Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Game: Montreal @ Devils
The Montreal Canadiens travel to the Continental Airlines Arena to take on the New Jersey Devils.
Gametime: 7:30 PM EST
Local TV: Fox Sports NY
Local Radio: 660 AM, WFAN
NHL.com Preview
Season Series (with respect to the Devils): 1-0-0
Gametime: 7:30 PM EST
Local TV: Fox Sports NY
Local Radio: 660 AM, WFAN
NHL.com Preview
Season Series (with respect to the Devils): 1-0-0
Before we get to hockey, I've been reading the NJ Devils official website. From there, I'd like to point out three things of note. First, the Devils will be hosting the Greater Newark Holiday Fund charity at home games starting from tonight until January 16th. So if you are going to the game, consider giving somebody in Newark some hope by giving to the Greater Newark Holiday Fund. Second, the Devils have been visiting nearby hospitals in the area: including Martin Brodeur, Patrik Elias, and I'm guessing Cam Janssen is on the left of that photo. Third, if you are going to the Devils-Philadelphia game on December 8, bring a toy. Toys For Tots and the US Marine Corps will be on hand to accept any donations of toys - you can even win some autographed Devils memorbilia. More importantly, someone who could use a toy will get one instead of nothing.
Tonight's game should be a great one to watch. The Devils are 9-1-1 at home so far this season, thanks to the play of Martin Brodeur. It's Montreal, he's had 3 days of rest, you can bank on Marty starting tonight's game. And you can also expect him to play very well. Tom Gulitti's article in the Bergen Record most definitely states as such. With the offense showing signs of being a threat from the Pittsburgh game, they have another shot at putting more than two goals on Canadiens goaltender Cristobal Huet. Unless Montreal decides to play David Aebischer tonight.
Montreal is coming off a tough 6-5 loss to one of their longstanding rivals, the Boston Bruins. They rallied back from a 4-1 deficit to tie it up 5-5 in the third period. Heut was pulled in the process, so Aebischer saw the end result. Who knows if that means Aebsicher will get the start tonight or not. Brad Stuart, however, ended it late in the third with the winning goal in Montreal. The Canadiens have done well so far this year, compiling a record of 15-8-3 - boasting of the top penalty killing unit in the NHL (89.9% efficiency, 7 shorthanded goals scored). They have done well away from Montreal, compiling a record of 7-4-1. However, the team has not done well against Martin Brodeur; the goaltender is 30-12-5 against Les Habs and there is no reason to believe he'll suddenly falter. Plus, Patrik Elias and Brian Gionta are out of their scoring slumps for this one.
As long as the Devils start out with effort and hustle, focus on simple plays instead of passing the puck into the slot hoping for a Devil to be there for it, and remain composed on the power play instead of being ineffective, they should be fine. My projected line up is as follows:
Parise-Gomez-Gionta
Elias-Zajac-Langenbrunner
Pandolfo-Madden-Brylin
Rasmussen-Dowd-Rupp
Oduya-Rafalski
Martin-White
Lukowich-Hale
Brodeur
Also from the Gulitti article, Matvichuk is looking to get medical clearance tonight to be eligible to play in games and head coach Claude Julien is considering Scott Clemenssen to get a start soon. Guess we'll see what Lou does with Matvichuk in the near future. Interestingly, according to the Gulitti article, Alex Brooks was recalled from Lowell; but I don't see any transactions by New Jersey over at TSN.ca Hmmmm. Regardless, GO DEVILS!
Labels: Devils Game
# posted by John Fischer @ 2:53 PM 0 comments 
