Hockey is back and so are the Devils in 2-1 win!

The New Jersey Devils know that points are at a premium in a shortened season,especially those earned in regulation time as the opponents will always be fellow Eastern Conference rivals battling the Devils for the playoff positions.
The Devils opened this sprint to the wire in the beautiful (snicker) Nassau Coliseum against the New York Islanders and the Devils responded with a 2-1 win over the homestanding Islanders.
Travis Zajac took a sharp pass from Ilya Kovalchuk on a three on one in the second period to score the first goal of the season.
The Islanders tied the game in the third with a power play goal,but a little over a minute later,David Clarkson beat Evgeni Nabokov for the game winner and the two points.
The Devils will host Philadelphia Tuesday....

Hell Raisers

1) The play was better than I thought it might be,but still was a little out of sync,which is to be expected.
Timing takes time,but the Devils seemed to have a pretty good corps of players that had been playing during the lockout,so perhaps they might be not too badly off...

2) The assist from Ilya Kovalchuk on the Travis Zajac goal was a mid-season goal.
Kovalchuk had been playing in the KHL and he looked very strong on that pass.
Kovalchuk played every second of the Devils power plays attempts,that there tells you that Kovalchuk is in shape...

3) Marty Brodeur was very good in the win as he made two huge saves in the third period on Matt Moulson and Travis Hamonic on point blank shots.
I thought Marty was far more than I could have expected as well...

4) The only Islander goal by Hamonic could not be hung on Brodeur as four Devils headed into the corner to chase the puck leaving Hamonic wide open.
Now that is the type of thing that is caused by a shortened training camp.

5) The game winner by David Clarkson was set up by a nice hustle play in the corner by Patrik Elias.
Elias dug the puck to Clarkson and then screened off Evgeni Nabokov to allow Clarkson a lane.

6) Mattias Tedenby had two nice scoring chances to score,but both went for naught.
Many people are down on Tedenby,but I'm not to that point yet.
Tedenby has never broken out as a scorer,but I still think that he has the potential to break out and maybe even this season..

7) Adam Larsson was scratched (to Rachel's dismay) and I'm not sure why.
It could be part of a defensive rotation to keep legs fresh,but if it is not that then Larsson would be better served to play at Albany....

Photo Credit:AP Photo