New York hex continues

The Devils now have lost all nine games against the New York teams in the Atlantic Division after a 3-1 loss to the Islanders tonight at Prudential Center.

The Devils are 0-4-1 against the Isles, earning only one point out of a possible 10 with a 4-3 overtime loss in the teams' first meeting of the season on Oct. 20 at Nassau Coliseum. They're 0-2-2 against the Rangers, getting two points for a shootout loss and an overtime loss.

The Devils have scored only seven goals in their five losses to the Isles.

When asked tonight if the Islanders have the Devils' number, Patrik Elias replied, "It doesn't take a rocket scientist (to say that), does it? Especially this year, they're playing well against us. Those are big points to lose."

They started slowly again, falling behind 2-0 for the second game in a row. With their top two penalty killers (Jay Pandolfo and John Madden) both out with injuries, they unwisely took the first four penalties of the game. The two that hurt most were the simultaneous minors against Colin White and Mike Mottau -- though both Mottau and Devils coach Brent Sutter questioned his slash on Andy Hilbert-- that led to Bill Guerin's 5-on-3 goal.

Then, after the Devils finally got going, they couldn't convert on five consecutive power plays, including one with 6:36 left in the game. Rick DiPietro had a lot to do with that, making 37 saves.

"We had quality scoring chances and their goaltender made some big saves," Sutter said.

Elias said DiPietro embelished a little on a glove save he made on him with 1:21 left in the second period. "I kind of fanned on it," Elias said. "The puck was on edge. He made it look very good."

The Devils' power play is scoreless in the last two games after producing at least one goal in five consecutive games. The penalty kill allowed its first goal in seven games. They had killed off 16 consecutive penalties over their previous six games in 2008.

"Early you're down 2-0 and at that point we hadn't played as well as we needed to play," Sutter said. "Then, we were playing like you want to see your hockey team play. We started creating some scoring chances. The opposition starts taking penalties because you're skating with your feet. You need your power play to step up. They didn't produce and that's the bottom line."

Comments

[Xander Crews]

Lame defeat... Devils played soooo well in the third and Clarkson Asham and even Tallackson were all pretty good. Zubrus was an absolute beast, he seemed like he couldnt be knocked off balance.

Anyway im from Maryland and im going to see my first game at the new arena feb 23 against the Isles (better win this one) and want to know if anyone has any suggestions on where i should be eating around the arena etc.

[Xander Crews]

crap i meant Rupp not Clarkson. Rupp was the one playing really well.

[Jim A.]

Poor Langenbrunner couldn't buy a goal tonight. He had two or three really good chances, but just couldn't finish.

We also need to do a better job at carrying the puck into their zone, Paul Martin was the only real standout tonight.

[Sarah]

Paul Martin played great tonight. Saved our asses twice on bad plays on the power play that lead to Isles 2-on-1s in the 3rd.

[ALEXNJD]

Hey guys do you think its time to put Parise on the first line? I don't even remmember the last time he scored and shotouts doesn't count? We had 3 perfect chances 2 for #15 and 1 for #26. I know that lately Clarkson gets the perfect chances but I don't think he can do anything but scores on the raparound which is still comes in the right times,but those guys #15 and #26 should SCORE!!!!

[Pat D]

Hey TG I was curious to see if you knew what our PK was ranked, and if you had a site I could check all of those special team stats or faceoff % ect.

[Xander Crews]

^ ESPN.com has all the stats. Anyway were 11th in PK, and the Islanders are 3rd.

[Devilswede]

Paul Martin?! He and Oduya were the two that screwed up bigtime on the Isles' 2:nd goal. A mistake like that is unacceptable.

I just can't believe that the Devils just don't have an answer for the Islanders and the Rangers. The division is so tight, these lost points are definitely going to come back to haunt them and that's what frustrates me the most. These are 4-point games and the Devils are letting them slip away....it's really disheartening.

[Falcone]

Hey Xander Crews-
I think you're mistaken, Tallakson barely played at all in the 3rd period. Rupp, Asham and Clarkson played on the 4th line. Pelly, Brylin, and Tallakson barely played in the 3rd.

Barry's not needed up here any more. He brings 0 to the table. We need a scorer, someone like Vrada or Bergfors who hasn't really had a shot and wants to play for something. Barry has yet to prove me wrong.

The game was aweful except for the second half of it. The first half we were on our heels and just feeling the Islanders out. There's no hatred when we play NYI. Guys aren't hitting, guys aren't jawing at each other, there's not that intensity we need to win. I understand so many guys know and like each other and the game has changed from what it used to be. However when we play other teams, we have to hate them. We need to do something, because we're missing it. When our 4th line is our best line, we're not clicking right.

[TG]

You can also find all of the stats on NHL.com.

[Mike]

Johnny Oduya & Paul Martin ARE TERRIBLE! Martin has spurts of playing well but always reverts to his crap play. Oduya is the worst defenseman to ever wear a Devils uniform. I am sick and tired of having to watch our offense NOT be allowed to play offense cause they have to sit back and help our terrible defense keep the puck out of our net. We need to start winning in regulation and we need to start playing mean hockey against our cross town rivals. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

[JJ]

Judging from Patty's sarcastic quote (re: "Rickies" glove save) the players are as frustrated as we fans are. We need to quiet the Islander fans who are suddenly becoming obnoxious in our building. Time for the worm to turn boys, Falcone is right, we need a little bit of that good old hockey hate.

BTW, who was supposed to be covering Sillinger??? Talk about wide open in front!

[Kevin]

Paul Martin i the man, kid plays 25 minutes a game and is without a doubt our best and smartest defensman. Oduya is awful. Time to put Rachunek back in the line up. The fact that Oduya was playing the point on the power play instead of Langenbrunner for the past few games is BEYOND ME

[Devilswede]

Dammit..I just can't get over this loss! The game meant so much..and losing for the sixth straight game against those guys stings. We have to find a way..

[JJ]

Yep, I agree Kevin. Martin is probably the Devils best defenseman with White and Greene a close 2nd. If he had more of a physical edge he'd be complete but he's not built for that. Not sure about Rachunek, isn't he still hurt? Hey, this team is what it is and last time I checked they were still at the top of the East which I didn't expect them to be. Just imagine where they'd be if Niedermeyer hadn't migrated.

[Maxwell]

There were a number of devastating things that contributed to last night's effort:

1. Obviously we missed Madden BIG TIME on the PK.
2. Colin White and Paul Martin BOTH had bad games at the same time (very rare).
3. Aaron Asham has no skills.

I don't know what it is exactly, but Ash has a chance to score (sometimes multiple) every single game and just folds. That dude needs to shed some skills.

My wife is from Long Island, and I am from Jersey. We both live in NJ now, but this whole situation with us BLOWING IT every time we play the Isles is really affecting my home life...

[Jason]

Rupp was out best player last night. If he wasn't on a line with 2 career AHL'ers, he might have had a big game. Hopefully when Sutter is done blaming the refs for this loss, he moves Rupp onto the first line in place of Elias.

[Jeff]

2 things about last night that drove me nuts

Langenbrunner not on the point most of the time and the dump and let Dipietro clear the puck strategy.I mean how many times can we dump the puck right to him let him and clear and say hey meybe this time it will work?

[Mikedeadworks]

I like Rupp a lot, but wow Jason...either you said that to get a rise out of people or you really don't pay that close attention. And about "Career AHL'ers" I assume you mean Tallackson, but Clarkson nor Asham belong there. They are fine. If anyone, out of the three, Rupp/Clarkie/Ash, Rupp would be the best canidate to go down. With a +/- @ -4, one of the lowest on the team, just because he's driving to the net with the puck doesn't make him a better player.

[Falcone]

The deal is Ruppy doesn't want to be on the outside looking in when Madden, Pando and Cam are back. We have a good team right now, we just didn't click last night.

I still think Sarge needs to go when Pando comes back. Lines would be:
Parise/Travis/Lang
Elias/Gio/Zub
Pando/Madden/Asham
Clarkson/Pelly/Rupp

Sub in Cam when possible, but I think Cam might be the odd man out. Possibly we make a trade, but we could have 14 forwards, which we don't need. Plus we also don't need Cam's 3 min of ice time and 5 min in the box. We need guys that can play the whole game.

I also think there needs to be a trade on D. Johnny O had a bad game, but I think we can get something for him. I like Brookbank, but we might have to ditch Rachunik.

[RJ Arditti]

I think that as Devils fans the MAJORITY of us are so used to us being so dominant that they feel one little bump in the road and everyone wants scream bloody murder about everyone sucking. We ALL need to calm down and look at the real stats.
1.) number one is that WE are currently Number 1 in the Atlantic Division
2.) Todays Date is January 17th, The Devils have played 7 games in the month of January we are 5-1-1, and out of those 7 games we have gone into overtime/shootout twice.. not too bad in my opinion
3.) in the month of December we played 13 games. in those 13 games we went 8-4-1.

In My opinion that shows that the team is actually PLAYING BETTER than last month. and this is proven by the actual wins and losses.
OK so my point here is that the team is actually playing pretty good and we all must be really bored at work or REALLY sexually frustrated because if, and ONLY IF you really are a true Devils fan, there really isn;t much to be upset about, especially since most people here over the summer when we lost Rafi and Gomer thought we werent gonna make the playoffs. So fans lay off because no matter how much you think a player sucks, hes 's still better than you. Thats why he gets paid to play

[RJ Arditti]

Oh and Xander crews, if your looking for a restaurant, try getting a reservation at the one in the arena, the food is really good, and they give you a great view of the game, but you have to have tix for the game to get a reservation. Beyond that i have never eaten in Newark outside of the arena, so i have no other recommendations

[RJ Arditti]

and as for last night, anyone who watched the game should tell you that Ricky D was amazing between the pipes last night. I hate EVERY team not called the Devils, and i was at the game last night and even i had to tip my cap to Ricky last night at the end

[devils3]

saw somewhere the devils are interested in rob blake and/or adam foote. that would be huge.

[RJ Arditti]

i would love Rob Blake, we could use him more so than Foote as Foote is a little slow, where as blake would be a boon to our power play.... i would love that!