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Too Little Too Late For The Devils As They Top The Penguins 3-2

April 26, 2013, 11:15 AM ET [27 Comments]
Todd Cordell
New Jersey Devils Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
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The New Jersey Devils beat a top four team in the Eastern Conference for the second consecutive game, but it's too little too late.

Ultimately, you can't lose 10 games in a row in a 48 game season and expect to make the playoffs. To put that in perspective, the Pittsburgh Penguins have lost 12 games all year.

That's why for the second time in three years the Devils will be golfing while 16 other NHL teams play for the Stanley Cup.

Game Notes

- With the Devils win last night, it marks the third time they have beat the Penguins this year. The Penguins lineup has been pretty battered during the wins, but it's still impressive nonetheless.

- The Devils outshot the Penguins 32-18 and have now outshot their opponents in 26 of the last 28 games. They've won nine of them. Perspective: some teams won't outshoot their opponents 26 times all year.

- It's nice to see the Devils finally start to play to their potential, but really all they're doing by winning games now is hurting themselves. I don't believe in intentionally losing, but if I were the Devils I'd play Eric Gelinas and Alex Urbom in the same game and sit a vet. It allows you to take a look at and develop a young player, and if the said player struggles it makes your draft pick better. A no lose situation, in my opinion.

- Speaking of Gelinas, I thought he made a pretty solid debut. He made a couple rookie mistakes, but that's expected - especially when playing a team like the Penguins. Overall Gelinas had some nice zone exits, did a good job of holding the line in the offensive zone and was pretty good. Hopefully he gets another shot Saturday against the New York Rangers.

- Anton Volchenkov picked up his 4th assist of the season last night and 99th of his career. I'm not so sure his 100th assist will come with the Devils.

- Travis Zajac is really starting to come around. He has points in four of his last five games and five points in that span. He's also won at least 50% of his draws in all five games. If he plays like this next year when his contract actually kicks in, he'll be well worth the money.

- Patrik Elias looked good yesterday. He had two assists and a couple solid chances in the win. Given he publicly stated he wants to return and the fact the Devils are loaded with cap space, I don't see a scenario where he's not back next season.

- Adam Larsson was +2 and had four shots in a little over 18 minutes of ice. He's been playing with a lot more confidence of late and it's nice to see him coming around.

- David Clarkson scored his second goal and recorded his third point in his last four games last night. Guess he's trying to make one last push to up his totals which will increase the asking price this summer. I could see him coming back, but I wouldn't be surprised if he tested the open market.

- Speaking of Clarkson, though his production was mainly all at the start the year and not spread out, his numbers this year put him in a pretty elite group with some of the top power forwards in the game. Let's take a look at players with at least 15 goals and 75PIMs:

Evander Kane: 17 goals, 80PIMs
Wayne Simmonds: 15 goals, 82PIMs
Clarkson: 15 goals, 78PIMs
Corey Perry: 15 goals, 72PIMs

That's some pretty good company. Clarkson's going to get paid.

- Ilya Kovalchuk had the game winning goal and an assist in last night's win. It's nice to see him finish off the season strong.

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