Devils double Sabres 6-3

  The New Jersey Devils scored three third-period goals to break open a tie game and defeat the Buffalo Sabres 6-3 in Buffalo.

Pavel Zacha scored two power-play goals ( 9, 10), and the line of Jack Hughes (8), Yegor Sharangovich (9), and Janne Kuokkanen (6) each scored a goal with two assists.

Jesper Boqvist scored his first goal of the season to finish the New Jersey scoring recap.

Aaron Dell finished with 24 saves in an unexpected start to grab his first win as a Devil.

New Jersey will play Pittsburgh Friday, unsure what I'll be watching then for recaps...

Hell Raisers

1) I wonder if someone didn't see Aaron Dell tonight and consider trading for him as playoff depth in the net?

Dell did allow three goals, but all three were on rebounds and he hasn't played in over a month, so he was acceptable to me, but this could have been a showcase game for an interested team.

2) Pavel Zacha's two power-play goals bring him to three on the season, but considering Zacha's assists and the team has only sixteen PP goals on the season,  Zacha has points on half of the Devil's power-play goals- Stat credit- All About The Jersey.

3) This is shorter than usual due to time constraints, but you had to enjoy the game by the Jack Hughes line.

Hughes at his core is a pass-first center and the key to his growth will be to have finishers on each side of him.

Perhaps the Devils are onto something...

Devils snip Sabres 5-3

   Michael McLeod scored two goals ( 2 and 3) and Myles Wood added two more goals (4 and 5) and New Jersey needed all of them to defeat the Buffalo Sabres 5-3 and salvage a split from their two games in Buffalo.

Andreas Johnsson scored the other New Jersey goal (2) and spot starter Eric Comrie made thirty saves in the win.

New Jersey stops a three-game losing streak and will travel to Pittsburgh for a Tuesday game against the Penguins.

Hell Raisers

1) Eric Comrie was a pleasant surprise in goal with thirty saves and none of the three goals allowed were awful to hang on Comrie. 

Comrie's play was a pleasant surprise and although I still wouldn't feel comfortable with him as the second goalie in the organization, he would be more than fine as the top netminder in Binghamton and as the guy to call up in case of injury.

2) The Devils have received adequate play from Comrie and Scott Wedgewood with Mackenzie Blackwood sidelined, the sudden retirement of Corey Crawford, and the wait for Aaron Dell to clear protocol and it's suddenly become very possible that the Devils will lose either Comrie or Wedgewood.

The Devils will have to slide one through waivers when Aaron Dell is ready to be placed on the roster and it's going to be an interesting choice for the team to make.

3) Michael McLeod took quite a while to score his first NHL goal, and McLeod's two goals in this one on the same line as Myles Wood and Nathan Bastian was a surprise, but the complete domination of a game by a fourth game is a complete stunner.

It's not every game that one line dominates a game, but when it's the fourth line it comes along as often as a comet.

4) I mentioned recently about Myles Wood beginning to harness his play and turn it from recklessness to aggressiveness.

That transition, should it continue, might be moving Wood to the next level of player.

Wood's two goals, six shots, and narrowly missing a hat trick is making me believe that it could be developing in that direction.

5)  Buffalo began to swing play towards their end when Pavel Zacha missed an open net for a goal that would have made the Devils lead 3-0.

It almost never fails in hockey that when a team has an opportunity that they should take advantage of that the opponent will battle back and within a minute, Buffalo scored their first goal of the game from Curtis Lazar.

6) Of all the places that the Devils have played without fans thus far, I liked Buffalo the best.

The royal blue stands out well with the tapestries around the arena and it seems as if the cameras are able to get closer to the ice than at Newark or the other places that I've seen thus far.

Devils sliced by Sabres in Shootout

       Jack Eichel scored the only goal of the shootout and it was all the Buffalo Sabres needed to slide by the New Jersey Devils 4-3 in Buffalo.

Devils goals to Ty Smith (2 Power Play), Andreas Johnsson (1), and Janne Kuokkanen (1).

New Jersey earns one point but takes their third loss in a row.

The Devils will rematch Buffalo Sunday at 1:00.

Hell Raisers

1) Before the game, the Devils placed Travis Zajac into Covid-19 protocol.

Zajac will miss both of the contests in Buffalo until his diagnosis is decided.

2) The Devils again lose a shootout without a score and one thing that many of the Devils have been doing in the shootout- they skate up very slowly and wait to shoot until they are almost on top of the goalie.

This gives the goalie time to read and commit to the shot but leaves the shooter with no other avenue for the shot.

3) Myles Wood on the power play continues to use himself on the man advantage as a parking cone and quite effectively.

On Ty Smith's goal, it was Wood directly in front of Linus Ullmark, screening him and allowing Smith's shot to go through.

4) Smith may have been the victim of a bad call in the third period and it cost the Devils a goal.

Smith was called for hooking and I didn't see a hook AT ALL.

The resulting penalty kill saw the Sabres score on Victor Olofsson's shot and take a 3-2 lead.

5) Those faceoff woes continue as the Devils won only 25 of 64 against the Sabres.

6) Janne Kuokkanen scored his first goal in the league and Andreas Johnsson scored his first in a Devils sweater in the defeat.

Cleaning out the inbox

We start to clean the inbox with Benjamin Hill's article on the four stadiums that have been moved aside by new stadiums in their city and by teams that have moved away to new cities.
I've been to two of the four (Kannapolis, pictured to the left and Potomac/Woodbridge) with the other two being out of my area in states that I have never visited (Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans, Louisiana).
I've often said Kannapolis was the hottest ballpark that I have ever visited, but in Hill's article, he mentioned Woodbridge as the stadium that lacked shade, which I thought was interesting.
I haven't heard very much about the future of these facilities, although I'd bet that Pfitzner Stadium in Woodbridge will wind up as a host of high school, American Legion, etc. games as it is located in a facility that is surrounded by softball fields.

ESPN writes of the start of a fan revolt against the Buffalo Sabres, who are on their way to missing the playoffs for the ninth year in a row and their owners Terry and Kim Pegula, who also own the Buffalo Bills.
For all the talk about this place or that place is "Hockeytown USA", for my money- it would be Buffalo.
Even as the Sabres are in such a playoff drought, the team's attendance this year "dropped" to 90.8%, which shows the fan base is strong and interested despite the poor product (other than the phenomenal Jack Eichel) on the ice.
I remember "Hockey Towns" such as Detroit in the pre-Yzerman days being dragged down with poor teams and attendance and for all the hype over Pittsburgh, check their attendance out between Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby.
Fan protests make excellent soundbites and they give media plenty of chances to discuss franchise issues, but they make little change in the organization and other than showing that the fans are still passionate, they don't prove very much.
Buffalo does deserve better from the Sabres.

I've written before of my political standing as that of a centrist and I often read and listen to the site and podcast of The Bulwark, which is edited by centrist radio host Charlie Sykes of Wisconsin.
You'll be seeing links from Bulwark in the COTI and this is the first as Ed Condon takes on Major League Baseball and their recent rule changes.
I loved the title of "MLB is like a drug cartel trying to kill its customers" and it's a pretty accurate title to me when you take the panoramic view about the actions of MLB and its Gordon Gekko-like leader Rob Manfred.

The Bulwark also sent me this via the Chicago Tribune as the Tribune held its own taste tests of various hot sauces involving the more popular mainstream sauces.
I didn't agree with all of their results, most notably Tabasco being spicier than the others. but it is interesting in seeing how these stack up against the others from an unbiased observer.
While I love trying different sauces from smaller batch companies and have many in the house at all times, Frank's Red Hot and its Buffalo version are the house staples here of the sauces that are carried in most grocery stores.

I'm generally all for renewable energy, but this article from Bloomberg news does make you wonder about just what it takes to create renewable energies.
The difficulties in finding something to do with the worn-out blades from wind turbines, other than burying them in landfills, are more than unsustainable for the future of windmills.
The blades need to be cut into three pieces by a diamond-encrusted saw just to be able to then be transported on a semi-truck to travel to landfills, so these aren't exactly a treat to take care of.
It will be interesting to check back in a few years and see what type of business could have been created from the leftovers of these blades.

Devils win fourth in a row

The New Jersey Devils won their fourth game in a row and second in two nights over the Buffalo Sabres with a 4-2 win at the Rock.
Kyle Quincey scored the first goal (1) before Buffalo tied the game at one.
The remaining Devils goals to Kyle Palmieri (3),Nick Lappin (2) and John Moore (2).
Cory Schneider had 21 saves in the win...

Hell Raisers

1) The Nick Lappin goal was the sweet one as Taylor Hall zipped a sharp pass that Lappin quickly deposited behind Robin Lehner.
Nick Lappin has played well in his first few games as a Devil and might be making a move to stick around for a while.

2) Taylor Hall was brought in as a scorer,but what has been a surprise to me has been his passing skills.
Hall has an ability to hit the open man and his skills in traffic are far better than expected..

3) Damon Severson continued his strong start with a assist on Kyle Palmeiri's goal.
The cross ice pass by the defenseman was the main part of the play,but I've been quite impressed by Severson thus far in his attempt to establish himself as the top young defender on the team...

4) Power play struggles continued as none of the Devils goals came on the PP.
Gotta turn this around soon...

5) Mike Cammalleri missed his second game in a row with a personal issue.
No idea what that is,but hopefully things work out and the veteran winger will return to a lineup that could use him..

6) The Devils traded a conditional seventh round pick to the Flyers to right winger Petr Straka.
Straka was assigned to Albany following the deal.
Straka scored 19 goals and 18 assists last year for the Flyers AHL team in Allentown.

Greene day in Buffalo-Devils top Sabres 2-1

Andy Greene trickled a penalty shot through the five hole of Buffalo netminder Anders Nilsson in overtime to give the New Jersey Devils a 2-1 win over the Sabres in Buffalo...
Greene's goal (2) was set by a holding penalty on Evander Kane,who grabbed Greene on an overtime scoring chance.
Yohann Auvitu scored his first goal of the season (and career) in the third period to tie the game for the other Devils score.
Keith Kinkaid finished with 25 saves in notching the win on a Cory Schneider night off.
The same two teams face off tonight in New Jersey.

Hell Raisers

1) The Andy Greene winner was really stopped by Anders Nilsson initially,but the puck was never controlled by Nilsson and the puck kept moving between Nilsson's legs to the net.
The reaction of Nilsson was priceless as he knew he should have made the save,,

2) I had to laugh because I would think Andy Greene winning a game on a penalty shot would rank pretty low on the scale of how to win games.
Greene had never taken part in a shootout,let alone a penalty shot,so who really knew how well he would do in this situation?

3) Yohann Auvitu continued his surprising play with his first career goal from the point.
Taylot Hall started the puck movement to Travis Zajac,who then got the puck to Auvitu for the shot.
I really like what I've seen from the NHL rookie/Euro veteran thus far.

4) Good night for Keith Kinkaid,who was sharp in goal.
The only puck that eluded Kinkaid was the Matt Moulson goal,which was against a wide open net and slammed in.
That wasn't being stopped by Keith Kinkaid,Cory Schneider or anyone else.
Very nice night for Kinkaid,who did exactly what you hope from your backup in these situations-play well enough to keep you in the game and give you a chance to win,.

5) The Devils power play continued to be ineffective as the team went zero for six with the man advantage.
The most notable omissions was a 5 on 3 chance for almost a minute and a half and a four minute failure in the third period.
It wasn't like the Devils had Anders Nilsson standing on his head in these chances either,so this is an area of concern..

6) I have been impressed by the line of Taylor Hall.the suddenly rejuvenated Travis Zajac and PA Parenteau.
Seems to be some chemistry there.

7) I've always had a soft spot for the Sabres (and Bills too) ,especially when they returned to their classic (and awesome) uniforms a few seasons back.
Buffalo (from afar) reminds me so much of Cleveland and I hope with luck to maybe hit Buffalo next summer to hit the AAA Bisons and see the town.
Hoping to see how close I am to being correct on my take.

8) I haven't seen as many games of late with the Indians in the World Series etc and I'm not sure if I am going to do coverage every night,but I enjoy doing it when it is fun.
I'll see how it goes..