Sure, Six Flags is the original home of the annual Fright Fest celebration in October, but on Saturday night, the Devils decided they wanted to get in on the action by putting up a simply horrific performance at the Prudential Center against Philadelphia Flyers.
The nightmare began early, a mere 5 minutes into the game to be exact, when the Devils were given a gift of a 5 on 3 power play at the hands of Jeff Carter and Scottie Upshall.
While 3 of the 5 members of the first unit had double shifted, they still produced some solid chances, yet only registering 1 shot on goal. The second unit, however, looked awful. With 2 youngsters in Matt Hallischuck and Niklaus Bergfors playing on the line, the team was out-hustled and out matched by the Flyers penalty killers, and the 2 man-advantage seemed to vanish quicker than a ghost on camera.
Later in the period, in what almost feels like is becoming a trend, Brodeur was lazy on a Flyer shot, and was beaten by Jeff Carter to give Philly a 1-0 lead.
A late penalty in before the end of the period seemed to give the Devils a chance, but they failed to convert by the buzzer, and nearly gave up a phenomenal shorthanded opportunity to the Flyers. If it was not for the back checking of Paul Martin and the limited amount of time on the clock, they could very well have gone into the break in a 2-0 hole.
The second period opened with another fortunate break for the Devils as Ray Emery made a blunder and was penalized 2 minutes for illegal playing of the puck in the restricted zone.
But again, the Devils failed to capitalize on their gifts from the Flyers and, again, failed to convert on the 5 on 3, and the remainder of Emery’s error.
Just before the midpoint of the period, Ian Laperierre found the back of the net, and 6 minutes later, Bryce Salvador should have been given an assist on Mike Richards’ goal as he deflected the puck up and over Brodeur, who looked like he was almost cheating to the far-side post in anticipation of the crossing attempt.
Marty’s age and its effect on his overall game became ever more so apparent on Darrol Powe’s shot that beat him glove side. Granted he got a piece of it, it looked like he didn’t even know it was coming.
Long gone, it seems, are the years when the Devils could rely on Marty to steal them games with his quick reflexes. He went out with a fizzle from the playoffs last season, and he opened this one by only reaffirming questions of his ability, rather than erasing the demons from playoff failures of season’s past.
The only glimmer of hope on this night was Brian Rolston preventing the team from being shutout at home by scoring moments after Powe’s tally.
Any hopes of a comeback were quickly shattered when Matt Carle beat Brodeur. And again, he got part of, but not enough, of the puck. Again, I will attribute this to his age finally catching up.
Langenbrunner broke through, shorthanded, and beat Ray Emery stick side for a shorthanded goal, to draw the game to within 3. I still cannot believe it took the Devils 2+ periods to finally bring Emery back to earth following an opening night shutout.
The crowd cheering after nearly every Brodeur save just shows how bad of a night it was, and the rousing cheers when the 1 minute mark was announced put icing on the proverbial cake.
1 horrifying game down, 81 to go.
Here’s to hoping the rest of October, let alone the remainder of the season, isn’t as big of a nightmare as this game foreshadows.
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