Wild finish on Boston

Tonight's 4-3 loss in Boston was a result of the Devils falling asleep in the last 5:47 of the first period and the last minute of the second and because they couldn't find a way to get the puck past Tim Thomas and a swarm of Bruins bodies in the crease in the final eight seconds.

Backup goaltender Kevin Weekes did give up at least two goals he should have had -- Dennis Wideman's from the right point that made it 2-1 with 1:50 left in the first period and Marco Strum's shorthander with .6 seconds left in the first. The Devils, particularly Johnny Oduya, didn't give Weekes much help on the shorthanded, goal, though.

Even with that, the Devils still had a chance to tie it in the third after Travis Zajac's power-play goal cut it to 4-3. Brian Gionta had the best chance during that mad scramble in the final seconds, whacking at a loose puck at the right post. Bruins center Glen Metropolit actually stopped the puck with his outstretched arm. Gionta said it stopped on the goal line.

Sutter looked at the replay afterward to see if any Bruin covered the puck in the crease, which would have given the Devils a penalty shot, but that wasn't the case.

"It was a scrum," Sutter said. "We were just looking at it. The puck was loose the whole time. There were never any of their sticks on it."

Other items from tonight's loss:

**Zajac continued to take the high road after learning that Derian Hatcher was not suspended for allegedly biting his left middle finger on Friday. "It was out of my hands," he said (no pun intended). "The NHL deals with these problems. If they think that no suspension was needed, it's not. Whatever the case, it's not going to affect me."

**Weekes said he felt a "little tweak" in the outer middle part of his right leg trying ot kick it out to stop P.J. Axelsson's shot with 3:20 remaining. "Hopefully, it's nothing too serious," he said. "It doesn't feel too bad now."

**The Devis reached the halfway point in the regular season with a 23-15-3 record and 49 points, which gives them a one-point lead over Pittsburgh for first in the Atlantic Division. Last season, they were 24-13-4 under current Bruins coach Claude Julien.

***The fourth line of Arron Asham, Mike Rupp and David Clarkson turned the game around for the Devils in the second period with some hard work down low that eventually produced Johnny Oduya's goal that made it 3-2. That line was effective in the third period too and the rest of the team appeared to feed off of them. "I thought we had some really good shifts," Asham said. "We had them pinned in their zone pretty much every time we were out there...Hopefully, they leave us together."

***Patrik Elias was still angry at Zdeno Chara after the game for going after Brian Gionta again after the final buzzer. Elias shouted at the 6-9 Chara and had to be retrained by the linesmen during the post-buzzer scrum. Gionta (5-7) ended up with two red marks on his forehead from having his helmet knocked off.

"(Expletive) him," Elias said of Chara afterward. "He was picking on a smaller guy, tough guy."

Comments

[Dave]

I appreciate Elias protecting Gionta from Chara, but I think Gionta was at the very least trying to give as good as he got. Those Chara-Gionta battles are pretty great.

Great job getting these blog entries up so quick, just one thing...it says "Last season, they were 24-13-4 under 'Current Bruins coach Brent Sutter'"

I really appreciate the blog, you're the go-to-guy for Devils fans. God only knows how many times I refresh the page throughout the day.

[jules]

Good on Patty for sticking up for Gionta. Chara's such a punk. I'd still like to see a Gio vs. Chara cagefight though. My money's on Brian.

Hope Weekes is okay, and that tonight's results won't discourage Sutter from playing him more.

And nice interview with Steve tonight.

[Brian]

There is the Elias we all love! Awesome stuff, I would love to see a fight next time they play the Bruins. That scrum afterwards was exciting but it would have been great if it was a 6 on 6 brawl.

Gionta and Chara have had so many run ins in scrums dating back to Chara's days in Ottawa. I always found it comical because of the height difference but it seems like the Devils have had enough.

[Chris]

Weekes didnt look too hot. tonight, Ive always thought of him as a hot and cold goalie.

[TG]

Sorry about the typos (and the Sutter/Julien mixup). I guess I was going too fast. think I fixed all the errors.

[Nik]

I like Elias a lot more without the "C". He has a renewed fire and been playing very well his last few games. But Gionta and Chara have always been at ods with one another, A "Davie vs. Goliath" battle. Always fun to watch.

[Pat D]

Good for Elias. I'm glad he's playing with some serious fire.

[Alzheimers]

TG, nice job on the interview with Cangialosi, I thought you handled yourself well trying to explain the situation with the league demanding more video proof. I was just surprised they didn't use the overhead goal cam, or the camera behind the net that they use when replaying goals that barely get over the line. It looked like those would have the perfect angle to tell for sure what happened.

By the way, next time you see him tell Steve he looked like an Oompa-Loompa on TV -- his face was bright orange, but his neck and around his hairline was pale white. Was that just a trick of the camera, or just way too much botox and makeup?

[Jim A.]

Tom, any reaction from Lamoriello or Conte regarding Matt Halischuk's WJC performance? He looks like he might turn into a steal.

[Xander Crews]

Good to see Elias having some kind of emotion even if it wasnt till the game was over. Thats been his problem imo is it doesnt look like hes fired up enough. Theyd better keep the Rupp, Clarkson, Asham line together i really want to see how they do could turn out to be the deciding factor in games since i cant think of any team that has a 4th line that plays better then they played.

Finally it suck that were no only 1 point ahead of the streaking S***sburg Pens cause Weekes blew the game for us and he did. Atleast we saw the Devils can play from behind still and i fully expected them to win once Zajac scored in the 3rd.

[DevsForLife]

Good to see Patty still has some fire in him, but I think he should find another Bruin to pick fights with; Gionta/Chara fights are the best.

[Mike]

Chara was just trying to prevent the goal and he is always going to be the bigger guy in any fight he's in. I love the Elias comment though. Thats old school sports and I LOVE IT! For once the corporate machine broke down and SOME REAL EMOTION leaked out! How many come from behind games are we going to play in this year? At least, no one can call us boring. That was a great game even with the loss and an old school finish. The league could only hope every game ended like that one!

[Tom]

Whoever mentioned Halischuk above, i live in Kitchener where he plays and he is a steal there is no question about it. In 31 games he has 12 goals and 35 assists for 47 points. The center for his line Justin Azevedo(26goals - 54 assists) is the the #1 scorer in the OHL and on the other side Nick Spaling has 49 points(28 goals)

Read more about him here http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospects/matt_halischuk
(the only game i went to this year he stole the puck away on the blue line and
went in and with a sick dangle got the gwg in ot)

With Canada at the WJC he worked the 2nd pk unit, had i think 2 goals 4 assists including the OT Gold Winning Goal

Prolly a year in Lowell then up to the big club

[Anthony]

devils fans - remember the name Tony Romano. He's one of my very good friends. He got drafted by the devils a few years ago and is playing in the OHL right now. He's probably going to be with Lowell next year - i can't wait to see him hopfully crack the devils roster inside the next few years, hes a real offensive talent.

[Tom]

Romano has 14 points in 38 games with the London Knights..i hope he gets better...

or Lowell will suck again next year...

[Scott731]

Romano is having a pretty awful year. Also, I read one of his reasons for leaving the college system for Canadian juniors was Romano wanted to play a more wide open offensive system that wouldn't force as much defensive play on him. Based on that and the highlight clips on youtube I worry about Romano playing enough defense and now with his poor offensive season I worry his offense won't come anywhere near close enough to make up for his lack of defensive play.

[Tom]

i think he expected to play with gagner or kane but both moved to the nhl this year. he got fucked over lmao

[ALEXNJD]

Every game does't metter who is in the net, if we get SHG against us we never won the game. 2 goals out of 4 scored by Boston were easy once, Weeks should heve stoped them.It has nothing to do with him not playing for long plus he did't get any help from D.On the SHG it was 5 NJ players on the ice and nobody came back to help,first shot missed the net and hit the glas then Boston player had time to get the puck go to the net and slamed like 4 times at the puck and still no one from Jersey came up to him.I don't think that Odya is better then Brookbank,in the game with Phily he felt like 4 times in his own end.

[devs fan]

chara is such a puss. he is all talk. i love that patty and langs stuck up for gio.

[Falcone]

I love the Chara Gio battles. I'm a little guy, 5'9" but I always loved going up against the big guys. I thought it was fun. The only thing I found was their reach was something I couldn't content with. Just as it was with Chara. He's punching Gio. That's just crap. I know Gio's a pest and I'm sure Chara has a reason to go after him to an extent. But you can't throw punches. Too bad Colin's protecting his eye. He would've stepped in.

I give a ton of credit to Patty. Good for you. I know it was a minor little tussle, but this is the stuff that a team needs to come together.

[RJ Arditti]

here we go, just like i said a week ago... patty is starting to emerge in the second half just like he always does.... god bless him i hope he turns it on and fast and we can take the atlantic!