” Lemaire said of Greene.  “He’s been good.  I would say one of the best, if not the best defenseman.”