In Lou We Trust

The Devils played fairly well tonight. They put out a much improved and more complete effort than their recent games against Pittsburgh and Montreal. Yeah, I said it after a loss to Our Hated Rivals, and I'd say it again.

The Devils put on plenty of offensive pressure, found the forecheck to be incredibly successful, and had plenty of rebounds. But the Devils either were unlucky, got the puck only in an awkward position, or a crucial intervention by a defender stopped the scoring chance from becoming a goal. After all, the only goal the Devils got came from Zach Parise, who just threw it at Henrik Lundqvist and the puck went off his skates and in. Not exactly the clean goalie-beating kind of lamp-lighter. Quite like the eventual game winning goal by Chris Drury, who just threw it low at Brodeur, got the puck right off his skate, and it went in.

Regardless of how close it was or how hard the Devils worked, they lost to Our Hated Rivals and have yet to beat them in 5 games so far this season. That's three losses in a row, all at The Rock. The Devils need to turn it around and start scoring goals against LA tomorrow night. I'm sure Sutter will make that point clear in advance of tomorrow's contest.

January Month in Review and Devil of the Month will be up tomorrow. In the meantime, I highly suggest and recommend Scott Mackie's break down of the last month at 2 Man Advantage.