They haven't had franchise goaltender Martin Brodeur for more than two and a half months and, at one point in November they were missing seven regulars because of injuriies. Yet, after tonight's 5-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at Prudental Center, the Devils are in first place in the Atlantic Division for the all-star break.
"We had a lot of injuries and the guys that stepped in did a hell of a job," said left wing Patrik Elias, who sealed tonight's win with an empty-net goal (his 20th of the season) with 54.4 seconds left. "The guys that were playing regularly did the right things to lead the team and you've got to give credit to both goaltenders. They've both been playing well. It hasn't been on any of the guys' minds right from that beginning about what's going to happen with the team with Marty not playing. We've just been playing.
"Obviously at the beginning, we had a little bit trouble scoring. We got past that. We got more confidence. It took some time to get used to each other as lines and we got rolling."
The Devils are 23-13-1 since Brodeur was injured on Nov. 1 and 22-8-1 since losing five of their first six games without him. Tonight's win gave the Devils 61 points -- one more than the Rangers and two more than Philadelphia with 35 regular season games remaining. The Rangers have 34 games left and the Flyers have 36.
"We did everything we could in this last week to set ourselves up for the stretch drive," Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner said. "I think right now the team is playing pretty well and we have a tough stretch right out of the break (three games in four days against Ottawa, Boston and Pittsburgh), but I think we've at least put ourselves in the hunt and that's what we wanted to do."
The Devils matched their season's longest winning streak with their fifth consecutive and accomplished their objective of not having a letdown after returning home from a six-game road trip in which they went 5-1.
"We talked about that a little bit before just to make sure we take care of business before we all part ways for the break and we did that," said Zach Parise, who scored his 28th goal of the season, tying him with Buffalo's Thomas Vanek for third in the league and putting him on pace to finish with 48. "We had a really good effort tonight and beat a really good team."
Parise has scored goals in three consecutive games and has six in his last seven contests. The Devils got two goals from their defensemen after getting none from their blue line in their previous seven games and just two in their previous 16 contest.
"We played very well out there," goaltender Scott Clemmensen said. "My defensemen were unbelievable tonight, moving the puck, finding the puck, boxing guys out, playing rebounds, moving it up, everything. They were awesome tonight. And they contributed offensively too. Defensively, my D tonight were outstanding, best game of the year."
Clemmensen made 26 saves to win his fourth start in a row.
The Devils have the next four days off before getting back together for practice on Monday afternoon. Then, they fly to Ottawa to play on Tuesday night.
Great win and a great job by the guys!! Enjoy the time off guys!
Posted by: Devilswede | January 21, 2009 at 10:46 PM
Hard not to call them contenders when they've taken first place at the break without Brodeur.
Posted by: Captain Cornholio | January 21, 2009 at 10:47 PM
According to Clemmer, the D-men are his...interesting
Posted by: Devs | January 21, 2009 at 10:55 PM
Nice win tonight. I'm a huge Rush fan. Good to see the devils come on the ice for the 3rd period to Rush's "far cry".
Posted by: C$ | January 21, 2009 at 10:58 PM
I wouldn't read anything into it, Devs. He's on Cloud 9 like the rest of them.
Posted by: Captain Cornholio | January 21, 2009 at 11:05 PM
Hope you're right Cornholio...I can't wait to see how this team plays when Marty comes back
Posted by: Devs | January 21, 2009 at 11:08 PM
Brodeur always calls it his defense. So, for now, it belongs to Clemmensen.
Posted by: Tom Gulitti | January 21, 2009 at 11:22 PM
Here's to hoping for a few things after the break; first, let's hope the Devils don't forget how to score again when Marty returns; also, let's not rush him back at all - I know they've been stressing this, but when one of the best goaltenders ever, a guy who is used to playing 70+ games a year, says he wants to go, the coaching staff had better be firm; I personally hope Lou doesn't trade away any forwards - I know I hear Gio, Madden, Pando could be headed somewhere, but Gio is skating hard and putting up points, Pando will again be useful soon, and I think Madden had a really great game tonight. Lots of takeaways, but ones that actually turned into chances (also, he should have gotten the backhand up on the breakaway, but so it goes). Good PK (I believe he was with Elias again). So I at least don't want these things to change. For now, looks good from the top!
Posted by: Moosamus | January 21, 2009 at 11:57 PM
That may be true TG, but there is one helluva big difference between Martin Brodeur and Scott Clemmensen...just to point out the obvious.
Posted by: dannyd | January 22, 2009 at 12:00 AM
Madden definitely stepped up upon the signing of Shanahan. I think he realized no one's job was safe. Unfortunately I don't think Pando serves a purpose on this team, he could somewhere has but right now this team is solid and idk Lou has some decisions ahead
Posted by: Devs | January 22, 2009 at 12:28 AM
When Scott Clemmensen puts up numbers like he has, he can call the whole State of New Jersey "his."
Despite the fact that he didn't even get called up from Lowell until after the Devils' tenth game of the season and didn't get a start until the Devils' 14th game, Clemmensen is ranked 7th in the NHL in Wins with 19, 6th in GAA at 2.29 and 8th in SV% with .922, or 92.2 as an actual percentage.
Clemmensen is a major reason why the New Jersey Devils are first in the Atlantic Division at the All-Star break.
Posted by: Matt M. | January 22, 2009 at 10:08 AM
I don't get it Clemmer comes in and keeps the ship afloat and yet during the time everyone is calling for Weekes to play? He has us in 1st place at the All-star break and we are worrying about him being a little confident and comfortable as the #1. He has every right to be confident and even a little cocky. He calls it his defense because it his defense and his forwards being part of the team in front of him that he is anchoring. I think we all need to relax over the break and enjoy what has happened so far this season.
Posted by: Jeff | January 22, 2009 at 11:31 AM
The fact that the Devils really stepped up the scoring after dropping the first 6 without Marty doesn't count thou right? Consistantly scoring more than usual infront of Marty? No.. It must be all Clemmer..
Posted by: Ben M. | January 22, 2009 at 01:27 PM
Great work by a team without the best goalie in hockey.. Congrats guys
Posted by: Craig in Vancouver | January 22, 2009 at 01:51 PM
I think the telling stat so far has been the Devils record without Marty this season. For many people (and even some fans), when Marty went down it felt like the season would end early. But credit the players and the coaching staff for holding it together, especially when the team had several regulars sitting out with injuries. It really shows the true character of a team when they can take that many punches but still stand in the rink.
Personally, I feel if there was a team that can go deeper in the playoffs, it can be this one. With the mental and physical toughness developed from that stretch of injuries, plus a nice addition with a rested Marty coming back for the "stretch" run, I feel the Devils can make some noise this year.
We'll see what the rest of the year has in store, but some good hockey so far and I hope it continues. Let's Go Devils!
Posted by: AJ | January 22, 2009 at 09:17 PM