Sabres Defeat Devils as Elias Returns to Lineup

As Patrik Elias began his final stretch of what could be his final games as a New Jersey Devil, he did so regretting only that he could not play with the current group more than he did.

The 39-year-old winger, who turns 40 in the middle of this month, played in his first game since December 19, when he injured his knee. It has been 108 days since he last suited up, but he was itching to go. He is the last link to the Devils’ Stanley Cup teams of the early-2000’s, having won the Cup with the team in 2000 and 2003. He is also as selfless as ever, he did not want to be back in the lineup if it was at the expense of the team. But due to New Jersey being eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday, he felt it was a good time. He skated on a line with Jacob Josefson and Mike Sislo.

Elias would return to a game that was lackluster to say the least. Two teams who are eliminated from playoff contention playing out the string can be a little hard to watch at times. The Sabres came away with the 3-1 win in a game that saw just 37 shots on goal total from both teams.

Some other lineup moves for the Devils (besides Elias’ return) saw Joseph Blandisi as a healthy scratch, missing his first game since making his NHL debut back in December against Detroit. In addition, Seth Helgeson was sent back to the Albany Devils to assist them in their quest for the Calder Cup and Jon Merrill was shut down for the season (shoulder injury).

Another watch going on during the game was whether the Washington Capitals’ Braden Holtby could equal Martin Brodeur’s single season wins record tonight with a game against the New York Islanders. He could not, as the Islanders won the game in overtime and, in turn, clinched a playoff spot for themselves. Holtby will next be able to equal the record in St. Louis of all places with Marty possibly in the building.

The goaltending matchup saw Cory Schneider making his second start back from injury. Cory made 15 saves on 17 shots faced. Getting the start in the Sabres’ crease was Chad Johnson, who made 18 saves on just 19 shots fired by the Devils.

The first period ending scoreless, the first goal of the game was setup when Kyle Palmieri was called for hooking at 12:51 of the second and the Sabres went on the power play. They would capitalize at 14:12 when Ryan O’Reilly scored from Jack Eichel and Rasmus Ristolainen. Buffalo was up 1-0.

The goal was not for Cory’s lack of play. He made a big save in the middle of the second on Zemgus Girgensons which led to Elias having a scoring chance soon after. Patty just could not get a handle on the puck to get the shot off right. Ken Daneyko of MSG+ said that this could have just been a little bit of rust from not playing for so long.

Right after the Buffalo goal in the second period, Blake Pietila went off for high-sticking. Just prior to the power play, a damaged pane of glass had to be changed out in the corner of the rink at the Sabres’ end. This would give the teams a breather, and Buffalo would not be able to score on the man advantage. Although Adam Henrique would get a nice try shorthanded. He was denied, however.

Shorthanded tries were a common thread for New Jersey, as after Travis Zajac went off for slashing in mid-third, Kyle Palmieri would have a nice chance. Unfortunately, they were not able to convert on any of these nice chances.

The Sabres doubled up their lead just 12 seconds into the third period when Johan Larsson scored his tenth of the season unassisted. Just like that, the Devils had fallen behind by two.

In the middle of the third, at 14:20, David Legwand of Buffalo was called for interference on Vojtech Mozik and the Devils were on the power play. With the extra man, Jacob Josefson was able to hammer home his fourth of the year from Tyler Kennedy and Palmieri. New Jersey had cut the Buffalo lead in half. For Josefson, it was his first goal since a February game at Toronto before his injury. In this penalty filled game, the Sabres would go 1-for-4 with the man advantage while the Devils were 1-for-6.

The Devils seemed within striking distance and pulled Schneider with about a minute or a minute and a half left in the game in an attempt to tie things up. Unfortunately, Eichel would convert a neutral zone turnover into an empty net goal by not giving up on the play after the Devils blocked a few of his shots. After he had finally buried his 24th of the year, unassisted, the Sabres had their 3-1 lead and the Devils had lost their third straight.

Next up for the Devils is a rematch with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday at Prudential Center and a chance to play spoiler in the Atlantic Division championship race. The Devils will try to notch a win for the fans and for themselves in this game, in what could be Patrik Elias’ penultimate contest with the Devils.

Devils Fall to Lightning in Final Road Game of Season

The 2015-16 New Jersey Devils’ season officially slipped into oblivion at about 4 PM this afternoon when the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Ottawa Senators to mathematically eliminate the Devils from playoff contention. Despite that huge blow, though, the team would still need to muster up the strength to play the Tampa Bay Lightning in their only trip to Tampa this season.

After their loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday, the Devils could play spoiler by defeating the Bolts and thereby giving the Atlantic Division lead to the Panthers. But it was not in the cards, as they fell 3-1 to Tampa in a game in which the Devils competed, but spent way too much time in the penalty box than was good for them.

The Devils would get three familiar faces back in the lineup as David Schlemko and Jacob Josefson returned from the land of the injured.

However, it was the man in net who would play the biggest role in this game, as he had all season before getting hurt back in early March. That man was Cory Schneider and he played like the goaltender he has been all year, keeping the Devils in a game that they were outmatched in at times. He made 33 stops on 35 shots faced (the Lightning had a game total of 36 shots – one was an empty net goal).

Facing him in the opposite crease would be a man who will be his teammate in September when Team USA takes the ice for the World Cup of Hockey: Ben Bishop. Bishop made 25 saves on 26 Devils shots.

Devils goalies have been the MVPs of the team this season. All three of them guys who started for New Jersey between the pipes have records over .500 and have combined for seven shutouts. But while Keith Kinkaid and Scott Wedgewood played extremely well at times, it was Cory who was the calming force for the team, an All-Star.

One player that the Devils would lose for the final four games of the season was Jordin Tootoo, whose season ended when he had surgery on a tendon sheath in his right wrist. It was successful, but obviously, he cannot finish the year.

The Lightning would also be facing a major injury; Steven Stamkos is out with an upper body injury. It turned out that he will miss 1 to 3 months after undergoing surgery for a blood clot in his arm. It is directly due to this that the Triplets Line was reunited by Tampa coach Jon Cooper.

Cooper and Devils’ coach John Hynes would be meeting up again. They faced each other twice in the AHL Calder Cup Playoffs, with each one winning one series. This year, Cooper will participate in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, while Hynes will sit it out.

Tampa Bay spent the early part of the game pressuring the Devils’ zone, with Cory standing on his head at times. The Devils had their chances too, though, as Mike Sislo drove in on a partial breakaway midway through the first period. Bishop stopped the initial shot and the rebound as well. Just prior to that, Cory had made a kick save with the knee that he had injured and seemed okay.

With the first period scoreless, the breakthrough did not come until the 9:03 of the second period when the Bolts’ Victor Hedman scored from Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov. The Devils had fallen behind 1-0, but with both teams making a steady line to the penalty box, teams would have their chances.

One good penalty taken by the Devils was when Devante Smith-Pelly went off for roughing Brian Boyle. Both he and Boyle got coincidental minors for roughing, but it was good to see the bigger Smith-Pelly come to the aid of the smaller Tyler Kennedy, who was in a confrontation with Boyle.

The Devils would tie things up late in the second period on a power play goal. It began at 18:15, when Tampa’s Braydon Coburn was called for holding Travis Zajac (Zajac’s brother Nolan will be playing on this ice surface in about a week for Denver University in the 2016 NCAA Frozen Four). On the ensuing man advantage, Damon Severson headmanned the puck to Kennedy in front of the Devils’ bench. He then shoveled it to a breaking Adam Henrique who beat Bishop to tie the game up at one. The Devils had scored at 19:32 of the second period on the power play.

The Devils had some odd man situations in the minutes leading up to that goal, but could not bury them.

However, in the third period, the Devils would take three penalties to one for the Lightning, helping to set up Tampa taking the lead.

At 10:27, the Devils got caught in a bad change and were caught with too many men on the ice. The bench minor put the Bolts up a man and they would strike. Brian Boyle scored from Nikita Nesterov and Kucherov to put the Lightning up 2-1.

And that was about it. Again, Schneider was brilliant at times, even stopping Kucherov late in the third period to keep the game within reach for the Devils.

Schneider would be pulled with about 1:30 left in the game, but Kucherov would score an empty netter from Hedman and Cedric Paquette to make the final 3-1.

It was clearly an undisciplined game from both sides. New Jersey went 1-for-6 on the power play while Tampa Bay went 1-for-7 with the extra man. That is a lot of penalties piling up, a dangerous situation for both teams. And it showed.

Next up for the Devils, they return home on Tuesday to take on the Buffalo Sabres before getting another crack at the Lightning on Thursday. The Sabres are a lot like the Devils in that they are a young team, out of the playoffs looking to finish by making a statement. We will see what Jack Eichel and company have in store for the Devils when they come to Newark to help finish the stretch run of the season.

On a closing note, congratulations to Tom Gulitti, who has covered the Devils for 14 years and will soon be taking a new job with NHL.com primarily covering the Washington Capitals, but also doing features on most of the southeastern-based teams like Carolina, Florida and Tampa Bay. This was announced as he appeared with Deb Placey on the MSG+ pregame show. He has covered the Devils with diligence and humor over his tenure and will be greatly missed on the Devils’ beat. For those of us who enjoyed reading his “Fire and Ice” blog, it is a shame that he will not be able to maintain it anymore, but I cannot wait to see what he has in store over at NHL.com.