The Devils failed in their attempt to clinch the Atlantic Division title with a 4-1 loss to the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night. This was actually the first game I was unable to watch this whole season, so I won’t make any judgments on the game since I didn’t see any of it (feel free to comment though!). From the clips I’ve seen however it looks like the Devils slipped back into their play that resulted in six straight losses not long ago.
Martin Brodeur has continued his shaky play of late, giving up four goals on 18 shots. The highlight of the game came when Christian Hanson of Toronto, son of “Slap Shot” hockey movie legend Dave Hanson, scored his first career NHL goal on Marty in the first period. The Devils outshot the Leafs 48 to 18, but only converted on Jamie Langenbrunner’s 29th of the year. Jamie’s goal in the 2nd period was his 4th goal in the last 3 games.
The Devils did not get help from the Florida Panthers, who could have helped the Devs clinch the Atlantic Division title with a win over the Flyers. The Devils also missed out on their first 50 win season in franchise history. It also has put the second seed in the Eastern Conference further out of reach since Washington won their game tonight against Atlanta.
The Rangers also won their game over the Canadians, but at this point in time the Rangers cannot finish higher than the 7th seed, making the Devils opponents for the first round either the Flyers, Penguins or Hurricanes. The Hurricanes rolled over the Islanders tonight 9-0 outshooting them 57-12. At this point a match-up against the Flyers doesn’t seem that bad. The Devils will look to rebound on Thursday night in Ottawa against the Senators.
In honor of Christian Hanson’s first NHL goal I figured I’d leave you all with a great Slap Shot clip:
I guess we can forget about rolling into the playoffs with a full head of steam…Perhaps these guys should be “puttin’ on the foil”.