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Devils Fall in OT to Oilers

It was the meeting a lot of fans of both clubs had been awaiting all season: Adam Larsson was returning to Prudential Center as a member of the Edmonton Oilers facing off with former Oiler and 2010 first overall draft pick Taylor Hall.

Unfortunately for Devils fans, round one went to Larsson and the Oilers. The Devils fell to Edmonton 2-1 in overtime. The Devils came out with a point, but that was all to show for a decent effort at home.

Of course, the talk pregame was all about the blockbuster trade that brought Hall to New Jersey this past summer. Oilers head coach Todd McLellan said that the trade was “good for both teams” in that Larsson has helped the Oilers keep more pucks out of their own net while Hall is the Devils’ top point scorer (although PA Parenteau is their top goal scorer right now).

But tonight was about the comparisons. How would Larsson and Hall fare? Both guys had good games. Larsson was solid defensively, as usual and Hall was kept off of the scoresheet, but played well away from the puck, as the smart player that he is really showed.

The Devils would be without Larsson’s New Jersey defense partner as Andy Greene was out for the second consecutive game and is day-to-day with an upper body injury. He will most likely not play on Monday against Florida either.

New Jersey’s other scratches were Beau Bennett and Seth Helgeson. Jacob Josefson is back on injured reserve and Yohann Auvitu was recalled from Albany and would play tonight, although he, too, was injured in the first period and did not return. This caused the Devils to have to play with five defensemen most of the night. Also back in for the Devils was another former Oiler, Luke Gazdic. Scratched for Edmonton were Brandon Davidson and Jesse Puljujarvi.

In goal, the Devils went right back to Cory Schneider. Schneider was fantastic most of the night. He made 41 saves on a whopping 43 Oilers shots. Edmonton sent out Cam Talbot. He made 19 saves on 20 Devils shots.

Adam Larsson did get a video tribute on the big screen at The Rock, as a “thank you” to him for his service with the Devils. He was paired on the blue line with Kris Russell.

Appropriately enough, Taylor Hall had the first shot of the game. However, it was Miles Wood, not Connor McDavid or Taylor Hall who wowed fans with the first goal of the game.

Steven Santini pushed the puck up to Travis Zajac in the neutral zone, who passed across to Miles Wood who simply took off at the red line. He blazed in on Talbot, moving to his backhand and slipped the puck five hole, giving the Devils the 1-0 lead. Wood, a lot like McDavid, has great speed that helps create offense. In fact, McDavid had hit the post on a similar play to Wood’s just minutes before.

And that was it for the scoring for most of the night, as both teams settled in to a fairly even defensive game. Cory made a huge save on Mark Letestu midway through the second period.

One of the highlights of the telecast came during the second intermission when MSG Network’s Deb Placey and John MacLean interviewed former Devils coach and executive Marshall Johnston. Johnston was with the team when they were in Colorado and was, in fact the Rockies’ last coach before the team moved to New Jersey. He scouted or drafted many of the Devils’ stars over the years: from MacLean himself to Ken Daneyko, Martin Brodeur and Scott Niedermayer. Hearing his and Chico Resch’s (who was the guest in the first intermission) stories were great. Johnston, like Chico, was in town because he was at last night’s Dr. McMullen ceremony.

The third period began with the Devils getting an early odd man rush that was broken up in a nice play by Oilers’ defenseman Andrej Sekera.

Moments later, at the 3:33 mark, Matthew Benning tied things up with his first NHL goal from Sekera and Anton Lander. Cory was being screened in front by Edmonton’s Matt Hendricks and the Devils’ Ben Lovejoy, who were tied up. The shot went through everyone’s legs and found its way into the back of the net to knot the game at one apiece.

And that is how regulation would end. Going into the overtime, the Devils had to know that Edmonton is a good road team. But with a little bit of help, they would get the win.

Cory Schneider was great in the extra session, but when Zajac was called for slashing McDavid as the Oiler captain drove to the net, Edmonton would have the man advantage to make it 4-on-3. It was kind of a weak call to make in an overtime period, but the call was made, and the Devils would need to kill it off.

The Devils were 0-for-1 on the power play on the night, failing to capitalize on their one chance. Edmonton made it 1-for-2 when a Letestu seeing eye shot beat Cory at the 3:59 mark of the OT session to win the game for the Oilers. Oscar Klefbom and McDavid had the assists on the game winner.

After that heartbreaker, the Devils need to prepare for Jaromir Jagr and the struggling Florida Panthers on Monday night. Florida comes in to Prudential Center in a similar situation to the Devils, in that the losses are starting to pile up as they fall further out of the playoff race. Although in their case, they had fired their head coach and still have not found a winning formula. They are built to win now with a more veteran roster than the Devils have. After that, it is a Western Canadian road trip that will match the Devils right back up with these same Edmonton Oilers in their new building.

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Devils Defeat Oilers on Historic Martin Brodeur Night

This November will be the thirty-third anniversary of Wayne Gretzky’s “Mickey Mouse” comment following a game in Edmonton between the Devils and Oilers. The Devils were pretty bad back then, but they would soon grow into a contender.

Tonight, the Devils celebrated one of the men that helped defeat that “Mickey Mouse” stigma once and for all: Martin Brodeur. The game played afterwards was, fittingly, against the Oilers, but a much different Oilers team than the ones the Devils were facing in the 1980’s. This Oilers team is more akin to the Devils of the early-80’s: on the way up.

But tonight was not about the Oilers of the past or present, it was about one man. Marty Brodeur was a once-in-a-lifetime player and got a once-in-a-lifetime sendoff as he had his jersey number “30” retired and his statue unveiled to the general public.

The night started with Devils public address announcer Kevin Clark introducing the trophies Brodeur won during his career as they were brought onto the ice: the Calder Memorial Trophy, the William M. Jennings Trophy, the Vezina Trophy, the Prince of Wales Trophy and the Stanley Cup. Emcee Mike “Doc” Emrick, who (as a Devils, Fox and NBC announcer) called many of Marty’s greatest moments, was then introduced. Doc introduced members of Devils ownership and the front office as well as NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly.

One by one, former Devils coaches like Jacques Lemaire, Larry Robinson and Jacques Caron were introduced. Line Burns, the widow of former Devils coach Pat Burns, was present, as were the three other men who have had their jersey numbers retired by the Devils: Scott Stevens, Ken Daneyko and Scott Niedermayer. Former Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello was brought out and Brodeur’s family including his brothers and sisters were present too.

The current Devils and their coaching staff then came out before finally, the man of the night was introduced. With the current Devils (who were all wearing warmup jerseys with the name “Brodeur” on the back and his number “30,” and would wear a special patch honoring Marty on their in-game uniforms) forming a raised stick tunnel for Marty to walk through, he came out onto the ice.

Everyone got a chance to speak, including Bettman (who received the usual chorus of “boos”) and Lamoriello (who received the usual chorus of “Lous”) Devils ownership spoke, a representative from Prudential (the sponsor) spoke. Patrik Elias spoke on behalf of the current Devils and Daneyko represented the players of the past. Videos highlighting Marty’s illustrious career were shown. The sold out crowd at The Rock was enthusiastic throughout.

Finally, it was Marty’s turn. He tried to begin immediately speaking after he got to the podium, but was drowned out by chants of “Mar-ty!” and “Marty’s better!” After taking a moment to soak it all up, Brodeur spoke, thanking former teammates, coaches, the New Jersey fans and his family (to whom he spoke in French).

Finally, it was time for the banner raising. Brodeur and his family were brought over to the goal crease that the Devils defend twice a game and the banner bearing his name and number was raised to the rafters of the Prudential Center for all to see.

It was truly a great moment for Devils fans to see Brodeur take his rightful place among the greats of the franchise. But there was more work to be done. The Devils have never lost on a night where they have retired a jersey number. That trend would continue.

The Devils tweaked their lineup a little. Healthy scratches were Tuomo Ruutu and Stefan Matteau, who have sat for the last few games, but Eric Gelinas was out, with Damon Severson taking his spot in the lineup.

The goaltending matchup was paid special attention to on a night like tonight, with goalie royalty in attendance. Cory Schneider got the nod for the Devils, making 19 saves on 20 shots faced. In goal for Edmonton was former Ranger Cam Talbot, who went 24 for 26.

Things got started midway through the first period when Edmonton’s Matt Hendricks took the first penalty of the game (a hooking call against Severson). The Devils were going on the power play 9:18 into the first. They would capitalize when, at 10:33, Reid Boucher took a shot from the half wall with the rebound coming out to Lee Stempniak. Stempniak passed to Adam Henrique on the side of the Oilers net, who pounded it home. It was 1-0 Devils, but that would not last long.

One minute and six seconds later, Edmonton’s Jordan Eberle beat Cory off assists from Benoit Pouliot and Connor McDavid. The game was tied at one and a feeling of dread swept through the crowd at Prudential Center.

The second period did not see any scoring changes, but did see Seth Helgeson take on Hendricks in a spirited fight in which the Devils youngster was able to get the upper hand.

The game winner would come in the third period on the power play (the Devils’ special teams dominated tonight, with the penalty kill killing off all three Oilers power plays and the Devils’ power play going 2-for-6, a respectable number for a team that has had its struggles scoring from time to time.

When the Oilers’ Adam Clendening was called for delay of game for shooting the puck over the glass at 5:27 of the third, the Devils were set up on another power play. They would convert on this one too. At 7:13, Tyler Kennedy passed from along the boards to Henrique in the slot. Henrique saw Boucher swooping in from the top of the near faceoff circle and, with nowhere to shoot, passed to him. Boucher beat Talbot and the Devils had the lead they would not relinquish.

The Oilers would pull Talbot with a little over a minute left in the game, but the Devils weathered the storm and came away with the victory.

Boucher was named the number one star of the night, Henrique the second. Both had a goal and an assist each. Fittingly, Devils goaltender Cory Schneider was named the third star.

Next up, the Devils have a few days off before traveling to Philadelphia on Saturday for a 1 PM tilt against the Flyers. As the Devils move down the New Jersey Turnpike to revive their rivalry with the Flyers, they will try to keep the momentum that they have gained out of this game going. We will find out Saturday if they can get it done and continue on in the playoff race.