This game was certainly a weird game in my opinion. For a part of the game, the Devils completely dominated one of the best teams in the Western Conference and then poof, had one of those moments where the opposition pumps in goal after goal in a very short time frame. When McAmmond went off for tripping and gave the Sharks their first PP of the game and they were able to cut the lead to 2, I was really worried at what I was seeing. In my opinion, a 2 goal lead is the worst kind of lead to have in hockey. One goal and the lead is cut in half, completely changing momentum in a hockey game. One minute later, the Sharks were knocking on the door after Pavelski cut the lead 4-3. Thankfully, the Devils were able to hang on but I’ll be honest, when Zajac scored to make it 4-0, I never thought that would end up being the game winner. Allowing 3 goals in 2:35 seconds is down right scary.
As I mentioned yesterday, if the Devils lost, I was going to look for the moral win and even though the Devils skated away with the victory. This was a roller coaster ride and while the Defense scares me at times, which makes me wonder about todays deadline, the offense is simply amazing when they are clicking.
I do believe the Defense will get a HUGE bump if/when Paul Martin returns. We certainly were hoping for some Paul Martin after the Olympics but he’s just not ready yet. I hope he close, I read he’s close but I’ve been reading that for so long now, I don’t know what to believe.
Congratulations to Travis Zajac who netted his 20th of the year and now has back to back 20 goal seasons. I think he was tired of the Parise / Langenbrunner spotlight the last two weeks because he looked like he was on a mission, skating into the zone and ripping a slapshot right by Nabakov.
I could get used to Kovalchuk scoring wristers from the point on Power Plays. He usually opts for the bigger slapper but sometimes it’s not neccesary. Credit down the stretch must go to the third line for some excellent defensive play. With 90 seconds left, Rob Niedermayer decided to play keep away from the Sharks for a good thirty seconds. The Sharks finally got Nabokov off, but could not launch a successful attack. Kovalchuk nearly hit an empty netter but he missed and came back on defense to shut down the final Shark breakout, and the game ended and a huge sigh of relief went up in Devils Nation.
Don’t forget today is the deadline and everything I’ve read says you won’t be seeing a certain brother of a current NJ Devil coming back to NJ. With the Ducks in the hunt, I’m not sure why they would trade Scotty. We’ll see if Lou does something to sure up the defense a little, other than that, I don’t think NJ needs much.
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