Devils drop home opener

The New Jersey Devils did find the scoreboard in their home opener against the New York Islanders and earned a point on the evening.
However,their flaws are quite evident and this game showed some of them in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Islanders,which went scoreless until Matt Moulson's goal in the sixth round beat Martin Brodeur for the win. Damien Brunner scored twice (1 and 2) and Michael Ryder provided the other goal (1) for New Jersey,who will be off until Monday when they start a five city Canadian tour in Edmonton.

Hell Raisers

1) Martin Brodeur got the loss,but considering how little he played in the pre-season,I can see why he was not sharp.
Brodeur got better as the game went on and that lends credence to the above idea...

2) Damien Brunner scored two goals and showed a game that this team will need more of-going to the net.
Brunner is going to be a bargain at his contract rate..

3) Michael Ryder will fit as well,but in a different way-He shoots the puck when he gets it!
All too often,the Devils fill their team with guys that overpass the puck
That is not Michael Ryder!

4) I thought the defense was OK except for Anton Volchenkov,who was badly beaten on one goal and Adam Larsson was badly out of position on another.
Ok will not cut it with this team.

5) Chico Resch tried to make excuses for Jaromir Jagr being rusty,but boy has he been bad in these two games.
His skating is way off and he looked bad with the puck.
I hope it is just rust!

6) Rachel and I hoped that a shootout would not be needed and we got our first look at the Devils SO unit.
It is not going to be good,at least for a while.
Little creativity with the puck and not loaded with offensive talent,New Jersey will be at a disadvantage this season.

7) Michael Grabner is fast on the skates and he overmatched the Devils twice in this game.
I have severe doubts about the ability to keep up over 82 games...

Photo Credit;AP Photo