Posted on

Devils Win Nail Biter over Isles

With a win tonight, the Devils could move within two points of their opponents, the New York Islanders in the Eastern Conference playoff race. They were able to come away with the win at the Prudential Center but it was not without some drama at the end.

Some relatively big trade news to talk about first as the Devils sent Sergey Kalinin to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for defenseman Viktor Loov. Kalinin had cleared waivers yesterday and was to be sent to Albany before the Leafs came calling. He will now report to the Toronto Marlies of the AHL while Loov will also report to the AHL, he will go to Albany.

This was the first meeting of the year between the Devils and Islanders, as it took almost three quarters of the season for New Jersey to meet their streaking Metro Division rivals. The Isles were in last place in the East this time last month. After the coaching change from Jack Capuano to Doug Weight, they have gone 9-3-2 and have surged up the board to the point where, if they had won tonight, regardless of what Toronto did in their game against Ottawa, the Islanders would have taken over the last playoff Wild Card spot currently occupied by the Leafs.

In some major lineup news, Michael Cammalleri, who is enduring an 18-game goal scoring drought, was a healthy scratch on the night. He joined Seth Helgeson in watching from the press box. The veteran has been having a rough go of it of late and the benching will hopefully get him back on track. He is a very streaky scorer, so maybe this will jumpstart him and get him going. Taking his place in the lineup was Devante Smith-Pelly, who would be skating on a line with Joseph Blandisi (who was playing center tonight) and Miles Wood. This line would play a big role in tonight’s game on the scoresheet.

The Islanders were without Travis Hamonic and Cal Clutterbuck (who are injured) and Adam Pelech and Shane Prince. Up for the Islanders was former Devil Stephen Gionta. Gionta would get a nice video tribute by the Devils on the big board at Prudential Center and a nice reception from the Devils faithful in his return.

The starting goaltenders were Thomas Greiss for the Islanders, who made 18 saves on 21 shots faced and Cory Schneider for the Devils. Cory made 40 saves on an amazing 42 shots faced from the Isles.

About four minutes in, Taylor Hall had a breakaway and was stopped by Greiss. Greiss was able to just get his stick on the puck and knock it off of Hall’s stick before he could get a shot off. This set the tone for the game right off of the bat.

The Devils would connect at the 7:10 mark of the first period when Devante Smith-Pelly took a pass from Travis Zajac that sprung him for a breakaway. He went to his backhand and slid the puck five hole by Greiss to make it 1-0 Devils. Jon Merrill had the secondary assist on the goal.

Cory Schneider made what would be a huge save for the Devils at the 8:10 mark of the first when he stopped John Tavares on a penalty shot. Zajac was called for a hook on a Tavares breakaway to set that up. Cory’s save would end up looming very big later on in the game for the Devils.

The Devils had a chance to double things up when former Islander PA Parenteau hit the post on New Jersey’s first power play of the evening. It was also in the first when the Isles got a bit of a scare as both Johnny Boychuk and Anders Lee left the game for them. They would both return for New York, however.

The second period featured a nice scrap between New York’s Scott Mayfield and the Devils’ Miles Wood. Wood’s father, Randy, played for the Islanders for five years. The fight was triggered after what was a clean hit on Brock Nelson.

The Devils would double their lead on the penalty kill. New Jersey’s Taylor Hall was called for roughing at 8:03 to put New York a man up. Adam Henrique just missed on a chance right before he grabbed the puck in the Devils zone and sped away on a two-on-one with Travis Zajac. He made a nice pass to Zajac, who ripped the puck by Greiss to make it 2-0 Devils at the 8:49 mark. The Devils had scored another shorthanded goal this year to double their lead. For the game, New York went 0-for-3 on the power play while the Devils were 1-for-2.

That power play goal would come at the 6:21 mark of the third. Pavel Zacha had that one when the Devils zig-zagged the puck through the Isles’ penalty kill. It started at the far point with Damon Severson, who side across to Parenteau. He went back across to the top of the far faceoff circle to Zacha, who fired a shot just over Greiss’ shoulder and under the crossbar stickside to make it 3-0 Devils.

From there, the Islanders began their comeback. Andrew Ladd scored at 8:58 of the third from Calvin de Haan to make it 3-1. The Devils challenged this goal for goalie interference, alleging that Tavares had bumped Schneider and kept him from being able to make the save. The call on the ice and from Toronto was a goal and that was where it stood after the review. The review showed that it was actually Andy Greene who got caught up with Cory, impeding him from making the save.

Anthony Beauvillier of the Islanders would score to make it 3-2 Devils at 13:48 from Alan Quine and Boychuk. Things were beginning to get even tenser.

At the 16:57 mark of the third, Henrique was called for cross checking Tavares in front of the Devils net. The Islanders would pull Greiss with about 1:30 left in the game and about 25 seconds left on that power play (giving them a brief 6-on-4 man advantage). But the Devils stood pat and Kyle Palmieri even blocked a big shot with seconds left before the Islanders shot themselves in the foot with consecutive offside calls. Time ran out and the Devils came away with the 3-2 victory.

Next up the Islanders, but this time at the Barclays Center. The Devils travel to Brooklyn trying to take two straight from New York in what should be a very tense playoff-like battle. The Isles are 8-0-2 in their last ten at home and the Devils have been a very good road team all season long. As MSG play-by-play man Steve Cangialosi put it: something has got to give.

Posted on

Devils Hang on to Defeat Avalanche

The Devils needed to get some momentum at home coming off of their recent loss to the San Jose Sharks at the Rock. They, like most teams have this year, struggled following their bye week and they were in danger of falling behind in the tight Eastern Conference playoff race.

Enter the Colorado Avalanche, the last Western Conference foe the Devils have not seen already this year. The Avs might be struggling on paper this season, but they are a much better team than their record would suggest. Among some of the teams that they have beaten this season include Pittsburgh, Chicago, Minnesota, Montreal and Columbus. That is quite the hit-list there. Add to that that the Avalanche are 9-0-1 in their last ten games against the Devils and this game had “St. Valentine’s Massacre” written all over it.

But the Devils were able to survive, staying in to earn a 3-2 win against a pesky team that just could not be put down.

In lineup news, Jon Merrill was back in for the Devils, coming off of his injury. Kyle Quincey and Beau Bennett remain out with injuries and Seth Helgeson and Devante Smith-Pelly were the healthy scratches for New Jersey. Colorado sat Rene Bourque and Patrick Wiercioch.

The goaltending matchup was an interesting one. Cory Schneider started for the Devils, making his eighth straight appearance for the team. Making the start for Colorado was 27-year-old Jeremy Smith, making his first ever NHL start. He was originally drafted by the Avs in 2007, ten years ago, bounced around the minor leagues for various organizations for eight years and ended up coming back to the Avalanche and, with Semyon Varlamov injured, got to make his NHL debut with the team that drafted him. Cory made 28 saves on 30 Avalanche shots. Smith made 37 saves on 40 Devils shots.

One player that the Devils would keep an eye on all night was the veteran Jarome Iginla. The former Calgary Flame was Taylor Hall’s favorite player growing up, as Hall grew up a Flames fan in Calgary – he also played his first game in the NHL, with the Oilers, against Iginla and the Flames.

In milestone news, tonight was Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog’s 400th NHL game already for the young superstar.

The Devils struck first at the 2:04 mark of the first period when a good Devils forecheck flushed the puck back to Damon Severson at the point. He gave to Jacob Josefson, who shot the puck on net. The rebound came out to Stefan Noesen, who chipped at it. That rebound then came out to Pavel Zacha, who finally backhanded it home for his seventh goal of the year. That quickly, it was 1-0 Devils and that was a big goal for New Jersey, as Colorado is 3-22-2 this season when trailing after the first period.

Following that goal, the Devils had a chance to nearly double their lead when Taylor Hall hit the outside of the goal cage. Replays showed that Landeskog actually got his stick on the shot, deflecting it in a nice defensive play.

The second period would see the Avs get back into it beginning at 5:16, when a Devils power play was negated by Miles Wood being called for high sticking. This would lead to a little over a minute of 4-on-4 play followed by an Avalanche power play. Once the Avs got the extra attacker, Mark Barberio was able to put one by Schneider at 6:43, assists to Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen. It was Barberio’s first goal as a member of the Avalanche. The game was tied at one.

The Devils would get that goal back at the 8:55 mark in a strange way. The Devils were back on the power play after Andreas Martinsen was called for hooking at 8:52. Right off of the faceoff, won by Travis Zajac, the puck went right back to Andy Greene at the point. He fired a shot that beat Smith cleanly, but referee Justin St. Pierre immediately waved the goal off on the ice, citing goaltender interference by Miles Wood. The Devils challenged from the bench, saying that the puck had already gone by Smith when Wood interfered with him in the crease. The replay showed that they were correct and the call on the ice was overturned – Wood was actually outside the crease when the interference occurred as well. The Devils had regained a 2-1 lead. That goal was Greene’s fourth of the year. Both teams were 1-for-3 on the power play.

The Devils picked up a two goal lead at the 16:25 mark of the second period. A failed attempt by the Avs to keep the puck in the Devils’ zone saw Kyle Palmieri grab the puck and go speeding off on a two-on-one with Hall. Palmieri gave to Hall, who passed back to him and Palmieri buried it into the empty net as Smith was leaning towards Hall to shoot. The Devils now had a 3-1 lead and that goal would prove the game winner for New Jersey.

But it was not the final goal of the game. Colorado made things interesting at the 18:34 mark of the second period when Mikhail Grigorenko scored from Matt Duchene to make it 3-2.

The third period was a nail biter for the Devils and their fans. Early in the final frame, Cory made a big save on Carl Soderberg in front of his net. Josefson hit the official while trying to pass the puck in the zone to Ben Lovejoy. The puck deflected right to Soderberg in front, but Cory made the save to preserve the lead. The Devils had a late scoring chance on a two-on-one, but Wood could not settle the puck down enough to get it to Michael Cammalleri.

With about a minute and a half left in the third period, the Avs pulled Smith. With the open net and a handful of seconds remaining on the clock, Cammalleri shot from the Devils zone for the empty net, instead of taking a few strides and gaining the red line to avoid the icing. The shot missed the net and an easy icing call was made, putting a final faceoff in the Devils’ zone. They lost the faceoff, but after a mad scramble in front of Cory’s net, were able to come away with the 3-2 win.

The Devils now find themselves five points out of the final playoff spot. The Islanders lost to Toronto tonight, but Buffalo picked up two points over Ottawa, so the Leafs remain in front of the Devils, while the Sabres move even with New Jersey and the Devils move past the Isles.

Next up for the Devils a playoff team in the Ottawa Senators on Thursday at home in Newark. We will find out if the Devils can keep their momentum going at home, by beating a good Sens team that is in second place in the Atlantic Division.