GDT: Devils - Senators 2/1

:devils vs. :sens

(26-20-6) (34-11-4)

Continental Airlines Arena

7:30PM

NHL.com game preview (http://www.nhl.com/scores/previews/780_2_preview.html)

Two scary games, tonight and Friday (S.S. night). Ottawa coming off a beating by the Bruins and Caroline who should have Weight in the line-up and is becoming a pretty scary team. No more excuses for the Devs other then Elias, they've had plenty of rest. If we don't compete in the next two games, maybe we don't deserve to make the playoffs and just maybe we're better off. We will see.

Ryznar, Janssen, Brown, and Clemmenson are back on the roster.


No Suglobov :(

While we were idle these past four days, Tampa reclaimed the sixth seed and we slipped back down to seventh. These next two teams are tough, but all I want to see is a good effort.

Two scary games, tonight and Friday (S.S. night). Ottawa coming off a beating by the Bruins and Caroline who should have Weight in the line-up and is becoming a pretty scary team. No more excuses for the Devs other then Elias, they've had plenty of rest. If we don't compete in the next two games, maybe we don't deserve to make the playoffs and just maybe we're better off. We will see.
I hate playing good teams who have come off an embarrassing game like that, it always seems the next game they bring their "A" game.

I hate playing good teams who have come off an embarrassing game like that, it always seems the next game they bring their "A" game.
Pretty much the same thing Brodeur said in this article (http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/hockey/devils/story/387495p-328840c.html)
"I wish they could have won against Boston so they would have felt good about themselves. Now they're going to be three times more hungry," joked Devils goalie Martin Brodeur. "It's a good challenge for us to see where we're at. We're going to play Carolina with Doug Weight added to their lineup. It will be nice to see how we compete with the top guys and we'll go from there."
<(-:**

Ryznar, Janssen, Brown, and Clemmenson are back on the roster.


No Suglobov :(

Suglobov is in Winnipeg for the AHL All-Star game.

Yea, I'm hoping they play well too. I believe we're playing the two best teams in hockey. I'll be satisfied with two points out of the next two games. Anymore, would be a pleasant surprise.

Yea, I'm hoping they play well too. I believe we're playing the two best teams in hockey. I'll be satisfied with two points out of the next two games. Anymore, would be a pleasant surprise.


The Devils will play their ***** off, the team is well rested and the D is 100% better than in 05.

Look for Mativchuk play to be stronger as the season goes by. I'll admit, he looked lost in the 1st. half, the guy has been nothing but solid and looks better by the game.

Remember, they are 10-2-1 in the New Year.

Look for Mativchuk play to be stronger as the season goes by. I'll admit, he looked lost in the 1st. half, the guy has been nothing but solid and looks better by the game.

Here's the deal on Matvichuk.
He has improved positionally 100-fold. When he's with the guy he's defending, he's very very good.
When the forward blows by him ... he's totally schooled. Totally embarrassing. Luckily the good positioning prevents that from happening as much as it did earlier in the season.
Also he's been more cautious with his clears, which is good because they insist on putting him on the PK and that week where he made us 5-on-3 two games in a row sucked eggs.

Here's the deal on Matvichuk.
He has improved positionally 100-fold. When he's with the guy he's defending, he's very very good.
When the forward blows by him ... he's totally schooled. Totally embarrassing. Luckily the good positioning prevents that from happening as much as it did earlier in the season.
Also he's been more cautious with his clears, which is good because they insist on putting him on the PK and that week where he made us 5-on-3 two games in a row sucked eggs.


Good Observation. He definately didn't benefit from a year off. With that being said, I believe he's one of the few on the D with a plus rating. Not bad considering where they started.
Wheels are something the man doesn't have. To me @ 1.75/year for another 4 years and the leadership/experience he brings via Dallas is extremely valuable. At 32, he's seen alot of playoff hockey/games.

I agree. Despite his name starting with the letter 'M', Matvichuk was a good signing.

The Devils will play their ***** off, the team is well rested and the D is 100% better than in 05.

Look for Mativchuk play to be stronger as the season goes by. I'll admit, he looked lost in the 1st. half, the guy has been nothing but solid and looks better by the game.

Remember, they are 10-2-1 in the New Year.

I also remember the last two games down in Florida. I understand that the so-called tank was on empty, but they were pretty horrible regardless. However, they're well rested now, so let's see how we compete against the two NHL super-powers. And I envy your optimism.

I hate playing good teams who have come off an embarrassing game like that, it always seems the next game they bring their "A" game.
That worries me too. Then again, we're coming off a fairly embarrassing loss as well, and have had plenty of rest.

I'm not going to be able to listen to the game tonight (stupid class :madfire: ), but hopefully I'll come back from it to some good news.

The Devils will play their ***** off, the team is well rested and the D is 100% better than in 05.

Look for Mativchuk play to be stronger as the season goes by. I'll admit, he looked lost in the 1st. half, the guy has been nothing but solid and looks better by the game.

Remember, they are 10-2-1 in the New Year.

I certainly hope so. You are right about Matvichuk, he is playing a lot more like the guy Lou signed before the lockout rather than the Wade Belak we saw in the first few months of the season. Ditto Colin White.

Stupid class will make me miss this game, so I hope when I return I see NJ on the winning side of things.

Last time NJ played Ottawa it was a 5-4 loss on November 19. Devils were pre-Elias and pre-consistently good then and kept it close with the Sens. A win tonight is not out of the question for the new and improved NJ Devils.

ASIDE: Congratulations to Martin Brodeur for being YOUR NHL Defensive Player of the Month of January 2006.

I hate playing good teams who have come off an embarrassing game like that, it always seems the next game they bring their "A" game.

That is my worry about tonight too. Especially a good team like the Senators. These next couple of games are going to be really tough, and hopefully these 4 days of rest gave the troops some time to recharge the batteries, especially Elias. I've got the VCR set for the game tonight and will hopefully come home after work to watch a Devils win! :D

Last time NJ played Ottawa it was a 5-4 loss on November 19. Devils were pre-Elias and pre-consistently good then and kept it close with the Sens. A win tonight is not out of the question for the new and improved NJ Devils.

Unfortunately Emery isn't in goal again as the Hasek-Brodeur duel returns to it's former glory. Hopefully Marty's knee isn't barking.

I really think that the last Ottawa game was the turning point for Brodeur this season. Ever since that game (maybe even that game, I didn't get to see it because of class) he has been putting up excellent numbers. Even though he didn't win much in December, none of the games (sans the new years eve game and maybe the Calgary game) were blowouts and he always kept the struggling team close.

C'mon boys time to start February the same way you started January.

z par 1-0 devs woohoo :yo:

3-0 *****es...

This is long overdue.

3-0 devs...this is a-***-mazing...wonder if the Sens will stick with their much vaunted line changes for this game.

listening to the Sens radio feed...they're talking about the Devs 80% of the time and only menbtioning the Sens to rag on them, Hasek excepted...and that was BEFORE the 2nd and 3rd rapid-fire goals.

keep it going Devs!...long way to go in this one, ram it home!

holy mackarel! 3-0!!! HOLD THE LEAD!!!

woh 3-0 that was unexpected!

****.

wow..the crowd in that building is seriously pathetic tonight. How could there be so many empty seats..and they are playing a first place team! No way there is more than 5000 people there. Such a shame to have a good team like that play there

Damn! 3-1. Don't let the lead slip away!

Damn! 3-1. Don't let the lead slip away!

and so it begins...

No LET DOWNS!

the Sens goal was flukey 4th line effort...the Devs sound pretty switched on, and the Sens, well, just the opposite...I don't think we'll forfeit the lead that easily this time...the Sens might be coming off a spanking, but don't forget so are we...twin SO's against no less...we've got plenty to play for in this one.

****!

Nice goal.

Heater deserved one tonight, they tried to rattle him, and he gets busy

wow..the crowd in that building is seriously pathetic tonight. How could there be so many empty seats..and they are playing a first place team! No way there is more than 5000 people there. Such a shame to have a good team like that play there
Yeah, no kidding. Plus, tonight's game the $52 seats were selling for $23. :shakehead :shakehead :shakehead :shakehead :shakehead

Wow McGrattan is real tough. He starts punching our enforcer, ELIAS?!? :shakehead What a punk.

4-minute PP for the Devs...gotta capitalize here and double the lead.

EDIT: SARGE!!!...4-2 Devs!!

Wow McGrattan is real tough. He starts punching our enforcer, ELIAS?!? :shakehead What a punk.

what happened exactly? did we have any tough guys on the ice?

Wow McGrattan is real tough. He starts punching our enforcer, ELIAS?!? :shakehead What a punk.

yeah...I hope Cam Janssen gets a few well-timed shifts in the 3rd...maybe he can jump Spezza :eek:

what happened exactly? did we have any tough guys on the ice?

from the sound of it, White was our only rough-nut on the ice, and he had his hands full with Chara...McGrattan apparently gave Elias one to the head as they paired off...what goes around...

how about that second line tonight so far. i like parise and brylin a lot. but i'm still not convinced with marshall even though he can hit and has a good physical presence.

Elias actually threw one first.

I'm not sure what he was thinking.

Its been a pretty good game between your guys and the Sens.Good physical play and intensity.Sure beats the snoozers the leafs have played this season.Hopefully the 3rd is just as good.

How much time has Janssen played tonight?

Janssen played 1:33.

not enough

How much time has Janssen played tonight?
1 minute 33 seconds.

Haaaaaaaseeeeeek! Haaaaaaaaseeeek!

horrible officiating 2nite for both teams. :(

Brylin and Parise have been playing terrific tonight. So has Pando and Madden... actually with the exception of Kozlov, Janssen (who don't get any icetime) the whole team has been playing great.

Parise, Brylin and Marshall all score goals, which is bad news for Kozlov. I guess Viktor can rest up and mentally prepare for the next shoot-out. :propeller

Good to see White and whoever the other one was, couldnt tell, stick up for Elias towards the end too. I saw Lou go over and give them a tap for that. "wolf-pack" mentally as Pierre McGuire said, that's what they need.

good win tonight!!

a;ldfkja;weifnasdvn Devils freakin' win! Yowzers!

Devils win! Awesome game, I really wish I could have seen it. What's even better is that we scored 5 goals (on Ottawa!), and the EGG line didn't score any of them. Nice to see our secondary scoring pick it up. Hopefully we'll keep this up for Stevens night :handclap:

talk about versatility...seems the EGG line decided to play a sparkplug/enforcer type role tonight while they left the scoring duties to everyone else...hey as long as everyone pitches in i suppose :)

terrific win fellas and way to get back on track.

Good to see White and whoever the other one was, couldnt tell, stick up for Elias towards the end too. I saw Lou go over and give them a tap for that. "wolf-pack" mentally as Pierre McGuire said, that's what they need.

It was Gomez who is always quick to stick up for his linemates when things get rough. Got to love how much both these teams loath each other, it should get really chippy when Ottawa comes back to NJ in March. Maybe Gio and Chara will finally both drop the gloves and settle up. :toothless

Very impressive game by the Devils. Great job of back-checking by the forwards, except for Kozlov who we really need to move. Great job by Sarge and Parise tonight. Should be a good one on Friday.

A 5-3 win over one of the elite teams in the league? AWESOME. Don't matter how, it's still AWESOME.

Excellent job, Devils; wish I could see this one. Fortunately, I'll get to see the next game

IT BETTER BE a PACKED GAME!!!!

IT BETTER BE a PACKED GAME!!!!

When I went on TicketMaster, I tried searching for 2, 3, and 4 available tickets just for kicks. TicketMaster found NOTHING. I could only purchase a single ticket, so from that, one could guess that there will be a sell-out. I could care less, though, as I will see #4 raised to the rafters LIVE!

Has there ever been a sellout in the regular season?

I know there've been a bunch of Flyers-Devils games in the past that were sold out.

ill be there as well! coming home from school for that baby

Great win tonight at the Continental Library. Special teams was the difference, 0-4 on the PP for Ottawa who has the best PP in hockey and the Devils went 2-6. 3 socreless games now for the EGG line but it is nice to see us put up 5 goals against an elite team without havingto rely solely on one line.

nice win. Jumped on them early. Marty was real big after it was 5-3 keeping it right there. Nice to see 5 goals, despite none from the EGG line. How much does Marshall hustle? man that guy gives everything he has every game! He's really becoming an important cog in the offense, especially parking in front of the net on PP's, and how about that feed to sarge for the 4th goal. I'm getting my lungs ready for the Captain's night Friday!!!

I actually didn't think Kozlov's backchecking was THAT bad tonight. The first goal was hard to defend legally (he could have taken Vermette down for an interference call) and that was very very poor rebound control by Marty, a little gaffe in this game, no big deal. I think he got a raw deal from people who complain about that play. Then on the third goal, it was either a real crappy line change or the RW got too overzealous in attacking the puck, the whole LW for the Senators was wide open. Then you throw in the so-so coverage by the defenseman on the localized 2 on 1 and you have Eaves coming in on a partial breakaway really. Kozlov nearly got there to block his shot too.

If there is anything that I'd like to complain about with Kozlov its not his backchecking, its his giveaways. There were a couple of times he gave the puck up easily while going back towards the blueline in the offensive zone that started pretty good Sens rushes. It looks like he's trying to do too much stickhandling lately and right now it isn't working (when it is he looks like a god though).

I think we can chalk the last couple months to the famous "Kozlov inconsistency." Hopefully he can regain some of his fire in the Olympics, and I hope he doesn't do too much s-talking about Lou to the rest of the Russians, because after this season I'm sure that topic will come up among the Russian national team.

This was a very good win. Going against one of the league's best. I didnt like the whole roughing up of Elias in the end. There wasnt much time left but next game it should be taken care of. No one puts there hands on him. Janssen sure would take care of it.

I think the madden line did an excellent job shutting down ottawa especially first period. ottawa came back strong 2nd but it wasnt their day with the madden line or our defence. great chemistry between brylin/parise. I think this was a good feel game for the whole entire team. i think everyone played well but there were few breakdowns here and there.

Brodeur was awesome in net as always. He made the key saves.

Yeah, no kidding. Plus, tonight's game the $52 seats were selling for $23. :shakehead :shakehead :shakehead :shakehead :shakehead


Where you at the game? If not, why not.

I also remember the last two games down in Florida. I understand that the so-called tank was on empty, but they were pretty horrible regardless. However, they're well rested now, so let's see how we compete against the two NHL super-powers. And I envy your optimism.


There is no shame in going into the Champions house, taking them to OT, and taking a point. Florida was empty tank situation. Back to Back road games at the end of a loaded schedule. Nice to see the boys beat one of the Elite teams in the Conference. I love the team coming together at the end to stick for Elias. White and Mativchuk are warriors, these are our boys that will carry us deep. The fact we got scoring from every source but the EGG line is a great development.

I hard to not to be optimistic as this season is learning curve and most pundits and fans of other teams have written us off. The Devils D has lost two of the best Dman and still are playing formidable D. They're playing so well, while I love to see another D man and another center, this team is 11-2-1 in '06. I'm loving Devils hockey.

BTW

MARTY'S BETTER

Well said "josetheodore".....agree completely...


WOW..DEVILS WIN!!!!! Thought they would lose this one...tells everyone what kind of team this is!


Ottawa are punks...tough team, successful, play hard...but I don't like their style.

Right on !!

5 goals and none by the egg line. That was great to see!

Did anyone notice in the second period when they were roughing up Elias and Gio in the corner...somehow cam jannsen got on the ice. Did he like change or something when the fighting started? all of a sudden he was on camera but gomer, gio and patty were still out there and I was trying to figure out what happened.

5 goals and none by the egg line. That was great to see!

Did anyone notice in the second period when they were roughing up Elias and Gio in the corner...somehow cam jannsen got on the ice. Did he like change or something when the fighting started? all of a sudden he was on camera but gomer, gio and patty were still out there and I was trying to figure out what happened.

I Loved watching Patty mix it up, and at the end when Lou had him out there and he hooked the Senator, that was great. "Cracker" charged the Senator, at the end you could tell Lou was fired up and so were the Devils. This is the kind of emotion I wish they showed in the begining of the season. They got cute with Marty too many times. All the Devils filed the naughty Sens in a stack for another game/day.

If the next Ottawa/NJ game gets out of hand or the seeds are all settled, the Devils have alot of "get backs" to dish out. Watching Chara the giant tossing around Gionta wasn't cool. However a win is better and giving out IOU's can wait till later, this is turning into quite a rivalry.

BTW "Overrated" Brodeur beat "All Time" Greatest Hasek. I wonder if the board is in a frenzy about that one.

OT

Is it me or are the Rangers making not nicey with alot of the teams in the league. Its one thing to beat a team but some of the stunts pulled by Renney and the Rangers are making there players prime targets. Look forward to seeing my theory proven down the stertch.

Was able to watch this one on TSN. Excellent game, and clearly they had much more jump than they did against Florida. They got on Ottawa early and didn't let up. A few lucky bounces and Sens defensive miscues (Chara and Redden on the same halfwall during the Rasmussen goal) didn't hurt, but they really did work for it tonight. A well-earned two points!

Bah. Missed the game because I got my friends free tickets to watch Sharks/Ducks in Anaheim. At least they showed highlights at the game.

There is no shame in going into the Champions house, taking them to OT, and taking a point. Florida was empty tank situation. Back to Back road games at the end of a loaded schedule. Nice to see the boys beat one of the Elite teams in the Conference. I love the team coming together at the end to stick for Elias. White and Mativchuk are warriors, these are our boys that will carry us deep. The fact we got scoring from every source but the EGG line is a great development.

I hard to not to be optimistic as this season is learning curve and most pundits and fans of other teams have written us off. The Devils D has lost two of the best Dman and still are playing formidable D. They're playing so well, while I love to see another D man and another center, this team is 11-2-1 in '06. I'm loving Devils hockey.

BTW

MARTY'S BETTER

Although, I do not agree with you regarding the Tampa game, because they were terrible with the exception of Marty who was incredible in that game, I agree with everything else you mentioned. And I am more optimistic about the Devils after last night's win, because it showed that they were probably drained in those last two road games in Florida. And I have a good feeling about Friday night's game.

Although, I do not agree with you regarding the Tampa game, because they were terrible with the exception of Marty who was incredible in that game, I agree with everything else you mentioned. And I am more optimistic about the Devils after last night's win, because it showed that they were probably drained in those last two road games in Florida. And I have a good feeling about Friday night's game.
Me too, I think the EGG is going to have a HUGE game, they are due for one.

Although, I do not agree with you regarding the Tampa game, because they were terrible with the exception of Marty who was incredible in that game, I agree with everything else you mentioned. And I am more optimistic about the Devils after last night's win, because it showed that they were probably drained in those last two road games in Florida. And I have a good feeling about Friday night's game.

I was at both the games in Florida, and yeah, they looked beat.

The first game, well, Tampa had been slaughtered by us 8-2 in the previous meeting so they came out Bolts a-blazing and everyone did everything they could to withstand it. It was all about defense and Marty was amazing.

The Florida game, they had three PPs in the first period, and if they had gotten anything on them, tired or not, they could have made a game of it.

It was a very disappointing trip, esp. after racking up 13 goals in the November games. And I understand it all, you just wish tiredness wouldn't so completely inhabit an entire team. There are a lot of games in close quarters for a lot of teams, you have to be able to win some of those ... or at least show up for them. The Florida game was the worst effort of the year.

The Ottawa game was one of the best.

And Hasek still deserves a poor sportsmanship/delay of game for his hissy water bottle throwing fit.