See what happens when you listen to me?

the Devils finally managed to get points 95 and 96 after coming from behind in Florida tonight. all because Claude Julien finally listened to me.

so the 1st period ended with the Panthers leading 1-0. they struck again at 9:25 of the 2nd to make it 2-0. Rookie David Clarkson answered 3:41 later with a (power play) goal for the Devils, making it 2-1. Jimmy Dowd scored again for the Devils 3:48 later, tieing the game. the Panters scored again in the 3rd, but Jimmy Dowd struck again at 10:12 (which happens to be my birthday), leaving the score at 3-3 for the rest of regulation. the Devils had the puck most of the time in OT, but couldnt score, which lead to the dreaded (at least to me) shootout. Devils shot secons, and Zach Parise put it in, to tie it up. Travis Zajac was the only other shooter for the Devils, and he scored a pretty amazing goal. Brodeur stopped the last shot, and we finally won another one.

now, why am i saying they listened to me? well, i've been saying for like ever that they should call Clarkson up, and that prooved to be a good move. just yesterday, i said Jimmy Dowd would probably score more if he had more ice time. he got it, and got 2 tying goals. and finally, i said right before the shootout that they should have Zajac shoot, and they listened, and we won. just goes to show how amazing i am.

ASSISTS:
Gomez, Rafalski (Clarkson)
Parise, Zajac (Dowd)
Rafalski, Brodeur (Dowd)

3 Stars:
3- Olli Jokinen (Flo.)
2- Jim Dowd
1- Travis Zajac

NOTES:
Elias, Rasmussen, Madden and Gionta all missed the game tonight, Elias, Madden, and Gio all (still) with groin injurues and Rasmussen it out with a shoulder injury. Elias is expected to return for Tuesday's game against the islanders, but no one knows when Madden and Sexmuffin, uhm, Rasmussen will be back. Gio wont be able to return until the 1st against Boston.

i think i said this already, but Richard Matvichuk is expected to be making his return very soon.

Jamie Langenyummy, er, Langenbrunner left during the 2nd, because he wasn't feeling very well (not because of a groin injury like the rest of the team). hopefully he'll be better by Tuesday.

i think that's it..

Lightening strikes, Devils..dont.

yet another loss to add to the Devils' list..tampa won 3-1 last night..that sucks..

so, as usual, the PZL line was the only line at least trying to generate something. Zach Parise scored the only goal for the Devils (PPG, goal #29), from Travis Zajac and Brian Rafalski. Marty Brodeur wasn't the only one making saves that night. Colin White stopped what could have been Vincent Lecavalier's 50th goal of the season after the puck snuck past Brodeur.

and (i know i'm gonna get it again for this), as usual, claude julien didnt realize the Devils weren't exactly playing amazingly with 30 seconds left in the game, while we were down by 2. smart, man. seriously, who wouldnt think to try to get something going with less then a minute left?

Notes:
Tuomas Pihlman was called up from Lowell to take the place of Erik Rasmussen, who suffered a shoulder injury on tuesday against Toronto. the rather yummy center is listed as day-to-day, along with LW Patrik Elias and C John Madden. RW Brian Gionta wont be able to play until Apr. 1st, which is the day D Richard Matvichuk is rumored to be making his return.


and i sincerely hope Scott Clemmensen starts tomorrow. Brodeur hasn't been very amazing lately. in the last 3 games, he's let 8 goals in, and the Devils have been out scored 12-4. i'm not saying it's all his fault, since Clemmensen did let 3 in when he took over for Brodeur when they played the Panes last satureday, and the offense just doesnt like to score, but seriously. there are 8 games left. at least let Clemmy start one of them. big deal, Brodeur probably wont break the Parent record. so what? is it really worth risking the outcome of a game, just so Marty has a better chance at the record? come on. and just for the record, just because Clemmy plays, does NOT mean we'll lose. on saturday, big deal, we lost, but he had some pretty nice saves. and let's not forget the last game he started, when we won 3-2, or his shut out in Lowell. seriously. maybe he would have a better record if he played more the 5 or 6 games a season.

and as for Rod Pelley, big freaking woop, he hasn't scored yet. he's played 8 games!! how many games did Janssen play before he scored? exactly. he played a lot more then Pelley has so far. give the kid a break.

Bad calls = bad game.

last night's game was wretched. the devils were short handed only twice, but both times weren't exactly great calls. normally, i can see why they got the penalties, but those 2 so-called interference calls were crap. yeah, i know we had more PPs then toronto, but we deserved more then that. let's look at that trip on Jay Pandolfo. the guy trips Pando right in front of the ref, and what happens? nothing!! except for the scum bag who tripped Pando taking the puck and scoring. now did i want the guy to get suspended or something? no. but a penalty to the guy or the penalty shot Pando should have gotten would have been nice.

anyway...end of the first, we're losing 1-0. no scoring in the second, but in the third the laughs make it 2-0. Rookie Travis Zajac answered 40 seconds later, with a slap-shot goal from Jamie Langenbrunner and fellow rookie Andy Greene. sadly that was all the scoring for the Devils during the game, but it definitly wasn't the only scoring chance. Zach Parise, David Clarkson, and Langenbrunner all came close to scoring, but the stupid puck just bounced off the post (i knew laughs were cheating). and who can forget that wonderful, pretty much open-net chance that gomez had, but, of course, missed? but does that surprise me? definitly not. i say send him down or something, anything. hell, give him to another team. without him, we could probably put Matvichuck back in and call up one or two players and still have cap space and maybe not miss chances like the one he had. before i move on, from 2 man advantage: Puck mishandled, Gomez gets ahold of it, wide open net. What do YOU think happens? …of course it goes wide.

now, as for claud julien...i dont see why he hasn't been fired yet. he sees the puck is continuously ringing off the post and we're so close to winning, so when does he decide to do something? with 30 seconds left. nice, man. why not do that after the 3rd or 4th time the puck just missed? seriously. and as for the lack of aim and scoring, why not practice that a little more? as i've said about a million times, you cant expect Marty to shut the other team out every game just so the offense can keep scoring the 1 or 2 goals they score a game. maybe being a defensive team isn't a very good idea, now is it? now, i know i'm gonna get a lot of email and crap about this, but i dont care. he sees they're not doing as well as they could and he does nothing about it.

anyway, peace out till tomorrow. or friday. when ever i do the recap for tomorrow's game.

a wise man once said...

"i'm not worried about what they're going to do to me. i'm just worried about about how we're going to come out. they need the win and so do we. so, i think they're going to be more focused on putting the puck into the net than getting back at me. i kind of hope they worry more about me than putting the puck in the net. then, we'll win the game and everything will be fine-" Cam "the man' Janssen.


let's pray he's right.



GO DEVILS!!

Jordan Parise gets 1st AHL shutout and leads Lowell to victory

first of all, congrats to Jordan Parise on his first AHL shutout. he stopped all 36 of hartford's shots cuz he's more awesomer then you.


anyway, the game was scoreless until the 3rd, but hartford was pelting pucks at Parise through the whole game, giving them 36 shots to Lowell's 25. Chris Minard scored at 7:23 in the 3rd on a PP (11th PPG, 26th g) from Ryan Murphy and Mike Mottau. Hartford made that oh-so-common mistake of pulling their goalie and Dan LaCouture scored the empty netter, (goal # 8) from Grant Marshall at 19:40 to secure the win.

12 penalties in total, 1/2 of which were against the Devils, giving them 5 PPs (one was a 4-4 with McGillis in the box for roughing w/ Byers). of the Devils 12 penalty minutes, 6 came from McGillis.

3 Stars:
3- Hole (Hrtfrd)
2- Chris Minard
1- Jordan Parise


Notes:
Pelley and Clarkson both missed the game cuz they're still up w. the Devils, and probably will be until (Brian)Gionta returns.

Chris Minard leads the team with most PPGs (11), goals (26) and points (40). Dan McGillis leads with 25 assists, and David Clarkson, despite missing the last 3 games, still leads in PIMs (135).