Devils Slap Caps Scoring 5 Unanswered Goals

Sorry, no Recap from Devils 5-2 win over Washington on Saturday due to computer issues, but here are my three stars of the game, the line combos/d-pairings and game notes:

Dan’s Three Stars of the Game:

#1 — Jamie Langenbrunner (NJ) – pp goal (4), assist (11)
#2 — Nicklas Bergfors (NJ) – 2 assists (9)
#3 — Dainius Zubrus (NJ) – assist (5), 71% face-offs (10-4)

Game Notes: The win was number 1,000 for the Devils since moving to New Jersey. Devils defenseman Colin White scored his first goal in 80 games. Washington’s Tomas Fleischmann scored the first goal of the game and has points in eight straight games (7g-3a). Capitals captain Chris Clark played in his 500th NHL game. Andy Greene led all skaters in ice-time with 25:36 and was a game-high +3, Mike Green led the Caps with 23:51 and had two assists. Zach Parise led all players with five shots on goal and scored a goal for the fourth straight game. Rookie Tim Sestito, playing in his fourth career game, got his first career point/assist on fellow rookie Matt Halischuk’s first NHL goal.

Line combos/d-parings:

New Jersey:
Parise-Zajac-Elias
Rolston-Zubrus-Langenbrunner
Halischuk-Sestito-Bergfors
Peters-Pelley-Clarkson

White-Mottau
Greene-Fraser
Salvador-Murphy

Washington:
Semin-Backstrom-Fleischmann
Laing-Morrison-Fehr
Bradley-Perreault-Clark
Steckel-Laich-Gordon

Green-Morrisonn
Poti-Sloan
Pothier-Schultz

Winter Classic January 1, 2010

Today the best, worst-kept secret in the hockey world was made official when the NHL announced that Fenway Park, home of MLB’s Boston Red Sox, will host the 2010 Winter Classic on January 1 when the Boston Bruins host the Philadelphia Flyers. I am a fan of the outdoor games that the league has had the last two New Year’s Days, and although I might’ve chosen a different opponent for the Bruins (maybe the Capitals or the NY Islanders), I really have nothing to complain about here. Both teams have “star power” with Boston boasting Phil Kessel, Marc Savard and the reigning Vezina Trophy (Tim Thomas) and Norris Trophy (Zdeno Chara) winners and the Flyers, who always seem to have a new addition, will counter with the likes of Daniel Briere, Mike Richards, Simon Gagne and the newly-acquired Chris Pronger. So, even though I could care less about the Red Sox and anything that has to do with the team that I grew up disliking, I will put aside that hatred for one day and enjoy what is quickly becoming a MUST-SEE event for hopefully many January 1st’s to come…