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The New Jersey Devils disappointing season has finally reached the end. The Devils traveled to New York in what was a meaningless game for New Jersey and were handed their behinds as they were shutout 4-0 by their biggest rival, New York Rangers.
Game Notes
- New Jersey wasn't playing for anything in yesterday's game and it showed. The Devils were outshot, outhit, had less blocked shots, less takeaways, more PIMs and the scoreboard reflected that. Given the fact the Devils took six minor penalties and didn't allow a goal, they were probably lucky to have only lost 4-0.
- To sum up how bad yesterday's game was, I'll give you this stat: Anton Volchenkov led the team in shots with three. He's probably the least offensive defenseman on the team by a large margin.
- Steve Sullivan played 11:36 in what could be his last NHL game. He hasn't decided if he's going to retire or not yet but if he does I want to congratulate him on a great career. For a really small player, he sure had a lot of success as he had 290 goals and 747 points and played over 1,000 NHL games. Personally I hope he returns for one more season regardless of what team he plays for. I think it'd be nice to try and make the playoffs one last time and reaching the 300 goal plateau would be nice, too.
- Andy Greene was one of two Devils not to finish with a minus rating against New York. He played a team high of 22:28, too. I think that helps illustrate how good he's been this season. He played big time minutes almost every night and rarely had a bad game. Greene's probably one of the more underrated defenseman in the NHL.
- Marek Zidlicky played 20:04 and was -2 in the loss. Was that his last game as a Devil? We'll find out in a couple months.
- Peter Harrold played 18:12 and was even. After sitting almost every game for the first half of the season, he has played a lot of games lately and has been playing a good chunk of minutes. He's a serviceable, versatile defenseman and it wouldn't take much money to re-sign him, but do the Devils do it? They have 6 NHL defenseman signed and have to decide what to do with Zidlicky on top of Harrold. The Devils also have a few guys in Albany who will battle for roster spots. Lou Lamoriello has some decisions to make.
- David Clarkson played 14:37, had two shots and three hits. Again I ask: was that his last game as a Devil? Despite his struggles for half of a season, his overall numbers are among the best for power forwards in the NHL and teams are always willing to overpay in free agency. He seems to like New Jersey and is really close with Martin Brodeur, but will one more year of Brodeur on his team be enough to make him take less money and sign in New Jersey? I'm guessing no, but we'll find out soon enough.
- Even with the Devils season over, I still hope to write as frequently as I can and to provide fresh content for you guys. Over the next few months I'll be doing playoff predictions, draft blogs, free agency previews, etc. so I hope you will all stick around and continue to read my articles.
Thanks for a great season!
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