2 Games In 2 Nights? This is Madness!
November 16th, 2007 by murph
For the first time in over a month, the Isles have back-to-back games after last night’s disappointing loss to the Penguins. Tonight they visit the Devils new arena, The Prudential Center a.k.a “The Rock” in Newark, NJ for the first time. The Isles try to win their first game on this road trip while preventing (again) Devils’ goalie Martin Brodeur from his 500th win. Tonight is Brodeur’s 3rd attempt after losing to the Islanders and Rangers this past week.
Period one is in the books in Jersey, scoreless. Shots were 7-7 with the Devils getting the only powerplay of the period. Hang with Islanders Army this evening as I follow tonight’s game, recap last night, and cover some other NYI news.
The Rock has been getting some pretty good reviews 1 2 3. It gets a couple of bonus points for a cool nickname although the old nickname for the Flyers’ Wachovia Center still reigns supreme in my book. When I lived in PA, it was still the First Union Center and was known locally as just the F.U. Center which I found hysterical and appropriate for those Philly diehards. They were proud of that nickname…and they meant it too. Back to The Rock, it’s bright, it’s shiny, it’s not in the swamp of East Rutherford, what’s not to like?
Even the bathrooms impressed me, mostly because there were stickers in all the urinals that said “Rangers Suck,” but also because they allowed a flow of people in and out.
[2:30 Second Period] Comrie comes out of the penalty box (coincidental minors at the end of the 1st) and Guerin springs him for the breakaway but Brodeur makes the save. Right after that, Sutton rings the post. Two close ones for the Isles to start the period.
[5:25 Second Period] After Simon picks up 2 minutes for tripping, Devils’ defenseman Mike Mottau trips and falls in his zone on the ensuing powerplay. Josef Vasicek picks up the neatly wrapped puck, stickhandles all alone in front of Brodeur, gets him to go down and then shoots one off Marty that bounces up and behind him for a shorthanded 1-0 lead.
[15:51 Second Period] Solid PP for the Islanders but nothing to show for it. 4 shots, 1 post by Hunter.
[18:10 Second Period] Devils’ Jay Pandolfo just took a deflected Devils’ slapshot to the face. He falls to the ice, then gets up and heads into the tunnel. He’s tough, he’s a hockey player – 30 seconds later he’s back on the bench.
[End Second Period] 20 minutes to go boys. Isles outshoot the Devils 11-7 in the period.
[13:00 Third Period] Tight period, DP made some good saves early in the period as the Devils were pushing hard. Witt just got away with dumping Elias right in front of DP.
[FINAL] Islanders 1 Devils 0
Down the stretch, Elias undresses the Isles’ defense but can’t finish. The game is delayed for a review of Trent Hunter’s bang in attempt from the side of the net. No one on the ice thought it went it, but it was close enough to the line that Toronto called on the Batphone as they reviewed it just to make sure. Come on…a gift goal from Toronto? Like that’ll ever happen for the Isles.
The Devils pull Brodeur and pressure, but the Isles win and DP gets the shutout, his second of the season. Brodeur has now lost his last 4 starts – I wonder if he’ll admit to us beating him tonight? If he thought the goals last week were bad, wait until he sees the replay of tonight’s game winning gaffe goal. Now we’re even for that game last year when Isles’ defensemen Alan Rouke threw the game winning goal into our own net. Ain’t karma a bitch Marty? If Marty had played the last regular season game last year, he could have kept us out of the playoffs AND have 500 wins already.
No game this early in the season can be called “must-win” or “huge”, so I’ll just call this one “well-needed”. The Isles have played well and certainly had chances to win either of the past two games but didn’t. They needed to get two points on the road from the Devils who aren’t playing well right now and get their momentum back headed into the final game of this bus road trip vs. the Rangers Monday night.
