Some tidbits from tonight's 3-2 win over Washington, which extended the Devils' winning streak to nine games, matching the third-longest in team history. The record of 13 was set in 2000-01 (The Devils' 15 consecutive wins -- 11 at the end of the regular season and their first four games of the playoffs -- in 2005-06 do not qualify).
***The victory also completed a sweep of their five-game homestand, making it the first time in team history that they won all of the games in a homestand of at least five games. They had 11 previous homestands of at least five games and the closest they came was going 4-0-1 during one in 1993-94.
***Travis Zajac's rebound goal of Sheldon Brookbank's right point shot 6:29 into the third period turned out to be the game-winner and snapped his 11-game goal drought. He last scored in a 3-2 win on Nov. 12 in Pittsburgh. "It definitely was (a long time)," he said. "I was getting chances. It's nice just to get a garbage one like that. I tried to park myself in front of the net all night and, hopefully, get one to bounce off of me. It was a good shot by Brooks to get it on net."
***Brookbank has three assists in the last two games after being held without a point in his first 16 games as a Devil. "It's weird how it works like that," he said. Brookbank said he hasn't been doing much different offensively the last two games after sitting out the previous two as a healthy scratch. "It's probably just a few minor things in the defensive zone that me and Larry (Robinson) have been working on," he said. "Offensively, it's been just a couple small little things that the coaching staff brought to my attention. I don't know if that's the reason I got an assist here and there."
***Dainius Zubrus' goal was his sixth of the season and his fourth against one of his fomer teams. He has three against the Flyers, who drafted him 15th overall in 1996. He played five-plus seasons for the Capitals before being traded to Buffalo on Feb. 27 of last season. When asked if he enjoyed scoring against his former teams, he replied, "Why not?"
***Up next is Sunday's game against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The Devils are 0-2-1 against the Blueshirts this season and a combined 0-4-2 against their two metro area rivals (Rangers and Islanders). "It's our big rival and we're (0-2-1) against them and we're going to play them eight times, so if we want to have a decent record we've got to get going here," goaltender Martin Brodeur said. "It's a team that plays us well and, hopefully, we'll get our A Game and be a little better than the last few games."
Devils Keep Winning... Big Game on Sunday...
Posted by: Devswriter99 | December 07, 2007 at 10:56 PM
Need a more complete 60 minute effort sunday. Rangers will be mad after losing again tonight. Devils need to get one vs them. I say play Marty sunday & rest him monday. Weeksie deserves the start.
Posted by: Jason | December 07, 2007 at 10:58 PM
Devils were pretty darn lethargic after the first period... they won't be able to get away with that against better teams.
Posted by: frankiedue | December 07, 2007 at 11:02 PM
yea i think marty also needs a rest hes been giving 200% perecent effort when the team just dies to secure our wins
Posted by: Evans | December 07, 2007 at 11:10 PM
No comments from Barry Everson...er, Melrose?
Posted by: Steve Lepore | December 07, 2007 at 11:13 PM
Hey, TG, I think I get what you meant about Melrose.
Honestly, they paid more attention to him than they did to Stevens tonight.
The ceremony was classic "Devils." They got the number retirements right, but not letting him say anything, rushing him in, rushing him out, what was that?
You got the PA guy drowning out the fans, too.
It was disappointing. But, I guess Melrose got his, right? What can you expect out of an organization that does a promo to fill the building and cuts it off 30 minutes in, all while forgetting to fill in the sections the promo was designed to fill.
For as great as the Devils on-ice organization is, the off-ice is 2 times worse.
This *has* to change.
Posted by: Arrrgh | December 07, 2007 at 11:25 PM
I couldn't reach Barry tonight. He did not return the message I left for him on his cell. Personally, I don't feel the need to bend over backwards for him the way the Devils and the City of Newark did tonight.
And, from what I understand, Stevens did not want to speak. We talked to him during the first intermission and he said of the ceremony, "It was nice and short and sweet, the way I like it."
It actually lasted longer than I thought it would, but I usually have low expectations for these kind of events with the Devils.
Posted by: TG | December 08, 2007 at 12:29 AM
http://www.myfoxny.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=5158203&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.2.1
About the Melrose situation
Posted by: Jon | December 08, 2007 at 04:03 AM
I thought the Stevens ceremony went off exactly like it should have. We had the big ceremony last year to honor the Devils career of Stevens with the number retirement. Last night was a shorter ceremony to recognize Stevens being inducted to the HOF so it's going to be something smaller. IMO it wouldn't have made sense to have Stevens speak, the Devils played his HOF speech so to have him give another speech would have been redundant.
Posted by: Scott | December 08, 2007 at 07:38 AM
Scottie did crib some of the HOF speech from his number retirement ceremony. Can't say I blame him, I'd do the same thing!
Posted by: wkmaier | December 08, 2007 at 09:37 AM
As Dano said, Stevens is a very humble guy. There was no need to go overboard on this ceremony - in my opinion, it was just right. Also, as far as there being empty club seats last night, the weather may very well have been a factor. If I had purchased tickets to this game, I wouldn't have been too willing to get down there with the icy, snowy situation in parts of southern New York/north Jersey. For what it's worth, the upper deck was apparently full. Loved the wave as well.
Hope Melrose enjoyed his visit. I agree with you Tom on not bending over backwards for him - the Devils organization did not owe him that invitiation. He owed it to them to pay a visit himself and see the way things really are at The Rock.
Posted by: Laura | December 08, 2007 at 09:40 AM
Also, I'm becoming more impressed with Mottau each game. He's been very strong on the power play - that keep at the blue line last night was particularly impressive.
Posted by: Laura | December 08, 2007 at 10:11 AM
One of these days they'll actually convince all those corporations that bought luxury boxes to actually find people to attend the games. Last night was a great night even if I'm not the biggest fan of the wave. I'd just as soon prefer more chanting. There's nothing quite like being at a sporting event when the fans are in full voice.
Posted by: PhantomNJ | December 08, 2007 at 09:01 PM