The New Jersey Devils play improved at the Rock vs Vancouver,but their lousy performances in the shootout continued as the Canucks Mike Santorelli scored the only goal in the shootout as the Devils fell 3-2.Patrik Elias (3) and Eric Gelinas (1 power play) each provided the New Jersey goals.
The Devils battle Boston on Saturday.
No promises on coverage as that has boxing,Ohio State-Penn State and work against it,so it could be what loses out...
Hell Raisers
1) Some positive things from a frankly less than scintillating contest.
Eric Gelinas was promoted from Albany to replace Bryce Salvador,who missed the game due to a family matter.
Gelinas was inserted into the lineup and as noted above scored on the power play.
If it were up to me,Gelinas would stay.
His offense and heavy shot instantly upgrades the offense and offers skills that no other defenseman on this team can...
2) Gelinas also did two other things that made me think that he needs to stay.
The first was,he instantly made the power play better as he quarterbacks the PP better than any blueliner other than (maybe) Marek Zidlicky.
The other? He made Adam Larsson look as comfortable as I have seen him in two years.
Larsson and Gelinas offer some similar and some contrasting skills and looked so right as a pair that I would put them together as a unit,live with their mistakes and watch them grow...
3) The Patrik Elias goal was a sweet one featuring sharp passes from Jaromir Jagr to the centering Andrei Loktionov to the cutting Elias for the open net.
The Devils strength is not wide open hockey,but it is nice to see a little breakaway play now and then...
4) Cory Schneider was not awful but neither goal could be considered beyond his fault.
The first goal was a result of a bouncing puck from a miscommunication between Schneider and Andy Greene,while the other by Daniel Sedin just plain beat him.
Not a bad night,but a little better might have won this in regulation...
5) Schneider was beaten by one Canuck in the shootout and entering the shootout,I wondered who would have the advantage due to familiarity-Schneider or the Canucks.
So of course,the winning goal was scored by a guy that wasn't with Vancouver in the Schneider years...
6) I wondered about the shootout selections and Peter DeBoer's choices didn't work.
Travis Zajac was nowhere near scoring,Adam Henrique was closer with Roberto Luongo beaten and clanged off the post,while Patrik Elias ended the game.
Considering the teams shootout talent,I can understand the temptation to try new things,but this did not look like a good idea from the start....
Photo Credit:AP Photo
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