Devils grab wins at home and the road

The New Jersey Devils won both their games since my last post.
Last night the Devils went into Philadelphia and smacked the Flyers 7-3 in a dominant offensive performance that was led by Johnny Oduya (?) and his goal and three assists.
The Devils sent Flyer goalie Antero Niittymaki reeling from the contest after beating him five times and then added two more against Martin Biron in relief.
The Devils scored 5 times on the power play in tying the team record for power play goals in a game.
Oduya's second goal of the year led the Devils scoring night off on the power play and the first five New Jersey goal would all be on the man advantage.
Jamie Langenbrunner's 7th and Dainius Zubrus' 8th goals of the season ended the first with a 3-2 Jersey lead.
The Devils moved the lead to 5-2 at the end of 2 periods with the final PP goals from Patrik Elias (11) and Zach Parise (17) before finishing with two even strength goals in the final period from the same two players.
Parise scored his 18th and Elias ended the night with his 12th.
But,it would not be Philly without some thuggery as thug in training Steve Downie cut David Clarkson's eye in their fight that Clarkson dominated by clawing Clarkson like a girl!
Great effort by the Devils in cooling off the red hot Flyers,who had came into the contest having not lost a regulation game in their last 8 games...

On Sunday,the Devils played an excellent two periods and looked to have a safe 3-0 lead against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
However,the Devils wobbled down the stretch like a damaged Weeble and barely hung on for a 3-2 win over the Leafs.
John Madden returned from his cut ankle and scored two goals (13 and 14) to make the difference.
Travis Zajac scored the Devils first goal of the game with his 11th of the year.
I would have liked to have seen a great effort in the third to close the show,but instead got a effort that left much to be desired and as a result allowed the Leafs to get back into the game.
The Devils return on Thursday with their final game before the All-Star break against the Montreal Canadiens at the Rock.

Bullpen Notes

Great article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the new Pirate management's ideas on scouting and the minors.
Seems like they are saying the right things or they read our Pirates GM series from last year!

Super Middleweight champ Joe Calzaghe will be moving up to 175 pounds to battle kingpin Bernard Hopkins on April 19th in Las Vegas.
Calzaghe seems to have the style for Hopkins as he has a high workrate that will make it difficult for Hopkins to get off any counterpunches..

Art Silber claims that he has a deal to have his Potomac Nationals a new stadium ready to open for 2009.
This seems a bit optimistic,but just in case,maybe a day trip to the current stadium might be in order for this season...

On the signing front-
Just one mail sig,but it is a big one-Hall of Famer Gilbert Perrault! Now we just need to add Rick Martin and Rene Robert to complete the French Connection line.

Photo Credits
Parise-Rusty Kennedy-AP
Madden-Chris Trotman-Getty Images