Devils not happy with pivotal penalty; Clemmensen struggles

That the Devils played poorly in the first two periods of tonight's 5-2 loss to the Capitals wasn't really debtable.

They still had a chance to win the game, however, after Jamie Langenbrunner's shorthanded goal 41 seconds into the third period cut what had been a 3-0 deficit to 3-2.

The Devils controlled play after that until Mike Rupp was called for goaltender interference at 9:09 of the third by referee Bill McCreary. It appeared that Washington's Tom Poti reached in with his stick, tripping Rupp as he drove to the net and causing him to slide into goaltender Jose Theodore.

"I'm not falling intentionally, so I don't know what happened," Rupp said. "I was taking the puck to the net. I think if I was standing up and ran into the goalie, then fine."

Devils coach Brent Sutter said it was clearly a trip.

"No question the video showed he was tripped on the play," Sutter said. "He's driving to the net and a guy trips him. How do you stop? Not every time a goalie gets touched does it mean there's a penalty. Sometimes there are circumstances leading into it that make it happen. It clearly shows he was tripped on the play. He's cutting to the net and gets tripped by the defenseman.,.That's a penalty and we get it called against us when it should have been called the other way."

Michael Nylander scored with only 10 seconds left in the resulting power play and the Devils' hopes of another comeback win were essentially finished. That was the Caps' third power-play goal of the night.

"It was unfortunate," Rupp said."I'm not very happy about it. We got within one and had some life, but if I have that play again I'm taking it to the net hard again."

"It's huge," Sutter said of the penalty. "As (poorly) as we played up to that point, we got life in the third off of Jamie's goal and we really started creating stuff and it's a reflection of the whole night, really. They scored with (10) seconds left on that penalty. A goal like that can't happen to you."

Sutter was referring to Nylander's goal, an unscreened right circle wrist shot that beat goaltender Scott Clemmensen between the pads. It was not a good goal against for Clemmensen.

"You've got to give up something at that point when you're killing a penalty and that's not a great goal." Sutter said.

Clemmensen agreed.

"I should have had it,” Clemmensen admitted. “I was thinking he was going to pass more than shoot it and I think that’s one of the reasons why I let it in.”

It was not Clemmensen's best game overall. He allowed four goals on 25 shots.

"No it wasn't," Sutter said.

Clemmensen said Nylanders' first goal of the night, which put Washington up 3-0 2:16 into the second, came after Eric Fehr's inital shot - a slap shot from the left circle -- hit him in the throat.

"He shot it and it hit me in the throat and stung me a little bit," Clemmensen said. "I have the shield there and it took a weird bounce off it and I bobbled it a little bit after I got stung. I had a guy right on top of me (Boyd Gordon) and he kind of chipped it away from me before I could put my glove on it and (Gordon) chipped it out front...When you go down on all fours to cover the puck, it's kind of an all-or-nothing. If you dont get it, you're stuck on your hands and knees."

***

The Devils got off to a bad start with a too-many-men penalty only 4:17 into the game. It happened after Rupp and David Clarkson both became involved with Donald Brashear while heading to the bench.

"It was a bad decision on our part on a line change," Sutter said. "If you come to the bench, you have to come to the bench. You can't come and then go to an altercation because guys are coming off the bench. The guys that are coming on, they went because they're supposed to go."

Mike Green scored on the resulting power play to give the Caps a 1-0 lead. Then, Jamie Langenbrunner was called for hooking at 8:08 and Brooks Laich scored only four seconds into that power play to make it 2-0.

The Devils' penalty kill had breakdowns on the PK on both goals.

"We gave them too many power plays," Langenbrunner said. "Every time we did take a penalty, it ended up in our net. That team, I think we played them pretty well 5-on-5, It was just they won on specialty teams."

***

Langenbrunner saw his streak of three consecutive two-goal games come to an end, but his shorthanded goal gave him seven goals in four games since the all-star break after he had eight in 46 games before the break.

“It’s one of those things that I feel good out there and I want the puck and it’s going in the net right now,” Langenbrunner said.

Comments

[Captain Cornholio]

Not that the Devils deserved to win this game, but McCreary's decision to call the penalty killed any chances they had to get back into the game.

[Devilswede]

Clemmensen was a joke tonight! The 3rd and 4th goal was all his fault... He cost us the game. Can't wait until Marty gets back!

[devilsfanatic]

i totally agree. Clemensen was really bad tonight. I would very much like to see Kevin Weeks playing the next game especially since he played well in his last start. Clemensen shouldn't get to comfortable. I can't wait for marty to come back!

[futureman]

McQuirey was terrible tonight and so was his mustache. Clemmer let in some softies and the PK and PP looked disorganized. We have to put the puck in the net on the two on one right after Jamies sick SHG.

[Mikedeadworks]

I was in the lower bowel behind the net when that happened. I saw McCreary instantly call rupp for it and I look at Rupp and you can see him mouth WHHHHHHHHHHAT!. I think McCreary made a few squirrly calls and I'm not one to usually say that. I feel that hey, they are there, they can see it better. But not tonight.

[Pearl Jammed(RJ Arditti)]

Meh McQueery always screws us... just like toronto always screws us..... it is what it is, i was there and the first words out of my mouth when i saw him point to rupp was.. whats the call 2 minutes for playing hockey? 2 minutes for wearing a red jersey?

[brian s]

the devils cant play for eight minutes and expect to win against a team like that. clemmenson did not play well at all, but he had no help. the 3rd or 4th goal, i cant remember, when the capital forward just had the puck on his stick standing there which felt like 10 minutes with no one challenging him. what does he do. he walks in and scores a soft one on clemmer. no one challenged him, i thought that the refs missed a few calls tonight for the devils. bad effort by the red team tonight, real bad. the caps owned them. they controlled everything and did whatever they wanted. looks like mass transit turned out a decent crowd considering the weather.

[Chris]

I really loathe Bill McCreary. It's not just when he calls our games, it's every game he calls, nothing but god awful penalties and he misses the most obvious stuff. I have no idea how he's still an NHL Ref.

[chico1]

McCreary is a joke...he needs to retire, yesterday.

[Sammy]

Clemensen got exposed 2nite by a good team. I really don't get how team's don't light him up from time to time. Get him moving across the crease and your almost due a goal with him floppin out there like a fish, man has no clue where the puck is half of the time.

[ZuljinRaynor]

This game wasn't Clemmer's best, that's for sure, and I hope it was just a off night. Marty has had them, everyone has them. If Clemmer starts playing worse then we can't use him as some kind of trade bait.

[Gilly]

I had a bad feeling about this game, and my fears came to light pretty quick. Rough night for Clemmensen; maybe all of these starts are starting to catch up with him because he really struggled out there, especially on that 2nd Nylander goal. The Devs won 8 in a row, it had to come to an end sometime. Overall the team looked flat, but at least Langs is still going. We have to see Weekes start the next one. I don't know about everyone else, but I am ready for Marty.

[MTLsDevils]

Is it me or since the news that Marty's been skating and taking shot, Clemmensen's play kinda dropped? Just saying....

[TG]

Clemmensen played well in Ottawa and very good for two periods in Boston.

Since that puck-handling mistake behind the net that led to the first Boston goal, he's not been great.

[cg]

It's time for Sutter to give Weekes a try, and I don't mean for just one game. Clemmer did a good job, but his true colors are showing now. He's not capable of playing this many games at this level. Besides, I really think Weekes should have been playing more all along. I don't understand this thing Sutter has for Clemmer.

[cg]

BTW, TG, could you find out if Marty is planning on staying with that new mask when he returns? I really hope he goes back to the old reliable! Thanks! Love this blog!

[JoeDevil]

Everyone is WAY too hard on Clemmer. He had a bad game, so did the whole team. Does anyone remember how well Clemmer has played all season. 22 wins out of 30 games, that's pretty good.
That being said, I think he needs a game off. Play weeks against Atl. and Clemmer against LA.

[Biff]

Who knew we had so many goalie coaches/scouts on the board?

[JJ]

Brian S - On Nylander's PP goal (3rd goal of the night) the correct play for the penalty killers is NOT to challenge the puck carrier it is to take away the pass to the slot so Clemmer has NO EXCUSE for thinking pass. A low percentage sharp angle shot from 20 feet HAS GOT TO BE STOPPED END OF STORY. Poor play in the first and 2nd period and McCreary's BS call aside, the goalie has got to step up in those situations when your team is not at it's best and make that save to keep the comeback alive.

[Jeff]

I was there last night and missing a trip shouldn't have surprised anyone since they missed a few trips that could have been called against the Caps. Not mention some obvious slashing calls. I hate to think this way but the teams the NHL is trying to sell like Pens with Crosby, Boston as a whole and Ovechkin and the Caps seem to always get the calls and non-calls in their favor especially on Nationally televised games.

[TG]

I think they will play Weekes one of the next two games, but might save him for LA on Saturday because he played so well against the Kings the last time he faced them.

[devils worshipper]

Hey, I wasn't expecting the Devs to win every game until the playoffs started, and unfortunately a lot of the Devils had a bad game against a VERY good team. If we had played that same game and it was against Ottawa, Atlanta, or the Islanders, we could have pulled it out in the end.

The thing I found scary about the game was that Washington looked mentally prepared, and we looked like we thought we'd compete just by showing up. Not against Washington.

I agree with a lot of the comments up-thread that said Clemmensen has been successful as a result of the team's overall play. I guess it's true that hindsight is 20/20, but it kind of seems like Clemmer was playing all these games recently mainly because he hasn't lost, and really the whole team was playing well, it wasn't a case of Clemmensen's play carrying the Devils to victory.

Thinking about it now, Weekes should have been getting more time all along, especially if there's any plans to move one of the back-ups at or near the trading deadline.

[Devl23]

The guy has a bad game and everyone is calling him out. When he played bad during games that NJ came back to win, no one complained about him. Give Clemmer a break, he's not 10-22 and the devils are not in 12th place.

[NickGpro]

Clemmer had a bad game it's going to happen. McCreary blew the call and any chance of a comeback at that point. Terrible call!!!

[Shari]

I never thought that He would be able to hold down the fort when Marty went down, so I'm not going to bag on him, it can't be easy filling the shoes of possibly the best Goalie to ever play the game and being constantly reminded of it almost every interview, does he let in a sinker every couple of games? sure, but I didn't think that he would help the Team get this far, and as much as I would like to see Weekes get in a few I think that as Devils fans we should be proud of him and the job that he has done. So thanks Clemmer for holding down the fort so well.