It's official.

Since Tampa lost in a shoot out to the Thrashers, who I never thought I would find myself cheering for, we are definitly playing the Bolts in the playoffs. But, on the down side, the Habs couldn't beat the laughs, and now there is a chance the craplanders will be in the playoffs. It's a very slim chance, since they're playing the Devils tomorrow, but there is a very small chance that it may happen. And then I'll find sidney crosby attractive.

And I have more good news! Lowell won their game 4-3 in OT, to keep them just 3 points out of 4th, with 4 games remaining. Rod Pelley scored his 15th of the season at 14:13 from Ryan Murphy and Mark Fraser, as you would already know if you read my previous post. The bruins tied it up at 4:07 of the 2nd, but we took the lead again at 12:02 with an unassisted goal form Stephen Gionta, his 7th of the season. 1:40 later, the bruins tied it up yet again, and the second ended with a score of 2-2. Barry Tallackson scored his 10th of the year at 13:47 of the 3rd from mike mottau and Tomas Harrant, but the bruins answered back :13 later, and that was that- until OT. Dan McGillis scored his 3rd game winner in OT (10th of the season, 10th PPG) from mottau and Chris Minard on the only shot in OT. I think the bruins' goalie was a little stronger then Doyle, with 38 saves on 42 shots, while doyle had 29 saves on 32 shots. Either way, I'm glad they won.

3 STARS:
3- rosa (prov)
2- McGillis
1- Pelley

Normally, I woudl have said mottau as #3 instead of rosa, but I can't stant mottau, and I actually think 1g, 1a is better then 2a.

So..the end. Till tomorrow.

I need to rant.

Feel free to skip over this, but I need to rant, and I can't find either one of my cats, and my fish and the rest of my family don't care.

I'm so sick of Lowell's choices when it comes to who they play. I know a lot of you will disagree with most of this, but I'm entitled to my own opinion, as are you. Players like Nicklas Bergfors, Rod Pelley and even Chris Minard are completely underrated, while players like Barry Tallackson and Tuomas Pihlman are kind of overrated. And as I'm typing this, Pelley won a faceoff, and they Devils are on a 5 on 3. Anyway, it's kind of like Janssen. Maybe they would put up better numbers if they played a little more.

And then there's the increadibly overrated Mike Mottau on defense. Granted, I do hate him because of some nasty comments he made about Janssen, but he's still so overrated. Dan McGillis, yeah, he does get some credit, but I don't think he gets as much as he deserves. And the fact that they keep signing all these rookies and never play them gets to me too. Look at Zach Tarkir. They signed him, what, a month ago, and he's only played in 2 games. Don't sign them if they're not gonna play.

Now for my biggest rant. I'm so freaking sick of them acting like Frank Doyle is God. Yeah, sure, he does have more wins and a lower GAA than Jordan Parise, but maybe that wouldn't be the case if Jordan didn't play most of the 1st place teams, while Doyle was playing the last place teams. How is the rookie supposed to beat the better teams in the league, while doyle can barely win when he plays them? If you look at the stats, Jordan wins a higher percent of his games then Doyle, too. I hate to say it, but I'd rather have some of these players on other teams where at least their talent would be appreciated. And trust me, there are more players that I feel are over/underrated, but really don't feel like listing them all.

Now I hate to say this too, but I think I'd rather have the Devils lose tonight and fall farther out of the playoffs then have them prasing Doyle liek he's God.

And congrats to Rod Pelley who just scored his 15th of the season from 2 other rather underrated players, Ryan Murphy and Mark Fraser, and gave the Devils a 1-0 lead. And way to go, Clarkson, for not scoring on that break away. But it's ok, I still love you.

Playoff Thoughts

Well, as the playoffs draw nearer, I've been thinking (surprise!) about who I would most like to see the Devils play in the first round (if you're one of the people who's already heard this a million times, bare with me). The Canadiens would definitly have been my first choice, but thanks to a nasty loss to the rags last night, that's not happening. So no big deal. The rags would be my second choice. I always enjoy a good laugh after seeing their unusually large, ugly rear ends handed to them by the Devils after a nice whooping. Now the only other possibility would be the Lightening, if they lose their next game (which happens to be their last), or if the rags, by some miracle, beat the pens tomorrow. That was totally my last choice. But then, the unthinkable happened. I actually thought about it, and realized that both of the games we lost to them in regualtion, John Madden missed. Actually, in one of the games he got wacked in the face with the puck, but he still didn't have as much ice time as usual, and his face was just gross. And he didn't exactly play his best, but who could, with a big gash under their eye and cotton stuffed up their nose. And the other loss we had to them came in a shoot out. So the way I see it, if Madden can not injure himself now till the end of the playoffs, the chances of us winning the cup are like, increadibly high. Of course, I'm not saying we can only depend on Madden, but he plays a big part in the games, no matter how little he scores. As long as we have him, Gionta, and Janssen (someone needs to rough the other teams up a little bit) in the line up through most/all of the playoffs, they might as well just start preparing the cup for us now, because it's as good as ours.

This picture is yummy.

Ahh, a win.

Before I get all..whatever. Congrats to Marty on win nomero 48. He definitly deserved that win. 34 saves, most of which were absolutely amazing.

So the Phailures took the lead 1:05 into the 1st. That wasn't exactly what I had expected to happen. Fortunately, the Devils had Jamie Langenbrunner who was on a 15 game scoring drought fighting to break that, and he scored his 23rd of the season (12th PPG) and tied it up at 16:58. The Devils were on the PP 3 times that period, and were only short handed once.

Now, the 2nd and 3rd periods quite possibly showed some of the dirtiest hockey I've ever seen. One thing I really didn't like was that elbow on Travis Zajac, which should have been a minor, if not a double minor, since it was not only illegal, but he was hurt because of it. Then less then a minute later, Zach Parise barely touched a guy, and was sent to the box. Fortunately, the phailures didn't score on that, or I think I would have..I won't say, but trust me, you wouldn't have wanted to be near me.

In the 2nd, the phailures took the lead again at 9:27. Sergei Brylin tyed it up with another PPG (16g, 7PPG), and again, that was the end of the scoring. Devils were 1/3 on the PP again, while the phailures were 0/2. There was a 4 on 4 after Mike Rupp beat the crap out of some guy.

The 3rd wasn't as dirty, but it wasn't exactly clean. Devils were 0/1 on the PP, but Jimmy Dowd scored a SHG, his 1st SHG, and 4th g this season. That was the game winner. So..yeah.

ASSISTS:
Patrik Elias, Brian Rafalski (Langenbrunner)
Andy Greene, Zach Parise (Brylin)
Brylin (Dowd)

3 STARS:
3- Jamie Langenbrunner
2- upshall (philly)
1- Marty Brodeur

Again, screw upshall, Brylin deserved the 2nd star. If you ask me, 1g, 1a is better then 1a.

NOTES:
Brian Gionta and Cam Janssen both missed the game, but they both should be playing on Sunday, along with Rickard Matvichuk. All three made the trip to philly, but none played. Brodeur now holds the record for most wins in a regular season, which is obviously a career high for him. Brian Rafalski now has an 8 game point streak. I think that's it..

Now for those pics I promised yesterday..

Hold it.

I lied. Again. You're not getting the recap till the Fighting Sioux game is over. Sorry.

But
MARTY BROKE THE PARENT RECORD!!

Devils win, and Brodeur ties record

So, I lied. I said 3 today, and here it is, 3:15, and I'm just sitting down to write this. But oh well. You should just be glad I actually do this ('cause there totally aren't 5 million other sites that do recaps of Devils games and all that). But first, I heard something really funny today. Some kid thinks that craplanders will beat the Devils on Sunday. I actually started laughing..anyway..

So the game was scoreless until 10:15 when John Madden scored his 10th of the season, a tip in from Brian Rafalski. :21 later, before the crowd calmed down, the Senators tied it up, costing Brodeur a shutout and the Devils a regualtion win. So now I guess I don't need to say that it went to OT. But it did. And nothing happened in OT, so, of course, it lead to the dreaded shootout. That was a bit of a nail biter, since Brian Gionta was smacked in the foot with the puck in the 3rd. He got of the ice himself, but was taken out of the arena in a wheel chair. The x-rays on his foot came back negative, thank God. Hopefully the little man will be back tomorrow. And hopefully Janssen will join him.

Now, the shootout. One of my least favorite points of hockey. Zach Parise (sniff), Travis Zajac (sniff), and Patrik Elias (sniff, but no surprise) weren't sucessful, but, luckily, either were any of the Senators. The Sens scored on their next two shots, but fortunately, Jamie Langenbrunner (yayy) and Sergei Brylin (didn't see that coming). Brodeur stopped the next shot, and it was all up to Madden. If he didn't score, the Devils would most likely lose. So as I stood there, legs shaking, expecting the worst, the Mad Dog scored, and the Devils won, giving them a 3 point lead over the Penguimps, and giving Marty his 47th win of the season, which tied the all time wins record. And there's a 99.9999999999999999999999% chance he'll break that record in Philthadelphia tomorrow. That's exciting. (Marty had 22 saves in the game).

3 STARS:
3- emery (sens)
2- Brodeur
1- Madden
See, for number 3, I would have put Rafalski, for continuing his point streak, which is now up to 7 games. And with that, I give to you some notes..

Let's see..There's Rafalski's streak, Gio's injury..Parise's 6 game point streak was snapped. Cam Janssen and gomez both missed the game..Matvichuk didn't play, which leads me to think he'll play on Sunday..I think that's it..

Peace till tomorrow, when you'll get a recap (on time!!) and 2 awesome pics (one for last night and one for tomorrow).

Clarkson named as Lowell's man of the year.

David Clarkson was named as the man of the year on the Lowell Devils. Go here to read about it. Yeah, I know, a post about Clarkson deserves more then 2 sentences and a link to go in it.

CLARKSON OWNS!! (read after the awesome picture for more info in Julien)




And I have more information on Julien. Apparently the veterans and some of the other players weren't too fond of his laid-back, relaxed style and Lou got wind of that. And, like I said before, he had problems with several players. I also heard that he didn't want to mix up the defense by activating Richard Matvichuk, but Lou had different views on that. And, as we all know, you mess with Lou, you're gone. Now, how awesome would it be of Matty played tonight? Very. But I doubt it, and don't doubt it at the same time. We shall see.

*UPDATE*

Devils Coach Claude Julien apparently did some things regarding the players that both the players and Lou didn't agree with, with Brodeur on that top of that list. And Lou also felt that because of Julien's coaching skills, or lack there of, some players (mainly the first line of Elias-gomez-Gionta) weren't reaching their full potential. I'll keep you posted if I find out more.

To those of you who live under a rock..

Or just didn't read the papers or any message boards or such, Cluade Julien has been fired as the Devils' coach. GM Lou Lamorillo will be taking the coaching responsibilities for the reemainder of the season. All I can say is saw that coming. If he wasn't so defense minded, he probably would have stayed, but he was and didn't. As for the rumors about him butting heads with Brodeur and not wanting to play Matvichuk, I think that's all crap.

So as I sit here, procrastinating..

Well, I finished an essay and my book report, and the rest can be handed in on Tuesday, so, while I procrastinate, you lucky duckies (I have the Mighty Ducks on my mind) finally get that game recap I know you've all been waiting for.

Devils iron man Jay Pandolfo opened the scoring at 2:09 in the first, with a wrist shot from Erik Rasmussen and John Madden. The Bruins were on the power play for about 45 seconds, with Patrik Elias in the box for hooking, when they got called on a penalty of their own, but in the 45 seconds of PP time both teams had, no scoring got done for the rest of the 1st, even when the Devils were on the PP again.

The Bruins tied the game at 8:11 with a PPG, but the Devils answered with a PPG of their own from Brian Gionta, at 11:29, when he got the rebound of a slapshot from Zach Parise (Brian Rafalski got the other assist). That was the end of the scoring in the second, with boston sucessful on 1 of 2 PPs, and the Devils 1/3 (the 3rd was carries over to the 3rd).

Jay Pandolfo struck again at 14:18 of the 3rd, a wrist shot, with assists from the Mad Dog and Rasmussen (does that line work well together or what?). Marty Brodeur had 17 saves, and is now 1 win shy of Bernie Parent's league-leading 47 wins in a season. So if, no, when we win on Tuesday, he'll have tied it, and hopefully, on Thursday, he'll break it, in Philly, which is the team Parent played on when he set the record.

3 STARS:
3- Brian Rafalski
2- Brian Gionta
1- Jay Pandolfo

I agree, except I would have out Parise as #3 instead of Rafalski. I'm not happy unless someone from the PZL line is one of the 3 stars


NOTES:
Well, there's the Brodeur thing right there..Zach Parise extended his point-streak to 6 games, with 3g, 4a. Brian Rafalski's assists set a new career-high 53 points for him. Brian Gionta is now tied with Jamie Langenbrunner for most PPGs on the Devils (11), and is second in goals (25, 6 behind Zach Parise). gomez missed the game with a bruised thigh, as did Cam Janssen, for general soreness. That kinda sucked. Travis Zajac's 8 game point-streak ended, and is tied for second (with rookies on the Devils) with gomez's (in 1999) and Kevin Todd (1992). And, like I said, Tuesday's recap won't be posted until Wednesday afternoon, since I'll be at the game. I know, it's a lame excuse, but I probably won't get back until after 12, and there's no way I'll be able to do it without having someone come in and unplug my computer because "it's too late to be up on a school night." But it should be posted byt 3 Wednesday afternoon, the latest.

In case you care..

I have about 5 essays to write so I don't fail creative writing and language arts (both of my teachers said they wouldn't count this as a grade, sadly), so the recap probably won't be posted until way later or until tomorrow afternoon. But the Devils did win, 3-1, with 2 goals from Jay Pandolfo and the other form Brian Gionta.

Gimme an hour or two, and I'll have it.

And the groin injuries are gone..

Brian Gionta will definitly be making his long..ly anticipated return to the Devils' line up today during their game against the boston bruins. That's exciting. And Richard Matvichuk will also be showing his face soon, also. The Devils have revealed that they have saved some space under the cap, and will be activated during one of the next four games, mostly because there are only four games left. Hopefully, he'll play on Tuesday, so I'll be able to see him when I go. Which leads me to another point. Tuday's recap will be a little late, because I'll be at the game, and I probably won't get home until after 12, and I won't be able to do it between then and when I got to school. Like you care, but just incase you actually wanna read up, because there totally aren't 5545789250656312056394 other sites that do recaps. So yeah..

Welcome back, Gio. I missed you.