Saturday, December 17, 2011

Parise's four points give Devils win over Dallas

The Zach Parise roll continues with a goal (11) and three assists as the New Jersey Devils battled back from some early struggles to defeat the Dallas Stars 6-3 at the Rock.
Six different Devils scored on Scott Niedermayer night to balance out the scoring-Patrik Elias (11),David Clarkson (10),Ilya Kovalchuk (10),Adam Henrique (8 shorthanded) and Petr Sykora (7).
Johan Hedberg made 33 saves in picking up the win in net.
The Devils win was their third in a row and fifth in their last six outings.
New Jersey travels to Montreal tonight at seven....

Hell Raisers

1) The Scott Niedermayer ceremonies were very tastefully done as the Devils usually do these things very nicely.
Niedermayer is a humble guy and points to the team for bringing Doc Emrick back to do the master of ceremonies for the proceedings.
I hope they do the same foe the eventual Martin Brodeur retirement evening as well....

2) Travis Zajac returned from the Achilles injury that postponed his season start and played more than I expected,as well as playing solidly.
I don't expect Zajac to be at peak form right away,but his return will be a huge addition to the Devils.

3) Some speculation on a Zajac return to a line with Zach Parise-I am in no rush to see that as Parise seems to have terrific chemistry with Adam Henrique right now.
These things ebb and flow,so I am sure the reunion will happen eventually,but I am in no hurry as long as things stay at their current level.

4) Great play last night by Bryce Salvador,who dove into the crease to block a certain goal and batted the puck out instead of covering it up.
Had Salvador covered the puck,Dallas would have been handed a penalty shot.
A very heads up play by the veteran...

5) Zach Parise is playing like a man that has to have that contract extension,His four point game aside,his steal and transition pass to Adam Henrique for the shorthanded goal that tied the game was terrific.
Pardon the mild bias,but Parise will rate mention among the games best,if he keeps this pace up...

6) The Henrique goal gave the Devils the league lead in shorthanded goals scored and the unusual stat of league leading in shorties scored and allowed.

7) Anyone else surprised that approaching Christmas David Clarkson has the same amount of goals of Ilya Kovalchuk ?
That surprises me somewhat,but Clarkson's season does not-He has had this in him for a while,he just needed to realize the type of player that he has to play as....

8) Henrik Tallinder missed the game with back spasms.
No word on his status for tonight.

Photo Credits
Clarkson:Bruce Bennett Getty Images
Niedermayer:AP Photo

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