Hockey is easy !

November 1st is a bank holiday here in France and I am also off on Friday. The excitment of the week was the broadcast of the Devils game against Tampa on a satellite channel we have here. It is called NASN and stands for North American Sports Channel. It is about the only way I get to see Hockey action on TV. The game was scheduled at 5:30 AM and was shown "as live". It is as close as seeing the game live gets. So I had an interesting early morning where I watched my Devils.

It was the first game I was able to see from start to finish and it sure helps to get a feel for a team. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this team! Well it is the feeling you get after watching last night's game. Hockey is indeed easy when you outwork, outchance and outscore your opponent. I was a bit upset in my last post, criticizing the team. I am still considering the team is not out of its problems until we are back up in the standings. But last night's game should be used as a confidence builder. The Devils are obviously capable of playing well when they commit themselves for a full 60 minutes. The Defense was mistake free, Brodeur was sharp when he had to and the offense produced. Of course, we are still waiting for goals from our top guns (Elias, Zajac, Zubrus or Gionta). But the feel good story is Definitely our Checking line. After being tagged as overrated and being dismantled, Madden and Pandolfo are just carrying this team.

Madden has shown he can score before and Pandolfo too to some extent. Pandolfo was a goal scorer at the college level and he, like many other lost his scoring touch when he turned pro and was assigned a checking role. I want to say : once a scorer, always a scorer! Pandolfo ended the game with three goals for his first hat trick since his college days. The line welcomed Dainus Eubrus for the first time and Sutter shuffling produced some results (Finally). Zubrus picked up 2 assists and he looked good on the line. Hopefully Zubrus will move up soon instead of going down in lines and save us fans from the Kozlov syndrome. I am hoping Madden and Pandolfo success will show the rest of the players the path to follow.


Other Observations...
The Devils played well defensively. They didn't give Tampa much and they were overall solid. If it wasn't for that Tampa Bay power play goal, Marty would have picked a shutout.
Playing well defensively meant not too many mistakes.

Olli Malmivaara played in his first NHL game. He logged over 10 minutes of ice time. I don't have much to say except the guy is TALL. We have our equivalent of Zdeno Chara! Well at least frame wise.

Sutter played with 7 defensemen. Apparently he wants to spread the minutes and not give too much time to our inexperienced defense. It worked last night and if it works well why not?

Discipline. The Devils were pretty disciplined last night. Our penalty killing has been pretty bad so far and our discipline has been nowhere near what it was in previous years.

Clarkson is an interesting asset. I didn't say player because he seems to be more than a player. He works hard, he can fight and most of all he gets under people's skin. I liked how he was tough all night and how he drew a double minor with A. Roy.

After a night like this there is not much to criticize. Now that they have dominated Tampa this way, they really need to duplicate the same type of game. Things are so much easier when the effort and discipline are there. We will see that next time they hit the ice... Beware Devils, I will be watching you!