Toronto Leaves town with 6-5 shootout win

The New Jersey Devils scored five goals.
It was not enough as the Toronto Maple Leafs saw the Devils five and raised them one in the shootout in a 6-5 win for Toronto and a third straight loss for the Devils.
Devils goals to Zach Parise (7), David Clarkson (2), Jamie Langenbrunner (2), Dainius Zubrus (2) and Colin White (1).......

Shawn's Thoughts

1) I liked what I saw from Andy Greene tonight. Three assists and plus three for the backliner in the game and Greene seems to be showing the form from the end of the 06-07 season that had me so excited going into last season and then so disappointed with his play.....

2) Mike Mottau had two assists also, but other than his possible exception-the defense was awful.
48 shots against the New Jersey Devils?!
Unacceptable!
Far too many Leafs around the net with impunity and that was the difference in this game....

3) Lou Lamoriello and Brent Sutter cannot be pleased with the lack of physical play from the defense.
Except for Bryce Salvador, it seems like no one is clearing the crease.
I know that is not really the style of play of Paul Martin, Mottau, Greene and especially Johnny Oduya, but Colin White seems somewhat gun shy since his eye injury and physical play was always his calling card.
I have wanted the Devils to add an offensive defenseman since the loss of Scott Niedermayer, but a bruiser to sweep the crease clean for Marty Brodeur could be a larger need.

4) Patrik Elias missed some of the game after being hit in the face with the puck.
Elias was x-rayed for a possible broken jaw, but the results were negative and he was allowed to return.

5) Jamie Langenbrunner returned after not being expected to play and scored a goal.
However, one could still see that he was not up to par and was not 100 %.
Kudos to the Captain for toughing it out....

Bonus Rounds

Matt Halischuk played in the game and assisted on the Colin White goal, while the other call up Nicklas Bergfors was a healthy scratch.
I am not sure why, but I get the feeling that Brent Sutter is not a Bergfors booster...

Petr Vrana was initially given the goal in the first period that was changed and credited to David Clarkson.
Speaking of Clarkson, he decisively beat up Jamal Mayers in the contest, but his bout was tame compared to the beating that Mike Rupp gave Ryan Hollweg.
Check the pic at the top of the post at the battered Hollweg...

I do like David Clarkson a lot, but no one on this team crashes the net like Zach Parise does.
Parise goes after the puck like no one else on the team and gets the results to show for it.
His teammates need to take a look at his game and learn some things!

The Devils are off until Saturday when they host the Atlanta Thrashers.....


Bullpen Notes

They are back and I know you missed them!

Battlin Bob has thrown his hat into the political ring!
A supporter of children at large (and no that does not mean he is paying a lot of child support)
Mike McKain is making himself a late entrant in the race of Board of Education.
If you live in Washington County, be sure to write in Mike McKain for Board of Education.
Think of the fun that the public access coverage would be!!!!!

The Washington Huskies canned Tyrone Willingham after an unsuccessful four year run in Seattle.
Willingham will land on his feet, he always does.
For some reason, people hire this guy.
Maybe it is his membership in the Bill Walsh Posse', but here is a guy that has failed at three major college programs and came within eyelashes of getting pro jobs without ever being a coordinator.
All of that and he will still be someone's head coach next year. Unreal.

Your Pittsburgh Pirates (because who else would want them) dropped four pitchers from the 40 man roster and assigned them to AAA Indianapolis.
Battlin Bob's favorite John Van Benschoten joins Marino Salas, Ronald Belisario, and Yoslan (Yoslan? More like Slowslan) Herrera.
Belisario was a Neal Huntington favorite with his power arm but suffered from lower velocity than expected at Altoona and his control improved only marginally.
The other three?
You guys didn't read many of last years posts, did you?????

Eric Krebs has been shut down in Hawaii with a bad elbow.
Too bad for Eric, but the good news is that he is expected to be ready to go for Spring Training.
I do hope that the doctors that examined Eric aren't the same dum dum's that have said other Pirates were ready to go and were injured or miss broken ribs entirely like they did with former Pirate farmhand Clayton Hamilton.

If you ever question the money that is spent on sports arenas/stadium, take a look at the Pyramid in Memphis.
Besides being the 6th largest pyramid in the world and soon to possibly be the world largest Bass Pro Shop, it stands as a reminder that pro sports will always want more money from your town and that new and state of the art lasts about a month.

The Bowling Green entry in the South Atlantic League has a nickname finally.
The Bowling Green Hot Rods (no, really) enter the SAL for one season before bolting for the Midwest League and the colors are (No kidding). Tailpipe Silver, Racing Yellow, Fire Red, and Tire Black.
Who in the hell comes up with this stuff and a better question is this-Where can the Battler and I get jobs like theirs?????
My Lord!!!

Special Delivery Jones passed away a few days ago at the age of 64.
To fans 35 and up that remember the WWF as the local promotion instead of the bloated behemoth that it is today, Jones had a special spot.
Jones was one of the "Tough jobbers" for the WWF in the late '70s and early '80s.
For those of you that aren't huge wrestling fans, back then television wrestling was a different beast.
Most matches were basically one-sided to enhance the winner to the viewers so that then they might pay to see the top stars face each other at their local arena.
Jones was used as a grappler that lost to the top stars of TV, but always gave them a run for their money and therefore was looked at as a level higher than the usual guy that lost on television.
Jones was most noted for his offensive moves that Vince McMahon seemed to get great joy out of calling as Jones would land a few punches or whip a Don Muraco into the turnbuckle.
It doesn't seem right that Special Delivery Jones should have been 64 and gone.
Time gets us all in the end.




Photo Credits
Hockey:Bruce Bennett-Getty Images
Pyramid:Angel Franco-New York Times