Devils Get Shutout by Blues

By: Tim Brennan

The Devils normally don't put a lot of shots on net for the opposing goalie to try to stop, but on Saturday they fired everything and anything towards the direction of St. Louis Blues netminder Ty Conklin to no avail.

Conklin stood on his head against the Devils, stopping 29 shots on the way to a 1-0 victory at Prudential Center. It also helped that his teammates racked up nine blocked shots for the game and at one point, one of his teammates made a save of his own. Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk attempted a wrap around in the early part of the second period that surprised Conklin and just as Kovalchuk was about to put it in, Blues forward Brad Boyes was able to slide down and block the path to the goal. Devils center Travis Zajac also had an opportunity in the third that went off the right post.

The Devils were trying everything to put the puck in but ran into a brick wall, which usually doesn't happen unless they are practicing. The opposing goaltending may have been on top of their game but the Devils powerplay was still off. The Devils failed to capitalize on three powerplay opportunities and has gone 0 for 17 in that category in the last six games.

Other than Conklin, the Blues had another player who contributed to the victory as Alex Steen blasted a shot over Martin Brodeur's glove that proved to be the only marker.

The Devils seemed to be a bit slow off the start in the first, leading to a few bad plays in their own zone and some bad line changes, which ultimately led to Steen's tally.

The most remarkable event during this game had to be the scrap between former Devil/current Blue Cam Janssen and the Devils Pierre Luc Leblond. The fight that ensued had to be the longest that I've ever seen, lasting over three minutes. These two bludgeoned each other and swung until they could no longer stand up and several times Janssen waved off the linesmen so that the fight could continue. Anytime that a fight lasts that long and there isn't a dull moment then you've seen a great example of why fighting should stay in the game.