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Flames Burn Devils in Overtime

Coming off of their win at Joe Louis Arena against the Red Wings on Tuesday, the Devils were looking to make it two in a row out of the All-Star break with an important victory over the Calgary Flames at Prudential Center on Friday.

The good news is that they got a point out of the deal in come-from-behind fashion. The bad news is that they could not keep a lead and ended up losing in overtime, 4-3.

One main step forward for the Devils, in terms of their lineup, is that they got captain Andy Greene back tonight. Greene had been injured a few weeks back. In other lineup news for the Devils, the recently called up Seth Helgeson and Joseph Blandisi were in tonight while Vern Fiddler, Devante Smith-Pelly and Karl Stollery were healthy scratches. Sitting for Calgary were Freddie Hamilton and Brett Kulak.

The goalie matchup saw the Devils go back to Cory Schneider for the evening. He made 34 stops on 38 Calgary shots faced down. Brian Elliott went for the Flames and made 26 saves on 29 shots faced.

The Devils got into some penalty trouble early on when Ben Lovejoy went off for holding Johnny Gaudreau’s stick at 15:12. Sean Monahan of the Flames would score at 17:15 from Gaudreau and TJ Brodie. Although this goal was not technically on the power play, as penalty time had expired three seconds prior to the goal, for all intents and purposes, it was set up on the man advantage.

Calgary would strike for real on the power play just 22 seconds into the second frame after Kyle Palmieri had been whistled down for interference against Troy Brouwer just as time was expiring in the first. That gave the Flames two full minutes of power play time on fresh ice. Kris Versteeg would convert from Brodie and Gaudreau to make it 2-0 Flames.

But the Devils would begin their comeback in earnest. At 8:36 of the second, Miles Wood would take the puck behind the Flames net after stopping a clearing attempt. Adam Henrique would head to the front of the net where he was hit with a pass by Wood. After a few whacks at it, the puck went in and it was 2-1, Flames.

Then, at 10:03 of the second, Calgary’s Sam Bennett took a slashing penalty to put the Devils up a man and now it was New Jersey’s turn to capitalize. The goal happened at 11:39 and began when PA Parenteau hit Adam Henrique with a nice breakout pass. Henrique grabbed it, skated just inside the Flames blue line and put on the brakes. He gave it up to Michael Cammalleri, whose shot missed the net but hit the end boards. Pavel Zacha was skating in and grabbed the puck off the end boards, depositing it in the Flames goal to tie things up at two. Calgary challenged the goal, claiming the Devils were offside, but the officials took a look at it and found it okay. It was a good goal and tied up at two.

The Devils go ahead goal followed a similar pattern. Calgary’s Dennis Wideman was called for delay of game for knocking his own net off its moorings on a play in front of the Flames’ goalmouth. He went to the box and, at 19:36, the Devils converted. Taylor Hall skated along the half wall, then fired a shot on net. Miles Wood grabbed the rebound and shot. The rebound came to Palmieri, who put it home to give the Devils a 3-2 lead. But that goal came under review from Toronto. When it was determined that Palmieri had used the shaft of his stick to put the puck in the net, the goal was ruled okay and stood. The Devils now had two power play goals (they 2-for-3 with the man advantage while Calgary was 1-for-3) and they had grabbed a late period goal, something that they had been notorious for giving up of late.

But the Devils would allow the Flames to linger. They would not be able to execute that decisive blow that put the game away. They had chances, but just could not get it done. Finally, at 7:22 of the third period, Calgary’s Matt Stajan scored from Brodie and Michael Ferland to tie things up at three.

When time expired, we were headed to overtime. Here too, things did not go very smoothly. Mikael Backlund scored 1:13 into the extra session to win the game for Calgary from Brodie and Michael Frolik. But the puck came in and out of the net so fast that nobody in the crowd, or any of the players on the ice were completely sure what had just happened. Finally, the referee signaled that it was a good goal and Backlund motioned to the Flames bench to come out and celebrate. The Flames had won 4-3, getting two full points out of a game that the Devils needed.

But they did get that one point. Detroit beat the Islanders last night, putting distance between the Devils and Isles, but moving Detroit within a point of them in the standings. This is how it is going to be for the next few months. Scoreboard watching after every win and loss, as all the Devils can do is just take care of their own business and win games.

Speaking of games, the Devils have less than a twenty-four hour turn around for their next game. They travel to Columbus to finally take on the Blue Jackets Saturday night at 7 PM. We will find out then if the Devils can pick one off from a really good team.

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Devils Hang on for 2-1 Win in Calgary

It has been almost a decade since the Devils had last won a game in Calgary’s Scotiabank Saddledome. It has been a real house of horrors for the team. New Jersey had lost five straight games at the Saddledome. They would try to reverse their luck on Friday the thirteenth and pick up two crucial points on the road in southern Alberta.

Taylor Hall would end up playing a huge role in the Devils doing just that. Hall, a Calgary native, mentioned that he knew he was a visiting player last night after he heard some boo’s raining down on him late in the game against the Oilers. Now he would be in his hometown looking to make more of an impact for New Jersey.

But before we get to that, some lineup news, as Nick Lappin was sent back to Albany to make room for a returning Jacob Josefson. Josefson had missed about six games with an illness but he was better and back in. Karl Stollery and Blake Coleman were still up and in the lineup for the tonight. Andy Greene and Vern Fiddler were still out on injured reserve, although Greene could play as soon as Sunday in Vancouver. The coaching staff will make the decision after Saturday’s practice after the team arrives in British Columbia.

Healthy scratches for the Devils were Luke Gazdic, Seth Helgeson and Sergey Kalinin. Calgary sat Michael Ferland, Freddie Hamilton and Brett Kulak.

Two key players for both teams on this Friday the thirteenth each wear number 13 on their jerseys. Former two-time Flame Michael Cammalleri for the Devils and Salem, New Jersey native Johnny Gaudreau for the Flames.

In goal, Keith Kinkaid got his first start in quite some time for the Devils. He would stop 31 of 32 Calgary shots. The Flames threw out their new number one, Chad Johnson. He made 34 saves on 36 Devils shots. And that was the real story for New Jersey, the shots. They could muster only 18 last night in Edmonton, against the Flames they put up 36 on the shot clock. In fact, in the first period, they doubled up the Flames 14-7 in the shot department.

The Flames have been one of the top teams at home in the NHL since November 30 and the Devils have not won in their last four, so the team would have a tough task ahead of them.

The game got off to a chippy tone when Kyle Quincey got into a scrap with the Flames’ Garnet Hathaway. Hathaway had hit Miles Wood from behind with a late hit (no interference was called on the play) and Wood was shaken up. Quincey came to his defense and ended up taking a roughing penalty along with the extra five for fighting. Calgary would have the power play, but the Devils were able to kill it.

In Johnny Gaudreau’s house, it was Montvale, New Jersey’s Kyle Palmieri who got the scoring going at 6:22 of the first period. Jon Merrill fed Palmieri on the rush and he skated into the Calgary zone, firing a wrist shot by Johnson to make it 1-0 Devils. Travis Zajac had the secondary assist for his 16th helper of the season.

The Devils would double that lead at the 18:31 mark of the first when Taylor Hall connected in his home town. It was set up when the Flames’ Michael Frolik was called for hooking Damon Severson, putting New Jersey on the power play at 17:43. Hall took the puck on the half wall and passed to Stollery at the point. He gave the puck to Palmieri on the other side of the rink and Palmieri slid it back to Hall at the top of the far faceoff circle. He let loose a wrist shot that beat Johnson for the power play goal. The assist was Stollery’s first NHL point, so congratulations to him. It was now 2-0 Devils. The Devils finished the game 1-for-4 on the power play, still not enough to make their efficiency better, but a start for a sluggish power play unit. Calgary was 0-for-2.

Johnson would start off the second period with two huge saves on Josefson to keep the Flames in the game. Following that, there was some great back-and-forth firewagon action. The Flames came close to making it 2-1 when they trickled a puck through the crease.

Although that one did not go, they would get on the board later in the second, cutting New Jersey’s lead in half. It came at the 14:04 when Sean Monahan notched his 11th, beating Kinkaid with assists from Dougie Hamilton and Kris Versteeg.

The Devils were now up by one which would set up a frantic third period. Wood would have a breakaway late in the period, chipping the puck by the Calgary defense and using his speed to get by and in on net. Johnson made the save to preserve the 2-1 game.

Calgary would pull their goaltender with about 1:23 left in the game and would have some chances with a few icing calls that went against the Devils, setting up face offs deep in the Devils’ zone. The Devils would use their timeout with 12.5 seconds in the game and would lose the ensuing face off, and the Flames would pressure, but New Jersey hung on, winning 2-1. As mentioned, it was the Devils’ first win in the Saddledome in almost ten years. It was also Kinkaid’s first win since December 29.

So with those two points under their belts, the Devils head west to Vancouver to take on the Canucks, another good Western Conference team that is on the playoff bubble. That is a 4 PM local puck drop, 7 PM eastern time. We will find out then if the Devils can keep this momentum going before traveling to face a tough Minnesota team next week.