On November 1st, many hockey fans officially wrote the Devils off as done for the season. Martin Brodeur tore his biceps tendon on his catching arm, knocking him out for the better part of the season.
After the official announcement later that week, the Devils’ options looked grim.
Option A: Trade for one of the few available goaltenders out there. Dwayne Roloson of Edmonton was struggling before Brodeur was injured, but of course, hit a hot streak, thus sending his trade value through the roof. The same can be said for Nikolai Khabibulin of the Blackhawks. Initially, he wanted to be shipped out in favor of not platooning with off-season acquisition Cristobal Huet. But, like Roloson, he hit his stride just when Brodeur got hurt, and also increasing his trade value.
Option B: Continue the season, and see how backups Kevin Weekes and Scott Clemmensen would perform carrying the workload of the future Hall of Famer.
Option B appears, at least as of the past month or so, the wise choice. In the first 6 games after losing Brodeur, Weekes started four of the six games, losing 3 of 4 by an average of two goals. Clemmensen, over his two starts in the span, surrendered a total of 5 goals but only receiving 2 goals of support.
Then on November 15th, against the Washington Capitals and in front of a nearly sold out Prudential Center, something clicked with the Devils. The Devils got out to an early 1-0 lead, but as the early trend had shown, they would vanquish the lead by allowing two tallies from the Caps. Then, just 41 seconds into the 2nd period, Jamie Langenbrunner netted his fourth of the season. Patrik Elias added a power play goal to take back the lead. Former Devil added the tying goal for the Caps before the end of the 2nd. The Devils and Caps would trade two goals before the end of regulation. After a scoreless overtime came the shootout. Clemmensen stopped shootout guru Kozlov, superstar Alex Ovechkin and Boyd Gordon. The Devils first shooter, and the player who nearly single handedly carried the Devils during the fallout of Brodeur’s injury, netted the only goal in the shootout to give Clemmensen his first win of the season.
With the offense clicking, Clemmensen was able to focus on being the last line of defense, rather than being the superstar to replace Brodeur for the time being. He won two starts in a row for the first time in his career, and, following a victory by Weekes, Clemmensen extended his streak to four games.
He dropped a game to the Pens, but then fired off yet another four in a row. The first four gamer was against weak teams, beating Florida twice, the Tampa Bay Turmoils [Lightning], and last seasons 8th seed Capitals. This one, however, was much more significant. Clemmensen helped guide the Devils to back to back overtime victories over the Flyers and Canadians, both teams who have extremely potent offenses. He then withstood a barrage thirty five shots from the Penguins, only allowing one behind him as the Devils stopped Pittsburg. Then, in one of the best offensive games in the NHL this season, the Devils surrendered a four goal lead against the Rangers, only to retake the lead with three goals in the third period to clinch a remarkable 8-5 victory.
Over this span, Weekes had only gotten one start, which he did manage to win. The game against the Islanders was a 5-2 victory where Weekes was able to stop 25 of 27 shots. But in his next start, almost three weeks later, he struggled mightily. The Sabres bombarded the goalie with 34 shots on goal, of which he only stopped 30, and at least two of the goals were entirely on his shoulders.
On the first goal, Tomas Vanek took a Derek Roy rebound and buried it to the vacant side where Weekes was not even close to covering. While the goal could also be attributed to the pathetic defense by the struggling Colin While, the loose rebound is entirely on Weekes. This was a common struggling point of Weekes’ night, rebound control, as there were far too many which defenders bailed him out on, but they could only do so much as Vanek netted another rebound goal late in the 3rd to put the game out of reach.
Clemmensen came back last night against the Maple Leafs and played well enough to win the game, but the offense could not find its potency. The Devils got a late goal from Parise to tie the game and force overtime, but after a fury of activity, they failed to score, and if not for a brilliant spin-o-rama by Jason Blake, the shootout could have realistically gone on the entire night.
Clemmensen is hands down the most consistent player on the Devils right now. He provides a good backstop for the defense which can help open the offense up. If given an early lead, it provides him with confidence which then translates into victories. Sadly, you cannot get this type of guarantee out of Weekes, who, with the diminished amount of playing time thanks to the successes of Clemmensen, is far too inconsistent for this team to be the starting goalie. For proof, see the first dozen games since Brodeur was injured.
For now, I'll place my money on Clemmensen to carry the Devils. His 8-3-1 record, 2.38 goals against and his cool demeanor are all the evidence you need.
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