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Devils Gameday/General Discussion

7K views 71 replies 9 participants last post by  MadDevil 
#1 ·
GDT: New Jersey Devils vs Tampa Bay Lightning ( 7:30 PM EST )

newjerseydevils.com – As the National Hockey League raises the curtain tonight on its 90th season, Devils fans will have to wait one more night to see their team take the ice for the start of the 2007-08 regular season.

But it's not too early to look ahead to what's in store for head coach Brent Sutter's squad in the upcoming campaign, as the Devils embark on a season-opening, nine-game road trip beginning Thursday night in Tampa Bay.

With the finishing touches being applied to Prudential Center – the team's new state-of-the-art home in Newark, N.J. – the Devils will return to the Garden State to open their home schedule on Oct. 27 against the Ottawa Senators.

If recent trends are any indication, getting off to a fast start in October can help pave the way for good things later on in the season. The last three Stanley Cup champions had a combined October record of 23-2-5, and the last 10 Cup winners had a combined October mark of 78-17-14.

The month ahead for the Devils will bring matchups against the defending Eastern Conference champion Senators (Oct. 8, Oct. 27); Sidney Crosby and the Penguins (Oct. 17); the Flyers (Oct. 18) and the Rangers (Oct. 25).

The Devils closed out their 25th-anniversary season with a 49-24-9 record (107 pts., 2nd in East) for their seventh regular-season Atlantic Division title. The 49 victories set a new franchise high, while the 100-point output marked the 10th season of 100 points or more in team history.

Martin Brodeur set a new NHL single-season record for wins (48), collecting his third Vezina Trophy. Over the past 10 seasons the Devils have the most wins in the Eastern Conference (458), and Brodeur has been between the pipes for 412 of them.

Once the puck drops on '07-08, several Devils, including Brodeur, will be within striking distance of even more career milestones.

Entering his 14th full season, the Devils' netminder needs two shutouts to tie George Hainsworth (94) for second place on the all-time list. He also is six wins shy of becoming just the second goaltender in NHL history to reach the 500-win plateau, joining Patrick Roy (551).

Other Devils poised to reach new plateaus include:
Sergei Brylin - With 292 career points, Brylin is eight short of reaching the 300-point plateau. The Moscow native has tallied 123 goals and 169 assists in 683 NHL games, all with the Devils.

Brian Gionta - The right wing is just a point shy of recording 200 points in his NHL career. Gionta has collected 110 goals and 89 assists in 310 career games with the Devils.

Richard Matvichuk - A Devil for two of his 14 NHL seasons, the Edmonton native is four games away from reaching 800 for his career.

Jay Pandolfo - Entering his 11th season with the Devils, Pandolfo has registered point totals of 26, 20 and 27 in his last three seasons, respectively. With at least 20 points in 2007-08, the Winchester, Mass., native will hit the 200-point mark for his career.

Zach Parise - As a sophomore last season, Parise potted a team-leading 31 goals, bringing his two-year total to 45. In Devils history, only Greg Adams (47) has scored more goals over his first two seasons. Entering his third NHL campaign, the Minneapolis native is just six points away from reaching the 100-point milestone for his career.

Mike Rupp - Selected with New Jersey's seventh round pick in the 2000 Entry Draft, Rupp's four-year NHL career has included stops in Phoenix and Columbus. The Cleveland native's next game will bring his career total for games played to 200.

Kevin Weekes - The Toronto native won a career-high 23 games while a member of the Carolina Hurricanes in '03-04, and needs four more victories to reach the 100-win mark.

The new 82-game schedule once again features eight meetings with each of the Devils' Atlantic Division rivals, while also including visits from the teams of the Pacific – Chris Pronger and the Anaheim Ducks; Mike Modano and the Dallas Stars; Rob Blake and the Los Angeles Kings; Shane Doan and the Phoenix Coyotes; and Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks.

The Devils will head out to meetings with the Northwest Division, facing Jarome Iginla and the Flames in Calgary; Joe Sakic and the Avalanche in Colorado; Sheldon Souray and the Oilers in Edmonton; Marian Gaborik and the Wild in Minnesota; and Roberto Luongo and the Canucks in Vancouver.


SHould be a good game tonight not going to go into detail but i expect a 3-1 win
 
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#52 ·
Chris_1968 said:
Yes its all good but what about LOU how much of this can he stand?
I think after watching the Devils get destroyed in the second round two years in a row, Lou realized it was time for a change. The kind of change the Devils are going through isn't one that's going to be easy, especially considering that Sutter really doesn't have all the players to play his system yet.
 
#53 ·
Well, it would have been nice to see Marty get #500 against the Rangers, but it wasn't meant to be. It was great to see Jamie Langenbrunner back, scoring both goals for the Devils. I know Sutter said something about waiting for Langenbrunner's return to give anybody the "C", so we'll see if anything happens there.

It sure would be nice if the offense would show up when Marty is in goal. In his 10 losses, the Devils have scored a total of 8 goals, and have been shut out 4 times. Way to support your franchise player.:mad:

Oh well, on to the next game I guess. It's going to be a roller coaster ride for Devils fans this year...
 
#54 ·
The Devils just can't buy a good bounce this season. Mottau falls in the offensive zone on the PP, allowing Vasicek all day to stickhandle several times and score on Marty, who got a stick on the shot only to have it bounce up and over him into the back of the net. That play is the Devils season in a nutshell so far. Unlucky as hell.

A disturbing stat they showed at the end of the game, the Devils have been shutout 5 times so far this season. They were shutout a total of 6 times over the previous two seasons.:(

I feel bad for Marty right now. He has a good game, only allowing a freakish goal, but the team doesn't score a single goal for him. All 5 times the Devils have been shutout have been with him in goal. It's the third straight game they've lost when Marty had a chance to win #500.
 
#56 ·
Kevin Weekes has really played like he did with Carolina when he took them to the Cup Finals. He has been icnredibly acrobatic, has seemed very confident, and has been making great saves. He says that Devils goalie coach Jacques Caron has helped him to get back to how he played with Carolina, and it definitely shows.
But Brodeur has been getting consistently beter and better with each game. You cant blame him for the goal he gave up to the Islanders, it was just very, very unlucky. BUt the thing is, no one is scoring any goals for Brodeur. When Weekes is in net, the Devils seem to get a scorign touch, but it is strikingly less apparent when Brodeur is in net. In the three games he started, the Devils scored 4 goals once, and 3 goals twice. Whereas with Brodeur, the Devils have scored more than three goals only in the five wins out of 16 games.
 
#58 ·
Wow, Marty had a great game and the team scored for him. Now if they can only continue that the rest of the season...

Congratulations to Marty for getting #500. It seemed like getting that win was a big relief for him and the entire team. Now that it's come and gone they can put it behind them. Elias is finally starting to look like the old Elias, Gionta scored a beautifal chip shot goal, and Zubrus scored his 3rd goal against the Flyers this season. I guess he just needs to keep playing the Flyers.

Good game by the whole team, it would be nice to see more of these as the season progesses...
 
#59 ·
I know Sutter doesn't have all the players healthy yet, but I just can't get into his style of play. Now, I like the fact that he is trying to make the offense a little more aggressive, but New Jersey is too small of a team (tough, but small). It got kind of aggrevating, but they were very succesful using the dump and chase. I am not saying that his system won't work, but Jersey is just getting stood up as soon as they hit the offensive blue line, especially now that a majority of the teams they play are starting to use the trap. I don't know, I wish Sutter all the luck in the world, but if he can't get things rolling, don't be suprised to see Lou come back down to the bench.
 
#61 ·
Woohoo, Marty's first shutout of the season! Excellent game all around, hopefully there are more of these down the road. The Devils seemed more physical in this game than they've been most of the season. Maybe it's having Langenbrunner and White, who aren't afraid to take the body, back in the lineup. It's funny how much better the whole team has played with those two back. It'a almost as if the Devils traded for a top six winger and top four defenseman.
 
#62 ·
Have I mentioned before that Zach Parise is a hockey god? A hat trick plus an assist on the night, and 16 points in his last 9 games. Marty gets his second shutout in 3 games, and the Devils get their sixth straight win to pull within 2 points of the division lead. The only thing missing is Elias (or as I call him the Markus Naslund of the East) getting it going, but as long as the team is winning, I'm not going to complain too loudly.
 
#63 ·
Things are looking up for us thats for sure...patty may not be putting up many points but sense he has gone to center..its been better :)
 
#64 ·
Well, it wasn't the prettiest win against the Thrashers, but I'll take it. Marty was brilliant in the shootout, making three very solid saves to back up Gionta's patented backhand shootout goal. 7 wins in a row now, hopefully they can make it 8 against the Bruins. We'll see the old Devils against the new Devils with Julien and Sutter facing off.
 
#66 ·
I love the "never say die" attitude this team has been playing with during this streak. Down 3-0 after the first period, they keep working and come back to win it in overtime. What a way to keep the streak alive.

That game winning goal was a thing of beauty. Elias passes back to Greene, Greene passes to Brookbank who makes a nice pass to Parise, who drops the puck and drives the net, taking the two defenders out long enough to let Elias wrip a wrist shot past Rask. Patty's looked like the old Patty since they moved him to center between Parise and Gionta.

Here's hoping they make it 9 in a row on Scott Stevens Night.:thumbsup:
 
#67 ·
What's that I see? The Devils atop the Atlantic and behind only the Sens in the East? Who'd have thought we'd be saying that just a month ago, with the inconsistency they had the first 19 games of the year. I just hope they don't start getting overconfident.

It's shaping up for a nice showdown on Sunday with the Rangers. I know they won the first three games this year, but they haven't played this Devils team yet. I'm hoping Marty gets either the Rangers or Caps game off, he really should get a rest. I'm thinking it'll be Marty on Sunday and Weekes on Monday.
 
#68 ·
Granted the Devils led the entire game last night that was probably the sloppiest of the streak but was still pretty good. I'm sure Sutter is gonna be on their ass to bring their A game into the garden sunday..after all whats a streak for the devils if the rangers werent beatin in it
 
#70 ·
It's always nice to lose by a goal when the league screws up and calls off a goal because of a "distinctive kicking motion". What's funny to me is that the only kicking motion Mottau made was with his left skate, when the puck went in off his right skate. I'm not sure where the hell the indisputable evidence was, considering they called it a goal on the ice. Oh well, move on I guess...
 
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