The season is just about over and the Devils hosted the Leafs in meaningless game.
* Palmeiri fooled everyone. At first thought, I didn’t think it went in but everyone else seemed to act like it did, including Toronto, so I went with that. Just proves how much power the guy in charge of the goal horn has. is it a goal… BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR..oh yea i guess so GOAL!!! After the first review, was easy to see crossbar, post, out…no goal.
* Kovalchuk wrister for his 30th, which is a lot better than what he was on pace for last season. If he’s finally comfortable here, has finally won fans over then next year…WATCH OUT!!
* Marty with an awsome save on Bozak late in the 1st.
* Beauty of a goal by Tedenby. If a guy is cocked and ready and you give him that kind of time and give up that kind of passing lane to the assist man, you’ll pay. I don’t care who’s between the pipes, you’re not stopping it.
* Tallinder puts one home to make it 3-0. “Let’s put the women and children to bed and go lookin’ for dinner!”
* Surprisingly Reimer gets pulled… I don’t know, I would have kept him in there.
* Kessel from Lupal put Toronto on the board. 3-1
* Bozak shorthanded breakaway.. SCORE. Wow, maybe the Devils did go looking for dinner because they certainly aren’t out there playing any longer.
* Elias finishes it and the Devils manage to hang on 4-2
There is potential in the next game. The Devils head to MSG on Saturday to play the Rangers. The Rangers are currently 2 points ahead of 9th place Carolina with 2 games to play for each team. The Devils COULD play spoiler to the Rangers playoff hopes, especially if the Rangers lose to Atlanta tonight.
In other news from the night….
Zach Parise is done for the season. With only two games remaining on the schedule, and no playoffs for the Devils this season, the news of Parise shutting it down for the rest of the season isn’t earth shattering. In fact, I feel a little silly trying “Zach Parise is done for the season”
I actually nevet thought it made sense to try and put Parise back in the lineup so late in the season. Parise did stress that his decision (well Lou’s decision) to not return to the ice this season did NOT mean he re-injured his knee against the Canadiens. It comes down to having it not make sense to put him in the lineup at this point in time. Make sure he is 100% for next season.
Now, the focus for Parise becomes the off-season. We all know he’s a valuable piece to the puzzle in NJ but we also know that our cap space is extremely tight. The Devils could file for team-elected arbitration, the deadline is the later date of June 15 or 48 hours after the final game of the Stanley Cup Finals, which would prevent Parise from fielding offer sheets from other teams on July 1.
By filing, the Devils would lock Parise into a one-year contract but we’ve seen in the past how well arbitration works out in the long run.
Parise is open to signing a long-term deal, but like the fan, doesn’t know at this point what the future holds.
In my opinion, if you feel that the knee injury isn’t a big deal, then Lou has no excuses now. The Devils are out of the playoffs and the draft is not until the last week of June. Get a deal done and get Parise signed.
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