INSIDE HOCKEY

The New Jersey Devils had left Prudential Center on November 14th riding on a high note.  With a 9-0 road record and eight consecutive wins, they only stood at breaking and creating a few records of their own this season.

But as fate would have it…all good things do come to an end.

In their first road game last week, they dropped 3-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers.  They dropped another one in Nashville, 3-2 in the shootout.  Then they finished off their 3-game road trip in Dallas with a 5-3 loss to the Stars.

After their bad week of road losses, the Devils spent a few days gathering themselves and focusing on their weaknesses.  That effort paid off as they came back to home ice and put a stop to their losing streak…even if that meant that Andrew Peters had to take a couple of guys out of the game (literally and physically) on Wednesday against the Ottawa Senators.

On Friday, the Devils lost David Clarkson in Boston after Zdeno Chara’s shot hit him on the ankle.  For those unaware of how badly that would hurt…Chara holds the all-time record in the NHL for the hardest shot.  At the 2009 NHL All-Stars, he registered a 105.4 mph shot that set a new record.

Clarkson now joins Dainius Zubrus (leg injury), Rob Nidermayer (upper body), Johnny Oduya (lower body), Paul Martin (fractured arm) and Jay Pandolfo (shoulder injury).  That list of injured Devils happens to be the majority of the core players on the team…yet the Devils still continue to find ways to win.

Take for instance rookie Niclas Bergfors.  He is surprising everyone with his contribution to the team.  Head coach Jacques Lemaire decided to put Bergfors on the same first line unit as Zach Parise and Travis Zajac, bumping Jamie Langenbrunner down to the second line with Patrik Elias and Brian Rolston.

This ended up being a brilliant move for all as Bergfors, learning from Zajac and Parise, felt inspired to step up his game.  It pushed him to produce more goals and assists since the switch to the first line.  Sometimes all it takes is putting a young kid like Bergfors with two top line producers to get what you need out of him.

Langenbrunner still produces no matter which line he’s placed on.  Putting him on the same line as Rolston and Elias is proving positive, especially for Elias, who has been struggling since his return (due to confidence issues and readjusting to the changes in his body after having groin surgery in September).

Elias And His Confidence

“It’s tough to come back when everybody’s training camp in and 15 games in,” Martin Brodeur said of Elias’ struggles.  “And then you come in, it’s definitely an adjustment.  You can tell he’s getting back to where he wants to be and is playing with the players he should be playing with.  As a result, he’s able to contribute.  We need him to be a force offensively and be a leader back there.  He’s been a great player for our team for years.  I had a lot of confidence in him.  I’ve seen him practice every day.  It’s not about him as a player; it’s a question of timing sometimes.”

“I still don’t feel 100%” Elias said after Wednesday’s game.  “Hopefully I will.  The good thing is I keep making progress slowly.  As long as I’m okay to play the next game, that’s all I can ask for.

“It’s going to come eventually.  When you go through injuries, like the things that I did, you’ve got to be patient, take your time and not focus on just scoring and doing everything that you can at the beginning.  It’s a work in process.  It takes time.  I feel like I’m making the next step every game.  I hope I can keep it going.”

“I don’t feel as good as I like to, but it takes a couple of games to realize how much it’s going to affect you.  There’s nothing wrong with being frustrated, but then you have to realize that obviously there are issues why and you can’t get frustrated.  [Gotta] stay with it…keep working through it.  I’m doing that.”

“You’ve got to stay patient.  Injuries are tough on anybody, especially for professional athletes.”

Elias is still experiencing discomfort during the games.  When he first returned, he felt discomfort throughout the entire game. 

“Now, it’s slowly taking longer and longer,” Elias said of how long it takes before the discomfort begins.

As Elias’ confidence working with his teammates begins to build, he is starting to produce, showing that he is getting better and better after each game.  Sometimes all it takes as a sign that things are getting better are a couple of goals, a couple of assists and a first star of the game all in one night.

Devils vs. Senators, 3-1

On Thanksgiving Eve, the Devils rallied to take their first of three wins.  At 7:58 in the first period, Bergfors played some very smart hockey in front of Ottawa’s Brian Elliott’s net.  Andy Greene sent a pass down in front of the net to Bergfors.

Bergfors waited for Elliott to make his move.  Elliott moved across, Bergfors went five-hole, and tallied the Devils first goal of the game.  This was the rookie’s sixth goal of the season.

Ottawa’s Milan Michalek tied up the game at 12:34.

Andrew Peters delivered a heavy hit on Chris Neil.  Peters’ skate came crashing down on Neil’s knee taking him completely out of the game.  This was the first of two incidents for Peters that would leave a couple of players struggling to make it off the ice and back into the visiting team’s locker room.

“You hate to see that,” Peters said of injuring Neil.  “It is part of the game.  I wasn’t intentionally trying to hurt anybody.  It’s never what I try to do when I go out there.  I was trying to play hard and finish my checks.”

In the second period, it took only 18 seconds for Clarkson and Matt Carkner to try and take a few swings at each other.  The brawl didn’t amount to much as they were split up and sent to the penalty box for a roughing minor.

At 6:22, Peters took out Alexandre Picard on the ice.  Peters didn’t do as much damage to Picard, because he returned to the game (unlike Neil).  But Carkner would not hear of it.  He tried to go after Peters but kept telling Peters that he couldn’t fight.

“He had just told me through the whole game that he couldn’t fight for some reason,” Peters said.  “I don’t know what that reason is…it’s a long season.  He came over to me and didn’t drop his gloves.”

Peters took a roughing penalty while Carkner was sent to the penalty box for unsportsmanlike conduct.

At 18:34, Elias was able to get his long-awaited first goal of the season.  Greene’s slapshot from the top was barreling in on Elliott, but it was Elias that would get the last piece of it and re-direct the puck into the net, edging the Devils ahead 2-1.

“I know he’s playing much better now,”  Lemaire said of Elias.  “He’s getting better as a center and as a player.  He’s in control right now, which is good. ”

“I feel like I’m more comfortable,” Elias said.  “I’m starting to get more shots, getting more involved.  With that, I hope I’ll get more.”

In the final stanza, Bryce Salvador took down the nasty Jarkko Ruutu in front of Brodeur’s net.  Ruutu was getting rough in the crease and Salvador pushed Ruutu down.  Ruutu went head first down to the ice.  When he picked himself back up again, there was big puddle of blood in front of Brodeur’s net.

For those that are not fans of Ruutu, seeing Salvador draw blood in front of Marty’s net was a sacrifice everyone was happy to see.  It was karma playing payback against Ruutu’s evil ways as Salvador drew no penalty for protecting his goaltender’s crease.

Ruutu would end up later seeing the penalty box at 17:18 for tripping.  Elias sent not just one hard shot to the net, but two shots during the power play that were both blocked by Carkner.  The hard shots left Carkner skating off the ice back to the locker room with his right hand limping in what looked like a wrist injury.

In the final minute, the Senators pulled their goaltender.  As Jamie Langenbrunner skated down to score on the empty net, Daniel Alfredsson threw his stick across the ice in an effort to either trip Langenbrunner or block his shot.

Luckily, Jamie waited to make the shot and clear himself of Alfredsson’s stick before shooting and taking the Devils third goal of the game at 19:36.

Devils Lose Clarkson in Boston

In the 2-1 shootout win over the Bruins, the Devils win may have felt like a loss after the team lost David Clarkson early on in the first period.  Zdeno Chara’s hard shot to Clarkson’s right ankle brought him down.  He then crawled on his hands and knees to the bench where he was carried off to the locker room.

On Saturday, Devils President/CEO/General Manager Lou Lamoriello announced that Clarkson had a hairline fracture on his ankle and will be in an air cast over the next few weeks.  At this point, they speculate he will be out for the next 4-6 weeks.

Vladimir Zharkov was called up from Lowell to fill in where Clarkson used to be in the lineup.  Clarky was tied for second with Travis Zajac in team goal-scoring.

Devils vs. Islanders, 6-1

With many core players out of the Devils lineup and the growing number of Lowell players up to replace the number of Devils players that are dropping like flies to injuries, it is ‘surprising’ that the Devils are still finding ways to win.

“I have confidence when I put them on,” coach Lemaire said of the kids.  “It’s a matter of confidence when you put the kids on, especially when you see the other side and they have decent players on the ice.  Who are you going to put on the ice against them?  You’ve got to have confidence.”

With a horrible and sloppy first period for the Devils, it was pretty surprising that they managed to defeat the Islanders the way that they did.

“I think the intensity wasn’t there,” Lemaire said of the first period.  “We turned the puck over many times and this is a team that capitalizes on every turnover.”

At 11:03 in the first period, Rod Pelley and Nate Thompson dropped the gloves. Fifteen seconds after the game re-commenced, Richard Park tallied the Islanders first and only goal of the game.

In the middle stanza, Devils defenseman Mike Mottau spent the first five seconds finishing off the remainder of a high-sticking penalty he received late in the first period. Once out of the penalty box, he was able to tally his first goal of the season at 0:54.

Rolston followed with a power play goal at 12:06.

At 15:31, Tim Jackman and Matthew Corrente dropped the gloves.

“I guess he was looking for a partner,” Lemaire said jokingly of the fight.  “I guess that’s the one he found.  He’s a little excited and he’s got too much energy.”

In the third period, the Devils exploded with goals left and right.  The first came from Elias on the 5-on-3 power play at 10:30, followed by Zach Parise at 11:54, and then Rolston again at 12:32.

Elias made it 6-1 for the Devils at 19:15. Both Elias and his linemate Rolston collected two goals and two assists a piece.

“It’s good when you start to put players together and they start to perform,” Lemaire said of Elias and Rolston.  “It’s a good feeling.

“They did the job again tonight.  I think they’re on top of their game now.  They’re playing good hockey.  They play with confidence.  They enjoy the game.  You can tell when you talk to them.  They feel better than they did at the start.”

The three stars of the game were:

1. Patrik Elias
2. Brian Rolston 
3. Matt Halischuk

For those wondering why Halischuk received the third star (he registered no points in the game), Lemaire explained that it had to do with his effort on the ice.

“He played really good…in every way,” Lemaire said.

Elias received the first star for obvious reasons…it was to help boost his confidence after having a 4-point night.

Three Times The Charm for Brodeur

You know it’s going to be a good week when you start off the week welcoming your fifth child into the world, you break the record for the most minutes ever played by a goaltender and your team wins all three games that week.  Well, that was Brodeur’s week.

On Tuesday, he’ll be taking the test to become a U.S. citizen.

Brodeur shared that the new baby would be getting Wednesday night’s game winning puck. 

“I get the puck,” Brodeur said smiling after the game.  “He’ll be happy later on.  Everybody does the same thing, which is kind of nice.”

On Friday, in TD Garden in Boston, Brodeur beat Patrick Roy’s NHL record for career minutes-played.  Roy held the record at 60,235 minutes.  Brodeur needed only 20 minutes to tie it going into the Boston game. 

One minute into the second period, he officially beat Roy’s record.

Other Notes

Lemaire may be a bit ‘happily surprised’ that his team is still finding ways to win.  But like any good coach, he still sees room for improvement.

The latest players to come under fire was not his secondary scorers (Rolston and Elias), but the first line.

“You need the top players to be top,” Lemaire said of what players needed improvement.  “You need them to be better than the other guys.”

Upon learning that Lemaire had finished coaching his 400th game after Wednesday night’s win, his response was “[It means] nothing,” he said laughing.  “Nobody shot me yet.  None of the players beat me up yet.”

As for how the Devils are still winning after losing so many of their core players, Lemaire said he was not amazed, “Not yet…maybe later.  I like what they’re doing.  I would probably be amazed if they played three periods like this all of the time.  But we had a little failure at different times.”