Ottawa, here we come.

Thanks to 2 goals from Gio, 1 from Rafalski, and 32 saves from Marty, the Devils took a 3-2 win in Tampa and are moving on to play the Senators in round 2.

Brian Gionta opened the scoring 14:29 in the 1st with a power play goal from Patrik Elias and Brian Rafalski. There were 9 penalties called in that period, 5 of which were on us, with 1 4 on 4 and a 4 on 3 for us and the bolts.

Rafalski got his 2nd point of the game with a PPG of his own 1:21 into the 2nd. Elias and Gomer picked up the assists. 3:49 later, the lightning struck with a PPG of their own, with Gomez in the box, serving a too many men on the ice penalty. We regained the 2 goal lead :39 later, when Gionta netted his 2nd goal, with Elias getting his 3rd assist, and Gomez his 2nd. So yeah, it was all the EGG line and Rafalski, pretty much. Almost 5 minutes later, though, the lead was again cut in half, when Zach was sent to the box for tripping a player that was no where near him. And I'm not gonna even mention lecavalier taking out Rafalski and Lukowich at exactly the same time Zach was called. What ever. And while I'm on the topic of dumb penalties, what about that 4 on 4 that came when Travis Zajac and a bolt were sent to the box, Travis for diving, and the bolt for tripping Travis. First of all, Travis was on a break away. Why would he dive and screw that up? And if he was getting called for diving, why was the bolt called for tripping him? Again, what ever.

Marty had a classic Marty performance, with 32 saves on 34 shots. So..yeah, that's it. But I have to wonder, how, when tampa's net was empty, and we had 3 players around it, we didn't score. Who cares, though? We won, and we're going on to round 2. All is right with the world.

3 STARS:
#3- Marty
#2- Patrik
#1- Gio

Well..Janssen, Clarkson and White were all at the arena, but none of them played. Stupid lecavalier took out Matvichuk in the 1st, and thankfully got sent to the box, but so did Johnny Madden and st louis for unsportsman-like conduct. I have to say, it was nice seeing tampa's top penalty killers in the box at the same time. So, I guess that's it, until after game 1 of round 2..