The Devils have won five of their last six games and have obviously been playing pretty good hockey as of late. Here are some notes on their recent surge and Ilya Kovalchuk, among other topics.
- First of all, the Devils played a heck of a game yesterday. They were solid defensively, Martin Brodeur was good when called upon and the Devils top players played as such. It was a total team effort and it was great to see. The key for the Devils is to keep this going tomorrow against the Bruins.
- The Devils have won five of their last six, as I noted above, and their next five games are on home ice. Obviously they're still a little banged up but now is their chance to make a bit of a run at it. They're currently sixth in the Eastern Conference and four points behind the Senators for 5th place. With that said, they have three games in hand.
- Jacob Josefson played his first NHL game since he broke his clavicle in October. I would've liked to see more from him offensively but he was very good defensively in my opinion. He played 13:40 last night including 42 seconds on the powerplay. It's nice to see Pete DeBoer ease him back in.
- I was exchanging text messages with Petr Sykora's agent Allan Walsh last night, and he told me that Sykora is unsure if he'll return next season and that he's taking it year by year. In other words he's enjoying and focusing on the current season. He'll worry about his playing future later.
- Before I get into this Ilya Kovalchuk stuff, I must give some big time props to Patrik Elias. As per usual he brought his "A" game last night. Three points in less than 16 minutes of ice. Not bad.
- After Kovalchuk's two goal game last night, he now has seven goals in his last six games including two-shorthanded goals.
- Many have asked me about Ilya Kovalchuk for PK Subban rumors over the past few days. I don't know who came up with that garbage, but there's a better chance the Devils will host the next five Winter Classics than that trade happening.
- Here comes a quick Ilya Kovalchuk rant because I'm sick of hearing him take so much crap.
What do people want from the guy? He's averaging a point a game, is on pace to score about 40 goals, and his defensive game has grown in leaps in bounds. He plays the penalty kill, his teammates love him and the Devils are sitting 6th in the Eastern Conference. I'm not sure what people expect from him. Someone will likely say they want 90+ points, and that's the pace he has scored at for the Devils as of late. After a slow start, he's been scoring at a 90+ point pace. All of this while playing right wing. Oh, and this is the first time he's had a center (Adam Henrique) he's had chemistry with.
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