The Devils have won their first five road games of the season for the first time in franchise history.
The 4-2 win at Madison Square Garden was paced by two goals from Zach
Parise (4 and 5) with Nicklas Bergfors and Danius Zubrus each scoring their first goals of the season.The Devils 4-1 win last night in Pittsburgh was led by goals from Zach Parise (6),Travis Zajac (5),Nicklas Bergfors (2 Powerplay) and Mark Fraser (1).
The Devils return to the ice on Wednesday against Buffalo for the first of three games in four days...
Hell Raisers
1) Both wins were well played,but the Pittsburgh win was the best game that the team has played all season.
A complete domination of the high powered Penguins from beginning to end and the biggest stat to me was this one-2 shots COMBINED from Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
You do that to Pittsburgh and your chances improve greatly.
2) Bad news from the game though-cheap shots from the frustrated Penguins might have cost the Devils two key contributors.
Mike Rupp came flying into Jay Pandolfo well after the puck was gone and slammed him into the boards.
To quote Sam Wyche-that is a penalty.
Bill Guerin slashed Paul Martin and appears to have broken his arm.
Martin is the teams best defenseman and plays the most minutes of any player on the team and would be a huge loss.
3) Nicklas Bergfors lived up to our praise from the last post by scoring a goal in each of the victories.
The Ranger goal was very pretty as he flew down the ice and deftly flicked David Clarkson's pass by Henrik Lundquist while the Penguin goal was a result of hard work as he shot the puck,went around the net and slammed the rebound behind Marc-Andre Fleury.
I really like what I have seen from Bergfors and after waiting for what seemed to be quite a while,Bergfors appears to have been worth the wait.
4) Mark Fraser played against Pittsburgh in his first game action after injuring his head in pre-season and scored the games first goal.
The goal wasn't just a surprise,but the larger shock was that Fraser wasn't sent to Lowell.
I figured he would be assigned there when he was ready to return.
No word on his sticking around with the injury to Paul Martin or whether the return of Cory Murphy will happen instead.
5) Bryce Salvador played very well in both games and adds the physical presence that the Devils need all too often.
Salvador banged around Evgeni Malkin all night in being the key in the Russian's slow night.
6) The Devils were terrific for the first period against the Rangers,not so swift in the second and played the third on even terms before Dainius Zubrus chipped a Zach Parise shot into the net for the game winner.
7) Mike Mottau was scratched against Pittsburgh and made some of many brain dead mistakes in front of the Devils net against the Rangers (He was not the only one though),but his first period stand against Sean Avery in a surprisingly good scrap showed Avery that this team isn't taking his crap this season and set the tone for the night.
Avery must have thought Mottau was an easy mark as he actually dropped the gloves and banged away.
8) Travis Zajac continues to impress with solid play and his best season start ever.
Even with line tinkering from Jacques LeMaire,Zajac continues to play well no matter his linemates...
9) Patrik Elias looks to be returning to practice sometime this coming week and that means the Devils lineup should be bolstered by his return sometime in early November.
The Devils offense could be as strong as ever if Elias can get up to speed quickly and they made need it with the loss of Paul Martin...
Back tomorrow with looks at the Ohio State win and the Browns humiliation against Green Bay.
Photo Credits
Fraser:Joe Sargent-Getty Images
Zubrus;Frank Franklin II-AP Photo
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