RWB

Ach well, had to post. Another game v Pens and another win. Getting boring now. Both 'keepers were excellent though. Good decision to drop Fleury 'cause the backup guy was great bar the opening goal that his defenders let through to be honest. Dramatic end with the Pens commentators practically celebrating getting their first PP with about 90 seconds to go. Pulled the goalie for a 6v4 but Langenbrunner wrapped it up for 2-0. 168 minutes without conceding to Penguins. They'll need to trade for a goalscorer or something. Wish to hell I could get a Devils commentary instead of the whinging miserable gits that do the Pens commentary. I may have mentioned this last time. Chicago next. I'm not as hopeful about that one Good game for Rangers as well.

Good to see Islanders winning against the mighty Rangers (again). Managed to switch games a few times and saw both Rangers goals! Devils got well beaten in Washington the other night (4-1). Caps were really up for it while Devils looked flat. Bad combination. The Caps then get smashed for 6 at home to Carolina last night. I guess they raised their game to beat us the same we did to beat Pens recently. Both sides then fall flat to 3 goal defeats! Devils had two of their fighters back in the side last night to win 3-2 against Thrashers. Two minutes in saw Peters ejected 'cause he had his shirt pulled off in his fight. Couldn't have been happier! Get him out ASAP. Big goon. No wonder he's barely picked. Clarkson made his comeback after a long lay-off and was his usual trouble-making self, yapping away winding up guys bigger than him. Was desperate for a fight and got one early on. Prefer it when we just go 10 minutes of unbroken play and get the job done. Two tough games coming up now. Pens at home and Blackhawks away in back-to-back games. The kind that sort out the men from the boys perhaps. Top two in the league have the best defences rather the best scoring records. Wonder if that can take either to a Cup win.

Aye, I was bouncing after that win. Played with a real intensity the other night and admittedly a clearer trapping game than normal. We beat them 4-1 and 4-1 already at their place this season but the first thing the commentators said the other night was that Devils beat an injury riddled Pens squad last time out. True but so were Devils. Glad they got their players back to spank them by a bigger margin. Anyway, it's only 2 points on the slog to the play-offs but I can enjoy games now without worrying about the other team denying Brodeur his shut-out. Hope the players don't take the same attitude! Play-offs look likely as ever but maybe with another player in defence (see link in previous post) we can have a bit more presence there. New Year's Resolution - tone down sig.

Needless to say I'm enjoying the match tonight. 4-0 as I type. Really couldn't see them doing this to Pens three time running. The horrible Stall injury should have been a spark for Pens at 0-2 but Devils just stepped it up. Good to see the opposition keeper getting the hook after Brodeur got pulled the other night. Edit - Watched the last period as well. Ended 4-0 and the shut-out that Brodeur threatened in the previous wins at Pens was achieved. Good reaction from the Pens fans towards Brodeur. Cracking performance from Devils who've really surprised me this season. Three games at Penguins all won and three games at Caps all won. Good stuff. Good to see Staal made it back on the ice after being hit in the face with the puck and blood flowing. Broken nose they said I think. Horrible commentary from Pens guys but eventually realised Devils deserved it and had some more favourable comments to make that didn't include the word 'trapping'. http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Eklund/The-...-Better/1/25055

Hopefully Devils can repeat the wins of the previous two visits to the Mellon this season. Would be some going if they did. Brodeur not on great form though and left the game after one period last night. Danis did well enough only conceding 1 in a 5-4 win. 4th line grabbing some important goals too while Parise loses his scoring touch. Been watching bits and pieces of the Pens during some Devils breaks and Fleury has been very important to them lately. Gks could be the telling factor.

Mon the Islanders! Get into those Rags again. Watched a really poor game last night v Canadiens. Fluke equaliser in 1st period for Devils and a late winner for 2-1. Their goal was short-handed and our pp was awful for the most part. I'll take it though.

Must admit, Devils have hardly played any sides from the West yet. 2-2-1 record. Looking at the vs East/West table on nhl.com doesn't look too good for East. Obviously they've been playing the dross from the East to boost their stats. Edit - This sig is a bit loud!

Islanders might just make the play-offs if they have the staying power. Might be Devils v Islanders play-off but getting ahead of myself. Devils bounced back from the 4-2 defeat to win comfortably 4-1. A rare win v Flyers. Cheap goal conceded by Brodeur. Should've been the record. Elias picking up some points now and scored a couple of good goals.

I caught the end of this game after watching the Devils. Stupid by Caps at the end although I doubt they were about to score two. Had to push to get a goal back anyway and then hope for the best. They only pulled the goalie with a minute to go, got down the ice and Capitals' Green got decked away from the puck. He got up and charged into the nearest guy he could find to even things up and off he went. 6v5 advantage down the pan and Leafs scored quickly with the powerplay. Good result against a team that doesn't lose many.

Another blip from the Devils last night. 2-4 v Panthers at home. This on the back of struggling to see off Carolina 4-2 with a short-handed 4v6 empty netter at the death. With so many players coming back into the team recently they'll need games to get back up to speed. Still more to come so the pattern will repeat.

Funnily enough, Devils are 3-0 versus Caps this season. (3-2, 3-2, 5-2) Caps were 2-0 ahead in two of those games! Ovechkin missed the last two meetings certainly but Devils were missing a few key players, mainly in defence. I wonder if that sequence goes some way to answering the questions. Not sure how they've done against some of the big contenders or if they've had other injuries to test their squad. Obviously a contender but I feel that there are teams that could live with them over 7 games. Those with a more defensive outlook perhaps.

3-0 win tonight. Brodeur equals shut-out record. Thought Sabres would be tougher to play. They've a top defence and spanked us at home so good bit of revenge on their ice. Devils were very impressive. Makes a difference when you've got a number of players coming back from long term injury. Had to laugh when commentator Doc Emrick mentioned Devils could go top of the division if Pittsburgh lost. They were playing at home to Carolina so why even mention it I thought. I looked up the score and it was 3-0 'Canes at the time! Crazy. 3-2 now certainly but would be nice to see Penguins slip up in this one. We've got Hurricanes next so warning is noted. Hate them for incredibly scoring two goals in the last minute to beat us in the play-offs last season.

Ach, at least you didn't pick one of the Devils hated rivals from the Atlantic division. Speaking of which - Flyers. :lol:

BOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo Saw Devils with another late late goal v Tampa Bay last night. They must be sick of us doing that to them this season. We're up again tonight. 2-0 v Red Wings after 1st period. Oduya makes his comeback after missing 15 games and doubled our lead. Red Wings look as poor a side as I've seen this season! Hopefully we've still got another goal or two in us to make sure. EDIT - Well that ended up closer than expected when Detroit got going in the 3rd. Some amazing goal line clearances at both ends in a 3-3 tie. Devils win another shoot-out but took 4 rounds to see them off. Parise and Elias with superb dekes. Get it up you Datsyuk and your teams horrible commentators!

Didn't stay up to watch the Devils last night. A good decision having just watched the full re-run! 2-5. Seemed every Canucks blue-line shot was destined to go in at one stage. Devils have made a habit of winning from a goal or two down but from 0-3 it was unlikely. Did well to get back to 2-3 but it went away from them again. A couple of bad line changes didn't help. This was billed as a head-to-head between the Canadian 'keepers fighting for the No 1 spot at the Olympics. At he end of the 1st (2-3 scoreline) they were working out who else could play instead! Not too clever in front of Brodeur who did let some bad ones through. Luongo also had a strange save that ended as a goal in the same attack. Other than that he seemed safe enough and made important saves. Especially from Parise close in. Thought that was us back to 3-3.

Devils have been battering on despite the fairly high number of long term injuries to top line players. Clarkson is the latest to get the seemingly standard 4-6 weeks lay off. Lowell Devils have been well used this season! Despite this, I've just watched Devils thump the Islanders 6-1. Had seen the Islanders yesterday giving the Penguins a hard game in the 3rd period to win so wasn't sure how this one would go. Three goals in 2 minutes (and 2 seconds) did the damage when it was a typically tight 2-1 lead in the 3rd period. They did look likely to win but a 5v3 pp got the crucial 3rd and the Islanders just caved in under the shots (42, which is high for the Devils). Elias got two plus two assists so again showing how important he will be. 6 home wins in a row so starting to match the away form and keeping the goals against pretty low. Only one away trip in the next nine games so might help to keep the momentum going.

Another fight from the Rangers / Caps game the other night -

Due to the time difference, pick an Eastern Conference team if you want to watch a live game on the web occasionally. Pick the Devils. I need someone to talk to. Especially as big rivals the Flyers stopped our winning streak last night. Had to happen some time but that's two losses to them now. Devils are always slated for being defensive, tough, not very entertaining and the reason why the venue is half empty when they play. They've evolved a little in recent seasons from their obvious 'trapping' game and have a decent mix just now. So not too well liked or maybe looked down on for their negative image I suppose. Atlantic Division always looks the toughest one for me. Even the NY Islanders are right in the mix this season as well making it even tougher. Don't pick any of those fancy skating teams that chase goals all the time in their easy wee divisions. Some nasty stuff at the start. Beating the Red Wings is always good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BVHGuShZ-s The coach from '95 is back this season and got things going pretty well so far. Join the cause!

Penguins equalise with .4 seconds remaining. Didn't look on as they got stuck behind their own goal until a Bruins stick broke. Devils managed to score equalise with 0.1 of second left this season and went on to win. Crowd really gets involved, big difference from Devils. Oh, there goes a winner for Pens. You plonker Thomas.

Slow start by Devils again and lost 2 quick goals to Caps. Think they were 2 down in DC too and came back to win. Looking like another comeback win tonight with 3 unanswered goals in the second period for a 4-2 lead. The last one was Bergfors to Halischuck to smash in his 1st NHL goal. A sign of the future for Devils I think. Parise also broke to score a 1v1 again just like the last game. Looks lethal just now. Won't rule out a Caps comeback yet but Devils visibly upped their game after going 2-0 down. More of the same needed to earn our 3rd win v Caps this season and they don't lose many! Leafs back to 2-3. Edit - Too busy typing to spot Devils notch a 5th. And a pp coming up. Edit 2 - Couldn't get on here for a bit but Devils win 5-2. Freaking awesome man! 'Mon the Bruins!

With back to back games I didn't manage to stay up for the full Devils game last night. At 0-1 and the Penguins bossing our defence it didn't look good when I turned it off half way through the second. Just watched the rest of it there and the roles reversed. Devils finally put in a prolonged shift of pressure and it eventually lead to a good goal. After that the Penguins just kept turning the puck over and the Devils looked dangerous from there on in. Some breaks too with Pens hitting the post about three times I think but when Devils picked up a 2nd and 3rd goal it was done long before the end. The commentator was right when he said that 3 goals for the Devils is like 7 for most other teams. The empty netter was the icing on the cake and matched the 4-1 win on the previous visit. Credit to the replacements that have come in because of all the injuries. I know Pens are without top players too but maybe they've not got the more balanced squad that Devils probably have. Not so many stars but I enjoy their effort. After the horrible start to the season and thoughts of a big collapse with so many rookies about, things are looking good. Not missing the experience of Holik and Madden as much as I'd feared. Two 4-1 wins away to the cup holders can't be bad. Elias is playing himself back in, Bergfors is showing up well and the defence has been great even without Martin. Wonder how we'd do without Parise or Zajac though. Hope we don't find out! A miserable Bully Wee fan but a happy Devil.

Leafs recover in the second to tie it at 2-2. OT and shoot-out edging closer? Patrick Elias back for Devils tonight and cheered on during his first shift and within seconds his first touch sent the defence the wrong way and he flashed a shot just wide. Also looked excellent on a pp with slick passes. Welcome back! A touch of class amongst our grinders. I'm still shocked that the Devils rifled in a couple of goals from near the blue line tonight so far. 2-1 up at end of the 2nd after falling behind to Islanders in the 1st. Edit - Games are finished. Devils secure their 10th win in 12. Danis in goal looks steady again. Leafs score more goals than the other team.

2 wins v 1. I was mocking both of them.

Canes have won twice as many games as Leafs so must be favourites. Leafs to edge it in shoot-out shocker!

4-1 final score. A hollow victory without the shut-out for Marty. Looked like the day off for the Devils helped a bit as Pens never quite got their game going. Fluery not too good either. Rangers lost again so things squeezing up now in the division.