Devils win,Buckeyes wobble to a W.

The New Jersey Devils fired puck after puck at Marc-Andre Fleury and the Penguins.but the biscuit refused to go into the net for 57 minutes.
But Patrik Elias tied the game at 1 with his second goal of the year and Zach Parise's wrister from the left side beat Fleury with under a minute to go in the overtime for a 2-1 Devil win in Pittsburgh.

Shawn's Thoughts

1) The Devils outplayed the Pens all night and did so on effort.
Other than Tyler Kennedy (who seemed to be all over the place),the rest of the Penguins seemed to be on auto pilot.
The Devils just kept shooting and playing with grit and eventually good things happened.
New Jersey wanted it more,they deserved the win and they got it.

2) The Elias goal was very similar to the lone Islander goal Friday,as it kicked off Hal Gill's (He of the Long stick) skate and past Fleury.....

3) Miroslav Satan scored the only Pittsburgh goal and had the Penguins won,I would have had headline that I have had ready for years-Satan beats Devils.

4) Dainius Zubrus wiped Matt Cooke up (checking wise) throughout the game and showed just how effective he can be when his uses his physical tools instead of playing soft.
Hope this continues!

5) Colin White looked really good on defense and I thought Anssi Salmela was solid among a shutdown night by the Devils D-men.
Not sure how much it was the Devils or Pittsburgh travel lag,but no matter what,the deed was done.

Bonus Round
Two fights in the game,A close win for Mike Rupp over Eric Godard and a clear win for David Clarkson over Hal "long stick' Gill.
Nice to see that aggressiveness!!!

The Ohio State Buckeyes parlayed a blocked punt for their only touchdown of the day to go with three field goals in a dull 16-3 win over Purdue.
Malcolm Jenkins made the rejection and freshman Etienne Sabino scooped the ball up for a 20 yard return TD.

Shawn's Thoughts

1) The defense was solid and stiffened against any threat,but will be tested in the next two weeks by former Ohio prep star Javon Ringer and Michigan State next Saturday and Penn State the week after.
Penn State looked very impressive in mauling Wisconsin in Madison right after OSU struggled to a win in the same stadium...

2) The offense? Not very good.
Even Pam Ward can start to see the eight and nine man in the box schemes to stop Chris Wells and Terrelle Pryor on the ground and Purdue used this very effectively.
Pryor still needs to prove that he can hit his receivers in stride for big gainers.
Twice yesterday,Brian Robiskie was open for sure TD's and Pryor overthrew him.
Only when the pass is an option,will the run defenses relax against OSU.

3) Purdue came in last in the league in defense and you cannot score a TD?
If OSU is truly committed to Pryor then they need to cut the cord and let him run the true offense-not a watered down version of "Make something happen".

4) Ryan Pretorius kicked two shorter field goals and Aaron Pettrey nailed the 40+ yard FG.
Maybe this is the method that should be used from now on as Pretorius has been spotty at best beyond 35 yards...

5) Two undefeated teams in the next two weeks.
Michigan State in East Lansing and Penn State at home.
These two games decide whether the Rose Bowl or the Outback Bowl is a travel destination.....

Bonus Round
This link explains the ABC broadcast problems that left me without the game for the first ten minutes of game time and missed the only OSU touchdown.
And yes,we talked to BOTH ABC and Direct TV about it.
Direct Tv has customer service second to none-I cannot recommend them more!

The Seattle Seahawks host the Green Bay Packers and Matt Hasselbeck will not play.
Former Brown Charlie Frye mans the helm for Seattle.
Looks like a lot of Julius Jones and Mo Morris and clock eating,if Mike Holmgren is smart.

Our Prediction
Packers 32-16

One and one on last nights fights.
We correctly saw underdog Chad Dawson's unanimous win over Antonio Tarver,but were off on Vitaly Klitschko's stoppage of Samuel Peter for the WBC Heavyweight title when Peter quit in his corner after the eighth.
Peter refused to fire his power right hand throughout the fight and was basically a jab eater for the dull contest.
Peter didn't win a round,but he wasn't beat up bad enough to meekly surrender either.
This will hurt any future marketablity for the Nigerian Bomber.

Until tomorrow.

Photo Credits
Parise:Gene Puskar-AP Photo
Punt block:Eric Albrecht-Columbus Dispatch
Helmets;Helmet Project
Jab Eater:Herbert Knosowski-Ap Photo