Thrashed!

The New Jersey Devils showed few effects from their loss to Washington as they traveled to Atlanta in front of a gathering that seemed to be about 45, jumped on the Thrashers early and cruised to an easy 5-1 win.
Three goals in the first 12 minutes tend to put you in good shape to win and when your special teams produce three goals (two shorthanded),it usually is a pretty good night.
Devils goals to Zach Parise (power play 30),Travis Zajac (16),Brian Gionta (shorthanded 12),David Clarkson (11) and John Madden (shorthanded 6).
Kevin Weekes picked up the win in net.
The Devils are back at the Rock tonight against the visiting Los Angeles Kings at 7:00.

Hell Raisers

1) The Devils win combined with the Ranger loss moved them six points ahead of the Rangers in the Atlantic Division race.
Bet it is about time that the Rangers go out and obtain some overpriced/big name/washed up player for their playoff run...

2) I was glad to see Kevin Weekes get the start in goal.
Weekes had played well in his two road starts (both wins) and Scott Clemmensen played awfully soft against Washington.
Perhaps this outing by Weekes can get Clemmensen moving again.

3) Brian Gionta's goal came off the faceoff where he won the draw against Rich Peverley,pushed the puck through Peverley's legs and then shot the puck by Kari Lehtonen.
Not sure which was more shocked by the move-Peverley or Lehtonen.

4) Colin White was hit in the hand by a Matthew Schneider shot in the first period and skipped the final two periods of play.
The Devils did not comment on how serious the injury was....

5) Atlanta's defense is a joke.
I have never seen so many guys playing such poor and dumb hockey.
Either they are poorly coached,giving half speed efforts or this team is really awful.
It is no wonder that no one comes to see them play....

Bonus Rounds

Doc Emrick came up with an interesting point on the Thrashers less than stellar play.
Emrick commented that perhaps the Thrashers can get away with that more in the tepid market of Atlanta and their fans aren't quite as discerning as fans in the more rabid towns.
Could be,Doc......

Brendan Shanahan might have just turned 40,but that doesn't mean that he turned into a Washington Capital as he took on Atlanta brawler Eric Boulton and acquitted himself quite well in the battle.


Bullpen Notes

The little guys take center stage tonight as the World Jr Bantamweight title (115 lb limit and all three world belts) is on the line as champion Vic Darchinyan defends against Jorge Arce in a long awaited fight.
This one should be an explosive war for as long as it lasts.
You can catch it on Showtime.

We enter this fight with a 0-1 record for 2009.
The record will be simply right or wrong selections.
When I get a few wins,I will be adding bonus points for winning picks,if I am correct in picking the type of win (decision or KO) correctly will be one point and if I am dead on correct( Exact round of KO or type of decision) will be worth two points.

Tonight's pick:Darchinyan KO 6.

The Frederick Keys announced that they will have a new state of the art (aren't they all?) scoreboard in place for the 2009 season.
This was about time,the main problem that I had at Harry Grove Stadium (besides the bad theme song,LOL) was the scoreboard with so many permanent problems that it made hard to follow the game.
Kudos to both the Keys and whoever else paid for this.

And if the state of Maryland kicked in,how about something for the aging Muni?????

Photo Credits
Zajac:Bruce Bennett-Getty Images
Darchinyan:Unknown