Different day,Different team

The rematch was just as lopsided,but the winner had changed as the New Jersey scored the first five goals in rolling over the Florida Panthers 7-2 in the first of back to back matinee' games at the Rock.
Zach Parise scored the first two goals in the first period (37 & 38) with the remainder of Devils goal going to the following-Travis Zajac (Power play 18),David Clarkson (14),Dainius Zubrus (13),Brian Rolston (12) and Brendan Shanahan (4).
Marty Brodeur had an easy night facing just 17 shots from Panther sticks.
The Devils take on the rival Flyers today at one (The game is actually at first intermission as I write this).

Hell Raisers

1) David Clarkson finished the game with the most honored award that one can get for a game.
And yes,that includes a hat trick as Clarkson grabbed the "Gordie Howe" hat trick with a goal,an assist and a fight that he convincingly won over Florida's Nick Tarnasky.


2) Zach Parise continues to mature as a scorer as both of the goals that he scored were excellent.
The first came of a rebound of his own shot and slid the puck through Craig Anderson,while the second showed his speed as he took the puck from Nathan Horton and then sped past Keith Ballard to beat Anderson....

3) Have to like the Devil defense as they just locked the Panthers down and made them look quite timid and the lack of shots showed it.
This is the type of defensive play that will need to continue against teams such as Boston,Washington and Philadelphia in the playoffs.
Physical,yet not extremely so.

4) Johnny Oduya was quietly solid as he finished the game at +4.
I didn't remember anything special from Oduya,but looking at the box score,his +4 stood out.
Plus 4 cannot be ignored!

5) The SB Nation family of blogs have started a NHL trade deadline blog for all of you rumor mongers out there for those of you interested in teams other than the Devils (why on earth that would be I don't know!LOL).....

We added a win and a loss to the boxing record as well as a draw in three excellent action championship fights over the weekend.
The record currently stands at 4-2 (1 draw) with 2 bonus points.

Juan Manuel Marquez gave away the early round before wearing down Juan Diaz and knocking him cold with a devastating uppercut in Round nine in earning the vacant WBA Lightweight title and keeping the linear 135 pound title as well.
The HBO televised fight was a tremendous action fight and catch a replay if you can.
Well worth the time.
We had the fight even at 76 at the time of the stoppage.

The co-feature on the card saw WBA Featherweight champ Chris John keep his title with a draw against Rocky Juarez.
John controlled early,Juarez late and the judges got it right as all three judges saw it at 114-114.
Out scorecard shared that view.

On Friday night at the Rock,we attempted to call the upset in the IBF Cruiser title bout and for five rounds,it looked pretty good.
However,Tomas Adamek began to make inroads and slowly made his way into the fight before stopping Johnathan Banks in the eighth round.
We had Banks ahead 77-76 at the time of the stoppage,but Adamek had won the three preceding rounds before the KO.

Photo Credits:AP Photo