The New Jersey Devils slammed three goals home in the first period,chased Jason LaBarbera from the game and held on for the final two periods in a 5-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks on the Canadian west coast.
First period goals by Zach Parise (25),Brian Gionta (11) and Brian Rolston (8) gave the Devils a 3-0 lead that they would never relinquish and Travis Zajac's third period goal (12) moved the lead back to three goals at 4-1.
Vancouver scored two late goals to narrow the gap before Dainius Zubrus finished the game with an empty net goal (11).
The Devils are now off until Friday until they travel to Columbus.....
Hell Raisers
1) The Devils played (arguably) their best period of hockey of the season in the first period in Vancouver.
The Devils so dominated the first twenty minutes that the Canuck fans loudly cheered when the PA announcer made the one minute to play call.....
2) I was surprised that there were no scraps on the night.
The Canucks entered the game first in the league in fights,while the Devils rank in a tie for 6th..
3) Scott Clemmensen played very well in the first two periods,but gave up two pretty light goals in the third that allowed the Canucks to get back into the contest.
The latter of the two by Steve Bernier was especially weak...
4) Travis Zajac's third period goal was a product of a nice back and forth with Jamie Langenbrunner and was the most visually pleasing of the night...
5) This win gives the Devils a much improved chance of a winning trip as their next stop is in Columbus with the Blue Jackets missing their star sniper Rick Nash.
Bullpen Notes
Ohio State was able to keep one player that could have been lost as first team All-Big Ten safety Kurt Coleman announced that he will be returning to Columbus for his senior season.
A very nice building block that may not have been available for the Buckeye defense.
Somewhere,Captain Dave Littlefield is floating on air as the Pirates signed outfielder
Craig Monroe to a minor league deal.
Monroe hit .208 with the Twins last season and is noted for being a less than selective swinger.
Low cost,but low reward as well.
Long time readers will recall the Captains lusting for Monroe to the point of not finishing a trade that would have sent Jack Wilson to Detroit in 2007 and would have brought Jair Jurrjens to the Pirates in the trade.
Jurrjens spent last year with the Braves and won 13 games with an ERA well under 4.
The Bucs also signed catcher Miguel Perez as a minor league mitt for spring training as well.
The Cleveland Browns watched as the most sought after general manager candidate in the game accepted the position in Kansas City.
Scott Pioli is the new boss of the Chiefs.
Reportedly,Pioli preferred the Browns until the hiring of Eric Mangini before the GM slot was filled.
Browns fans will be carefully following the rebuilding process in Kansas City and comparing it to that of Cleveland.
Our friends over at Bag of health and politics sends us this note on the Brooklyn Cyclones changing their name for one night on June 23 to the "Baracklyn" Cyclones complete with red,white and blue uniforms and Obama bobblehead giveaway.
I am fine with the unis and giveaway,but "Baracklyn"?
Not very good.
Photo Credit
Parise/Zajac-AP Photo
No comments:
Post a Comment