Last night the New Jersey Devils came from behind at Madison Square Garden to beat Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers 3-2 to even the series at one with the series heading back to Newark. Here are some notes on the game.
- The Devils did a great job of getting pucks on net in Game 2. They brought a lot of traffic in front of Lundqvist, and they rose the puck up off the ice to help avoid sprawling Rangers players from blocking shots. It worked as well as they could have hoped. More shots got through, and a couple of the Devils goals were deflections from players standing in front. They need to stick with what made them successful yesterday and do the same things in Game 3.
- Bryce Salvador picked up another two assists last night to record his seventh and eighth points of the post-season. He has more points than Dainius Zubrus (7), Patrik Elias (5) and Petr Sykora (4), to name a few.
- Sticking with Salvador, he was fantastic again last night and not just because he recorded two points. He was very good in his own zone, had four hits, a blocked shot and played a team high 23:37 TOI. Not bad for a guy who was almost forced into retirement after missing the entire 2010-11 season with a concussion.
- Ilya Kovalchuk put forth another good performance last night. He had a few solid scoring chances and scored a beautiful powerplay goal to give the Devils an early lead. It didn't last, but it was a lead nonetheless.
- Hats off to Ryan McDonagh for his performance last night. He was great for the Rangers. He played over 24 minutes, recorded five hits and eight blocked shots. To put that into perspective, the Devils entire team had seven blocked shots. McDonagh is an absolute stud and will be for many more seasons. I think I would still take Scott Gomez, his hefty contract and two goal seasons over McDonagh, though (that's sarcasm just in case you didn't pick it up).
- David Clarkson scored his third goal of the post-season last night. Like his first two, it eventually turned out to be the game winner. I wonder how long he can keep his streak going for.
- The Devils 4th line of Ryan Carter, Stephen Gionta and Steve Bernier was great last night. Pete DeBoer matched them up against Brad Richards' line on several occasions, and almost every time the Gionta line had sustained pressure against the Richards line in the Rangers zone. It's strange to say this, but the Devils 4th line was better than the Rangers 1st line last night.
- It seems as though every time Martin Brodeur has an average night in goal or lets up a weak goal, he gets ripped and when he puts forth a solid effort he doesn't get much credit. Last night falls under the latter. He was very good throughout the game and made some big saves to keep the Devils in it. He certainly didn't look 40 in net last night.
- With last night's win, the Devils gained the momentum in the series and have earned themselves home ice advantage. Obviously two wins would be nice, but I'm sure the Devils wouldn't be too down on themselves if they can only come away with one at the Prudential Center. Either way, I'm sticking with my Devils in six prediction.
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