Thursday, February 7, 2008

Devils battle back from 2 down,fall in shootout

The New Jersey Devils fought back from a two goal (and controversial) deficit to force overtime and add an unlikely point to the standings in Buffalo before losing the shootout in a 3-2 loss to the Sabres.
Buffalo led 1-0 at the end of a period and increased the lead to two on a controversial and long reviewed by the video groupies in Toronto.
The second period goal by Jason Pominville was clearly kicked by the Buffalo winger,but after a delay to review by Kris King and his minions was declared to be a legal goal.
Instances like this (and in the NFL) make me wonder why they even bother with replay.
That would prove to be a major part of the Sabres win,as the Devils began to start with a comeback
goal in the second by Karel Rachunek (3).
Rachunek's play has been picking up since his return from the IR with being a little more aggressive in the offensive zone and that is what New Jersey is looking for from the finesse' defender.
Mike Mottau connected with his 3rd goal of the season in the third period to knot the game at 2 and although the Devils could not break the tie,they were able to control play in the period.
After a scoreless overtime that saw Buffalo score with shots,both Zach Parise and Brian Gionta were both denied by Ryan Miller and the Devils returned home with 1 point instead of two.
I like the heart that the team has been showing by not quitting,but it would be nice if they didnt fall behind so much to show that heart!
The Devils will play back to back games on Friday and Saturday against the Ducks and Hurricanes at the Rock.

Devils Players of the game

Gold: Karel Rachunek-Goal,Picking up play in the offensive zone
Silver:Marty Brodeur-Should have won this one with a 1 goal night in regulation
Bronze: Vitaly Visnevski-Some hard hits made some Sabres hesitant to rush the net.

Bullpen Notes

Almost forgot to give a compliment to Versus from their coverage on the Devils game vs Pittsburgh on Monday.
I was all prepared to hammer them for their less than great announcing,so what do they do?
They get Doc Emrick for the evening,pair him with the underrrated Ed Olczyk and the very good Chris Simpson at ice level.
I hope to see more of this three person crew during the playoffs.

The Seattle Seahawks hired (as expected) Jim Mora Jr as the Hawks coach in waiting this season before taking over as the head man in 2009.
We aren't enamored of the former Falcons boss and like the coach in waiting tag even less,but there are worse hires out there-Denny Green anyone???

HBO has canceled "Inside the NFL" after 31 seasons on the premium cable network.
I used to be an every week viewer,but after adding Dan Marino (twit),Cris Carter (How bad are you when I cannot stand a Buckeye?) and Cris Collinsworth (Bad beyond belief), I rarely watched anymore.

Speaking of Inside the NFL,we visited the Hall of Fame one year and the show was filming there that day when Nick Buoniconti and Len Dawson were the hosts.
We saw Dawson walking around,but talked to Buoniconti for a bit and he signed a flyer for us.
Nick seemed to be a good guy and enjoy taking to fans........

Want to know why we have lost a lot of interest in college basketball from a former live and die with Maryland Basketball fan?
Listen to this quote from ESPN-
"Tonight on ESPN,Rivalry Week continues with Maryland vs Boston College".
The ACC has killed itself and I think "Bones" McKinney just rolled over in his grave.

Finally Battlin Bob sends us this link from Washington County and its commissioners on wanting to redistribute the hotel tax to the various towns in the county.
Yep,the same tax that was created to help the Suns build a new stadium is not getting to its intended source.
That is it-I am running!!

Photo Credits
Hockey-David Duprey-AP Photo

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