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Devils Honor Past; Fall to Leafs in Present

The New Jersey Devils tonight honored the man who brought the team to New Jersey and then proceeded to play a very strange game, falling 4-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Devils’ night started with a special ceremony to induct original team owner, Dr. John J. McMullen, the man who bought the Colorado Rockies and brought them east, as the first member of their new Ring of Honor.

It was a nice ceremony, with a video package narrated by former Devils broadcaster Mike “Doc” Emrick, appearances by Dr. McMullen’s family as well as Devils alumni. Those alumni included “Mr. Devil” Ken Daneyko, Bruce Driver, current Maple Leafs president and former Devils’ player Brendan Shanahan, 1995 Conn Smythe Trophy winner Claude Lemieux, Glenn “Chico” Resch, Stephane Richer, John MacLean, Randy McKay and Sergei Starikov – one of the first Soviet hockey players to play in the NHL, who was signed by Dr. McMullen. Also present was former Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello, now GM of the Maple Leafs. After everyone was introduced, dignitaries from the City of Newark and the Devils, as well as Devils’ all-time leading scorer, Patrik Elias, dedicated a stretch of Lafayette Street near the Prudential Center as “Dr. John J. McMullen Way,” presenting a road sign to the late owner’s wife, Jacqueline and son, Peter.

After that, the in-arena dedication of a mural was unveiled in section 103 of the Prudential Center. This will serve as the actual “Ring of Honor” where McMullen’s name will live on. Following that, the Devils’ Kyle Palmieri and the Leafs’ James van Riemsdyk took the ceremonial faceoff. This was significant since both men grew up in, and played their youth hockey in, New Jersey: Palmieri in Montvale and van Riemsdyk in Middletown.

After all of the pomp and circumstance was over, there was still a game to be played. The Devils would wear their white uniforms, as those were originally their home unis and what they were wearing when they clinched their first Stanley Cup in 1995 against the Red Wings at Brendan Byrne Arena. They also wore a small red, white and green patch in honor of Dr. McMullen, combining the logo of the Colorado Rockies and the Devils in the original Devils’ colors.

And that game would be the first time in 350 that would be played without Andy Greene. The Devils captain is out with what the team is calling an “upper body injury.” He left the ice in the first period in Carolina on Tuesday, clutching at what seemed to be his eye, but it turned out that it may have been a wrist injury.

So due to that turn of events, Seth Helgeson was called up from Albany to fill in on the blue line. Also scratched for New Jersey were Jacob Josefson and Luke Gazdic. Sitting for Toronto were Frank Corrado and Josh Leivo.

The goaltending matchup saw Cory Schneider start for the Devils. He was starting his third straight game, but only faced five shots, giving up three goals (including a puck handling gaffe on the power play that led directly to a Maple Leaf goal) before being pulled in favor of Keith Kinkaid who stopped eight of nine shots. In net for Toronto was Frederik Andersen. The Devils assaulted him with 32 shots on goal, but he was equal to 30 of them in being named the game’s first star.

The Leafs came out flying in the first period, scoring three different ways. First, Nazem Kadri scored on the power play at 9:26 after Jon Merrill was whistled for boarding. Kadri’s goal was assisted by Tyler Bozak and van Riemsdyk.

At 11:28, Toronto’s Mitchell Marner was called for hooking and the Devils were on the power play. The puck would be played back into the Devils’ zone and, eventually, to Schneider. Cory fumbled the puck and the Leafs’ Connor Brown jumped on it, putting it behind Schneider unassisted at 13:17. The shorthanded goal was a rare miscue from Cory, who has been getting steadily better at handling the puck. It was now 2-0 Maple Leafs.

Just 1:23 later, Maple Leaf super rookie Auston Matthews scored his 21st of the season from Zack Hyman and Jake Gardiner. That was when Devils coach John Hynes had seen enough and pulled Cory in favor of Keith Kinkaid.

But Toronto was not done with their onslaught. The first shot Kinkaid faced, from Tyler Bozak at the 15:15 mark of the first period, found twine and it was 4-0 Maple Leafs. Van Riemsdyk and Kadri had the assists. That one was a power play goal, as Kyle Quincey was serving a roughing minor.

Any Devils fan in the stands or watching at home could only assume that it would only get better from there. And it did. The Devils had numerous scoring chances in the second and early in the third periods, but missed all of them. It did not help that they went 1-for-4 on the power play while Toronto converted on two of three power play chances.

The Devils finally found life late in the third period when Toronto’s Roman Polak was called for hooking Sergey Kalinin. With him in the box, Michael Cammalleri dished from the near corner to Adam Henrique at the right point. He fired and PA Parenteau gathered the rebound, was stopped and then buried his own rebound for his 12th goal of the year to make it 4-1, Toronto. That goal came at the 16:36 mark of the third.

At the 17:31 mark, Devante Smith-Pelly broke the Devils out of their zone, giving the puck to Miles Wood. Wood gave to Jon Merrill, who shot, missed the net, gathered his own rebound behind the Toronto net and scored on a wraparound to make it 4-2.

The Devils would pull Kinkaid, trying to finish the rally, but it was not to be. Time ran out and the Devils’ brief win streak was halted.

But it is a quick turnaround for the Devils, as they cannot dwell on this loss. Adam Larsson and the Edmonton Oilers come to town on Saturday night. It will be Taylor Hall’s first shot at his former teammates. Hall was very upset with the Oilers trading him last summer. Can revenge be a motivating factor in Saturday’s game? We will find out Saturday night.

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Devils Begin 2017 with Shutout of Bruins

Happy 2017 everyone! The Devils certainly did not finish the 2016 calendar year the way they wanted, with a 6-2 loss to the Washington Capitals. They knew they would need to put in a better effort to defeat their first opponent of 2017, the Boston Bruins, who came into the game in a playoff position. A tough opponent, but the Devils showed they could get the job done with a 3-0 win over the B’s at Prudential Center tonight. It was the Devils’ first shutout of the Bruins since February of 2009.

It was a busy two days of hockey with the Centennial Classic on Sunday at BMO Field in Toronto and the Winter Classic at Busch Stadium in St. Louis earlier today. The NHL also kicked off their 100th anniversary with each team wearing a special patch below the number on the right sleeve, a curious place to put the patch for sure.

The Devils made a ton of roster moves, mostly due to necessity. Defenseman Steve Santini was called up from Albany to replace John Moore (who was placed on injured reserve due to the concussion he suffered against the Caps). Santini actually had made the Devils out of training camp, but did not play for the team in October. He was injured in Albany in November, so he is just hitting his stride now.

Speaking of the Moore play, the Capitals’ Tom Wilson did not receive supplementary discipline for his hit on the Devils defenseman. It was borderline, but it was not dirty as deemed by the league. No penalty was called on the play on the ice.

Yohann Auvitu was also sent back to the A-Devils while Travis Zajac and Jacob Josefson were out of the lineup due to illness. The Devils also (re)claimed Reid Boucher off of waivers from the Nashville Predators. Boucher had been placed on waivers by the Devils last month and was claimed by the Preds. Now he is back in the Devils fold, although he played the majority of his time with the Predators’ system in Milwaukee of the AHL, so he had not traveled to New Jersey yet. Vernon Fiddler was also still out for New Jersey, as was David Backes for Boston – who is also suffering from a concussion.

Missing Zajac and Fiddler in particular would seem to hurt the Devils in the faceoff department. But the Devils were okay against the Bruins, winning 53 percent of their draws on the night. Devante Smith-Pelly was moved to the center position for this game and he was a big part of that.

The goaltending matchup saw Cory Schneider making his 200th appearance in goal for the Devils tonight. He was equal to all 22 Bruins shots in authoring his second shutout of the season. Cory worked with goaltending coach Chris Terreri during his two game stint off and it paid dividends for his confidence. Boston countered with Tuukka Rask in their only trip to New Jersey this season. He made 23 saves on 25 Devils shots.

This game was only one of three being played in the NHL today (one of which was the Blues’ 4-1 win over the Blackhawks in the Winter Classic). Boston has played the most games in the NHL to this point with 40. The Devils are 2-1-1 in their last four at home against the Bruins coming into tonight, so they will try to keep the momentum going there.

The Devils got the scoring kicked off just 4:12 into the first period. Santini fired the puck from the blue line and the rebound came out to Taylor Hall (who was back in the lineup as well). Hall’s shot hit the post and the puck bounced out to PA Parenteau who buried it behind Rask. For Santini, the assist was his first NHL point in just his second NHL game. It was also Parenteau’s 11th goal of the game, seven of those have been the first goal of the game, including this one.

Miles Wood had a spirited scrap with the Bruins’ Colin Miller when Miller took exception to a big hit by Wood on one of his teammates. Wood got up off of the ice after the fight and raised his arms, pumping up the enthusiastic crowd. Boston would wind up with the extra penalty (a roughing call on Miller) to give the Devils a power play. New Jersey went 0-for-6 with the man advantage – including a 5-on-3 in the first period, but they also killed off two Bruins power plays.

Pavel Zacha had hit the post with a shot right before that fight and, in fact; the Devils would not score again until the third period. Boston nearly tied it with about four seconds remaining in the first. Cory made a great save on a puck that seemed to be squeaking by him. The call on the ice was no goal, as the officials said that it never crossed the goal line fully. The replay from the situation room in Toronto showed that a very fraction of the puck was still on the red line, which meant that the call could not be overturned. The call on the ice stood and it was still 1-0 Devils.

Ben Lovejoy nearly doubled the Devils’ lead in the just seconds into the second frame. His shot was tipped in front by Michael Cammalleri and got by Rask, but was cleared from the Boston crease. That was the Devils’ best chance in the second period.

In the third, the Devils finally broke through with their second goal when Miles Wood grabbed the puck in his own zone and flew down the wing. He cut towards the Boston net and fed a trailing Sergey Kalinin, who put it behind Rask to make it 2-0 Devils.

The Bruins would pull Rask with 2:15 left in the game, and Taylor Hall would notch his second point of the night, an empty net goal with an assist to Kalinin. Kalinin had two points on the night as well. It was Hall’s first goal in ten games.

The Devils seemed to do everything right in this game. They spent the night getting sticks in the passing and shooting lanes, making life difficult for the Bruins. John MacLean of MSG also pointed out that this was the first time this season that the Devils have been able to get all of their defensive pairings righty/lefty, with guys on their natural shooting side. This does a lot, allowing the defensemen to be on their forehand and get the breakout going through the neutral zone faster, allowing for more speed in their game.

New Jersey played well and were rewarded for their efforts. The inclusion of youth and speed has done a lot for the team, as Santini and Wood have been bright spots in particular.

Next up, the Devils head south to Raleigh tomorrow to play the Hurricanes. The Canes are a good team at home, so we will see if the Devils can continue the momentum they have gained tonight.

Here’s hoping everyone reading has a happy and healthy New Year!