Roller Coaster Ride

For 42 minutes,the New Jersey Devils had went into Boston and controlled the top team in the Eastern Conference and looked to be on their way to an impressive win.
However,as often happens,complacency set in and after Scott Clemmensen got lazy and his lack of hustle gave Boston their first goal,the roof began to fall in.....

Two more goals and just eleven minutes later,the 2-0 lead had disappeared and the Bruins looked to be set to deal the Devils a devastating loss until Patrik Elias struck back against the rampaging horde with the tying goal (22) with just 1:45 remaining.
At this point,I am figuring that at least they will get a point from the visit and they deserved at least that after their excellent play in the first two stanzas,but the Devils grabbed the win when Jamie Langenbrunner scored his second goal of the night (11 and 12) when he was the third person to touch the puck and put it past Tim Thomas for a 4-3 overtime win!
Zach Parise's second period power play goal (29) in the second period was the other Devil goal.
New Jersey finished off their brutal January tonight in Pittsburgh.

Editors note:The game actually is a home game....

Hell Raisers

1) Great night for the Devils special teams as the first period goal by Langenbrunner was shorthanded and the Parise power play goal as well.
Both goals were the kind of goals that the Devils should specialize in,goals that deflect,rattle and do anything to get into the net.
Parise's goal resembled some of the goals against the Senators such as the bounce of the goalies back and in.

2) Second game in a row with two goals for Jamie Langenbrunner,could he finally be revving his game up as the playoff run looms???

3) The goal that gave the Bruins the lead was on a power play that should have never occurred.
Mike Rupp was called for a very bad holding call that set that up and it would have been unfortunate for that to have decided the game....

4) That said,Scott Clemmensen was simply the victim of his own laziness on the first goal tha started the Boston comeback.
Clemmensen strolled to the back of net and barely grazed the puck before being less than hasty in getting back to the net as Chuck Kobasew shoved the miscue into the twine.
Just goes to show that,it only take one flake to start the snowball rolling.

5) More kudos to the Parise/Zajac/Langenbrunner line.
They were easily the Devil line on the evening and arguably the best period,although the Bruin line of Phil Kessel/Marc Savard/Milan Lucic might argue....

Bonus Rounds

Watched the game on NESN off the Bruins feed and came away quite impressed with their coverage.
Andy Brickley is terrific as a color analyst,Mike Milbury is far from the inept fool in the studio that he was as the Islanders GM and I have stated in the past about how much I like
Kathryn Tappen,but please find a new play by play man!
ESPN reject Jack Edwards almost ruined the game by himself and the NESN broadcasts would be close to perfect with a new voice of the Bruins!

Another solid night for Bryce Salvador and the veteran even banged out a fight early against Shawn Thornton that I thought established the Devils as being loaded for bear (pun intended) on this night!


Fourth game in a row that Jay Pandolfo has been scratched,all since the arrival of Brendan Shanahan.
Could Pando be the player that gets moved at the trading deadline????


Bullpen Notes

The Pirates did ink Eric Hinske to a one year deal today for 1.5 million and the deal also has bonuses that could earn Hinske another million if he hit all of his incentives.
Hinske hit 20 homers in Tampa last year,which makes him a huge power source on this team!
Good move,not that I think Hinske is great,but is a bargain at the price and even more so,if he beats out Nyjer Morgan in left field...

Ohio State needed a quarterback for the recruiting class of 2009 after Tajh Boyd chose Clemson over OSU and after jumping in late on homegrown product Austin Boucher and being turned down by him (And good for Boucher for sticking with his original commitment),the Bucks suddenly wound up with Houston Texas QB Ken Guiton.
Still working on finding more on Guiton,but Ohio State needed to sign a quarterback for this class badly!!!

Until tomorrow!

Photo Credits
Langenbrunner:AP Photo
Tappen:NESN