The long layoff for the NHL ended last Saturday night as 24
teams kicked off their respective seasons.
New Jersey, fresh off their run to the Stanley Cup Finals,
began their quest to repeat their Eastern Conference Championship run by
squaring off against Atlantic Divisional rival, New York Islanders.
Travis Zajac got the scoring going after burying a beautiful
crossing feed from Ilya Kovalchuk and David Clarkson sucked the life out of the
crowd at Nassau Coliseum with his goal moments after Travis Hamonic leveled the
two teams at 1 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the 3rd
period. Martin Brodeur stopped 18 of 19 shots for his first win of the season.
Three days later, the Devils Squared off against the Philadelphia
Flyers who were playing their third game in four days. Having lost to
Pittsburgh at home and then falling to Buffalo on the road, the Flyers were
desperate for a victory. Unfortunately for them, they got off on the absolute
wrong foot as Travis Zajac again ignited the scoring, netting his second of the
season just 67 seconds into the game. Clarkson, too, would get his second of
the year on the power play with 25 seconds remaining in the opening stanza.
Kovalchuk would add a short handed, penalty shot goal in the
third as the Devils continued their domination of Flyers’ goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov
dating back to last season’s Eastern Conference Semifinals matchup where the
Devils made the Russian keeper look amateurish.
Brodeur stopped all 24 Flyers shots he faced for his second
win and 120th shutout of his career, 10 of which coming against the
Flyers.
The shutout streak would continue into Friday night where
the Devils would play host to the Washington Capitals. Stephen Gionta would
finish a Jacob Josefson attempt to net his first of the season and only his
second career regular season goal. Patrik Elias would register his 897th
point of his career when he pushed home a rebound off a Marek Zidlicky shot and
a Clarkson deflection on the power play late in the 2nd period.
The Devils’ discipline came apart nearly entirely during the
third period as they took 5 consecutive penalties including three within
seconds of each other. Washington seized the opportunity by scoring once on the
power play [Mike Ribeiro] and then again as their final advantage expired [Mike
Green].
Their gifts from the Devils would cease there as New Jersey
came out a different team in the overtime period, bombarding Michal Neuvirth
with 7 shots before Kovalchuk wristed a tight angle attempt top shelf to win
the game for the Devils with just 20 seconds remaining in the extra frame.
Their 3-0 start is the best the Devils have had since the
2002-2003 season in which they went on to win the Stanley Cup in 6 games
against the Dallas Stars.
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