Shootout City! Devils roar from behind for win over Capitals!

At the end of the first period,things looked pretty dire for the New Jersey Devils.
The Devils had outshot and seemingly outplayed the Washington Capitals,but found themselves down 2 goals.
However,the Devils hung tough and Brian Rolston scored the second periods only goal (2) in keeping the game close.
New Jersey kept scrapping away and things broke their way in the third as David Clarkson slammed the puck past Jose Theodore (2) to tie the game and send the game to overtime.
Zach Parise and Jamie Langenbrunner each scored in the shootout and that left Alex Ovechkin against Marty Brodeur with the game on the line-the best scorer against the top netminder.
On this night,it belonged to Brodeur clinching a 3-2 win and a three game sweep of the road trip.
The Devils are off until Friday when they have a back to back homestand against Atlanta and Carolina.

Hell Raisers

1) Marty Brodeur didn't have a great first period,but grew stronger as the game went on.
Brodeur turned away several Washington scoring chances in the third period and his shootout work was tremendous.
The rust still may not be gone entirely,but Brodeur certainly played at peak form at times during the road trip.

2) David Clarkson continues to improve on the offensive end with the game tying goal.
You may get sick of hearing about Clarkson around the net from me,but the Devils haven't had a player that scores a bit,drops the gloves and does the dirty work since Randy McKay and Clarkson could be a superior offensive player than McKay.

3) Want a momentum swinger before the Clarkson goal?
How about the Devils killing off two penalties that includes 53 seconds on five on three play?
The Capitals usually dominate in that situation,but the Devils fought them off and that kept them in the game.
Give the penalty killers a lot of credit for this one!

4) Jose Theodore may have given up a softie in the shootout to Jamie Langenbrunner,but the goalie was the reason the game wasn't decided in OT as he slammed the door on two Zach Parise shots that should have ended the game then and there.

5) I didn't see much from Andrew Peters or from his linemates of Rod Pelley and Illka Pikkarainen either,but Peters is supposed to be a physical force and when he isn't,he is borderline useless.
Washington was begging for some physical play and the PEters line was supposed to give it to them and didn't.

Bonus Round;Give credit to both teams and goalies for a great game.
Early season games can be sluggish,but this one wasn't at all.

I am going to try to have some more stuff up over the next 24 hours on football,Melting pot and how I spent tonight in one of the best evenings that I have had in a while...

Photo Credits:Manuel Balce Ceneta-AP Photo