Zach Parise had two goals and an assist to lead the Devils to a 7-2 victory over the Florida Panthers this afetrnoon
Today's attendance was 16,256 -- slightly up from Thursday's crowd of 16,107.
Brendan Shanahan, Travis Zajac, Brian Rolston, David Clarkson and Danius Zubrus also scored for the Devils.
Patrik Elias had two assists and now needs only seven more points to break John MacLean's team record of 701 career points.
The Devils have gotten three goals from the newly-formed line of Shanahan, Rolston and Clarkson. Rolston's goal came when he was on the ice with Brian Gionta and Zubrus, though (24 seconds after Zajac's power play goal).
Zubrus scored with 2:39 remaining to complete the scoring.
Even if Parise doesn't score another goal today, he is on pace to finish 50 with 38 in 62 games. That would make him the first 50-goal scorer in team history.
They added assists to Gionta and White on Rolston's goal.
Martin Brodeur saw his shutout streak come to an end when Ville Peltonen scored with 1:30 left in the seocnd period to cut the Devils' lead to 5-1.
After Radek Dvorak lost the puck in the right circle, Peltonen picked it up and fired it past Brodeur on the stick side.
That snapped Brodeur''s shutout streak at 139 minutes and 33 seconds dating back to Oct. 29 against Toronto.
I'll go out on a limb right now and predict that Brodeur will start again Sunday against Philadelphia too. The Panthers have only 14 shots on goal - and just one in the third period -- so far, so it's not like Brodeur has had a heavy workload.
Brodeur has been run into a few times today, though, including that collision with Nick Tarnasky with 6:38 left.
Rolston nearly had a second goal when his shot hit the right post 4:01 into the third period.
***
Clarkson put the Devils back up by five goals with 24.1 seconds left in the second. Johnny Oduya's initial shot from the left point deflected off a Florida player and bounced to Brendan Shanahan, who swatted the bouncing puck toward the net. It went to Clarkson, who knocked it in for his 14th goal of the seaason.
Travis Zajac and Brian Rolston scored 24 seconds apart in the second period to up the Devils' lead to 5-0.
Zajac scored on the power play on a blind backhand feed through the crease from Zach Parise at 15:56.
Then, Rolston converted the rebound of Brian Gionta's breakaway effort at 16:20. I'm not sure why that goal was called unassisted. Gionta clearly should have had an assist.
Florida's defense is having a terrible game, but Craig Anderson is pretty bad. He gives up tons of juicy rebounds.
And Jay Bouwmeester is a very good defenseman, but he's playing poorly today.
Brendan Shanahan scored 3:51 into the second period to up the Devils' lead to 3-0. Parise scored twice in the first period.
Shanahan's goal started with good passes by Paul Martin (from the left corner of hte Devils' zone) and Brian Rolston. Rolston's pass sent David Clarkson in on a breakaway behind Jassen Cullimore and Noah Welch. A delayed penalty against Welch kept Clarkson from getting off a great shot, but he still got one off that goaltender Craig Anderson stopped with his left pad.
Shanahan followed up and lifted the rebound ove Anderson for his fourth goal of the season. That snapped his nine-game goal drought and was the first goal for the newly formed line of Shanahan-Rolston and Clarkson.
The Devils outshot the Panthers, 16-7, in the first period.
Martin Brodeur posted another shutout period to extend his shutout streak to 121 minutes and three seconds dating back to Oct. 29.
Parise had some in the crowd chanting "M-V-P!" after each of his goals.
Parise nearly had the hat trick, but fired wide on a chance 8:00 into the second.
Two pretty good fights back-to-back. Bryce Salvador seemed upset that Anthoy Stewart got his stick up high on him. That was a pretty even fight.
David Clarkson did very well in his bout with "Nasty" Nick Tarnasky at 12:28.
I've seen a few Devils just trip for no reason. Gionta did it once. Andy Greene has fallen a couple of times.
The Devils have to be careful here. They look like they're getting a little fancy out there. That's when they run into trouble.
Brodeur started the second period well with a stick save on Gregory Campbell in front and covered the rebound afer it went off Paul Martin's skate 48 seconds in.
The Patrik Elias-Dainius Zubrus-Brian Gionta line has created a few good scoring chances. Elias set up Gionta for a wide-open shot from the right circle that Craig Anderson stopped with his right pad at 3:03. Anderson left another big reboud, but Zubrus could not get to it.
***
Brodeur last allowed a goal to Toronto's Alexei Ponikarovsky with 9:25 left in the third period of a 6-5 shootout loss to the Maple Leafs on Oct. 29.
He then shut out the Atlanta Thrashers for the first 26:38 of a 6-1 win on Nov. 1 before leaving that game with a torn left biceps tendon.
Brodeur missed 50 games and then returned to shut out Colorado, 4-0, on Thursday.
Parise scored his second goal of the game with 3:07 left in the first period to up the Devils' lead to 2-0.
This was another great goal by Parise. After the Panthers turned the puck over the neutral zone, Parise carried the puck over the Florida defenseman, flipped it past defenseman Keith Ballard, who was caught going the wrong way, and got it back between the circles before firing a shot over goaltender Craig Anderson's catching glove.
That started some chants of "M-V-P!" for Parise.
Parise's second goal of the game upped his career-high goal total to 38 -- moving him within 10 of Brian Gionta's single season team record set in 2005-06. Parise still has 20-plus games left to try to break it and become the first 50-goal scorer in team history.
Parise scored 1:18 into the first period to give the Devils a 1-0.
That's Parise's 37th goal of the season.
Panthers defenseman Jay Bouwmeester was caught a little flatfooted on that one. Jamie Langenbrunner made a good cross-ice pass in the neutral zone to send Parise in on the left wing behind Bouwmeester.
Goaltender Craig Anderson made a left pad save on Parise's initial shot from the left circle, but could not find the rebound. Parise reached in with one hand on his stick to knock the puck between Anderson's pads and over the goal line.
Once again, Martin Brodeur has an early lead to work with. The Devils are 28-3-2 this season when scoring first and 11-16-1 when giving up the first goal.
Good hit by Bryce Salvador on Richard Zednik along the boards in front of the Devils' bench.
Ville Peltonen missed the net with his shot from the right circle and the puck caromed all the way out of the Devils' zone, creating the breakaway for Langnebrunner. Lanbgenbrunner looked like he made the move he wanted -- he uses it in shootouts a lot -- but couldn't lift the puck over Anderson, who stacked the pads at 7:10.
A lot of fans started booing when there was no penalty called on Richard Zednik for bumping into Brodeur at 8:55, but it looked like Brodeur went down kind of easy to try to sell it. That probably led to the penalty being called on Radek Dvorak 30 seconds later. I'm not sure about it being called charging, though.
That Dvorak shot was the only shot the Deivls allowed on the Panthers' power play. The Devils were limited to a couple of outside shots on that one.
Craig Anderson gives up a lot of rebounds. That's probably why he usually faces a lot of shots.
The Devils are outshooting Florida, 13-4, with 8:15 left in the first period.
The Jay Pandolfo-John Madden-Bobby Holik line has created a couple of good scoring chances so far, though.
The interfrence call on David Clarkson was questionable. It looked like he ran into Ville Peltonen by accident.
***
Here are the starting lineups for today's game between the Devils and the Florida Panthers at Prudential Center.
DEVILS
Forwards: Jay Pandolfo-John Madden-Bobby Holik. Defensemen: Bryce Salvador-Andy Greene. Goaltender: Martin Brodeur.
PANTHERS
Forwards: Ville Peltonen-Gregory Campbell-Radek Dvorak. Defensemen: Karlis Skrastins-Jay Bouwmeester. Goaltender: Craig Anderson.
***
Pre-game warm-ups are underway for this afternoon's game between the Devils and the Florida Panthers at Prudential Center.
Goaltender Martin Brodeur will get his second start in net for the Devils since returning from a torn biceps tendon. Craig Anderson will start in net for Florida.
Here's the Devils' lineup for today's game.
Forwards: Zach Parise-Travis Zajac-Jamie Langenbrunner; Patrik Elias-Dainius Zubrus-Brian Gionta; Brendan Shanahan-Brian Rolston-David Clarkson; Jay Pandolfo-John Madden-Bobby Holik.
Defensemen: Johnny Oduya-Paul Martin; Colin White-Mike Mottau; Bryce Salvador-Andy Greene.
Goaltender: Martin Brodeur.
Healthy scratches: LW Mike Rupp, D Jay Leach.
Injured: none.
Did anyone hear about this?
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (Ticker)—The Florida Panthers sent defenseman Nick Boynton home for disciplinary reasons, according to a published report on Friday.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported the 30-year-old will miss the final three games of the team’s five-game road trip. Panthers general manager Jacques Martin would not disclose details.
Posted by: Captain Cornholio | February 28, 2009 at 12:32 PM
nothing like a long week of work, then waking up saturday for a nice 1PM game.
Posted by: Rico Suave | February 28, 2009 at 12:34 PM
dammit, atdhe.net doesn't have the game! Anyone know where I can find it online, I had to work today. :(
Posted by: JJ | February 28, 2009 at 12:43 PM
This link has more info on Boynton
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/community/news/boyntonbeach/sfl-flsppanthers28sbfeb28,0,3082888.story
Posted by: Matt McNaught | February 28, 2009 at 12:48 PM
ahh you're right! I was all settled in at the office ready to catch the game online...no such luck.
Posted by: jerseytom | February 28, 2009 at 12:49 PM
Wow, thanks, Matt. This is the LAST thing the Panthers need right now.
Boynton did go about it the wrong way. DeBoer is an old school coach and I think may have made the right decision.
Posted by: Captain Cornholio | February 28, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Not sure where you can watch, but you can listen online on NHL.com or the devils site.
Posted by: Falcone | February 28, 2009 at 12:56 PM
If you can't watch, then certainly take WFAN over whatever the heck Randy Moller's doing with the Panthers on-air. I don't find him entertaining at all.
Posted by: Captain Cornholio | February 28, 2009 at 01:00 PM
TG- how is the crowd looking? Good showing for a saturday day game?
Posted by: C$ | February 28, 2009 at 01:05 PM
Interesting test today
Florida is a pesky team. They sort of remind me of the old Devils.
Let's see if we generate any offense out of the 2nd-4th lines
Posted by: Steve | February 28, 2009 at 01:06 PM
Streaming: guys, try
http://www.justin.tv/ninersfan3
Posted by: Per | February 28, 2009 at 01:09 PM
Sweet start
Posted by: Steve | February 28, 2009 at 01:10 PM
Wow! Immediate connection! The boys have done it again!
"He's a hot young one, isn't he?" -- Mama Cornholio on Parise
Posted by: Captain Cornholio | February 28, 2009 at 01:10 PM
My wife prefers either Shanny or Rolston
Posted by: Steve | February 28, 2009 at 01:16 PM
I am in "lust" with Sherry Ross- LOL
Posted by: Steve | February 28, 2009 at 01:17 PM
Janie will be seeing that one in his sleep tonight.
Posted by: Shari | February 28, 2009 at 01:18 PM
I prefer Jamie Myself.
Posted by: Shari | February 28, 2009 at 01:20 PM
Jamie is cool. Nerves of steel.
Posted by: Per | February 28, 2009 at 01:23 PM
Nice PP so far. Anyone see that Zubrus move? Looks like someone lit a fire under his butt today.
Posted by: AJ | February 28, 2009 at 01:25 PM
Craig Anderson is playing very well tonight. The Devils are going to have to get some good shots and screens in order to beat him.
Posted by: AJ | February 28, 2009 at 01:26 PM
They are peppering Florida right now.
We need some finish or another PP.
Florida looks a little sleepy and I have to think they will bounce back in the 2nd
Posted by: Steve | February 28, 2009 at 01:27 PM
What a terrible call! David Clarkson literally did nothing to deserve that PP.
Posted by: AJ | February 28, 2009 at 01:31 PM
Wow, that was a bs call.
Posted by: Shari | February 28, 2009 at 01:32 PM
I wish Chico and Doc would chat less and referee more.
Posted by: Per | February 28, 2009 at 01:34 PM
Was it just me or did Zach just get shoved head first into the boards on that play?
Posted by: Shari | February 28, 2009 at 01:35 PM