There was a weird funk in the air during the warmup session of Thursday night’s Devils/Predators contest. Most Devils fans - at least those who pay attention - aren’t used to seeing goaltender Martin Brodeur on the bench only 6 games into the season. Marty had reached a milestone the night before in Pittsburgh, earning career victory number 450. His reward? A night off. Backup keeper Scott Clemmensen started against fellow backup-man Chris Mason, Thursday night at The Meadowlands.
Powerplay goals dominated the First Period score sheet. The action started almost as quickly as the Interference penalty Devils D-Man Colin White took only :45 seconds into the contest. On the insuing Nashville powerplay, Paul Kariya setup ex-Devils heart-throb Jason Arnott for a Power-Play-Goal, putting Nashville in front 1-0 on their first shot of the evening.
A mere 1:51 later, New Jersey’s Brian Gionta slammed home a rebound, capitalizing on their own powerplay brought on by an Interference call on Jared Smithson. Both teams had tallied points on their opening shots.
Devils Captain Patrik Elias was called for Holding at 5:42, giving the Preds their 2nd man advantage of the night. Following the trend, Martin Erat closed the 1st period scoring by adding another PPG, fed again from Kariya. This one deflected off New Jersey defenseman Paul Martin and trickled through Clemmensen giving Nashville a 2-1 lead. Elias did not leave the box after the goal was scored. Instead, he sang a few magic words that landed him an Unsportsmanlike penalty. Nashville was unable to connect on the advantage.
The Devils play in the 2nd period was sloppier than a 2lb burrito from Taco Bell at 2am. At one point, The Devils had three wacks at loose pucks in front of Preds keeper Chris Mason, all of which were chopped wide. By Nashville contributing only 5 shots on goal during the middle frame, it seemed as if New Jersey would escape the productive-less period trailing by only a goal. Scott Nichol made sure that wasn’t the case. Nichol put up a Shorthanded goal, stemming from a clean face-off win from Ryan Suter. Nashville boasted a 3-1 lead heading to the 3rd period.
From the drop of the puck, the 3rd period promised more of the same play from the Devils. Miraculously, however, they found themselves planting the seeds for an incredible rally. Over the next 18 minutes, the Devils would hold Nashville to an embarrasing 2 shots on goal.
Scott Gomez cut the Predators lead to one goal, lifting a backhander over Mason’s shoulder with 2:07 remaining in regulation. The seemingly comatose fans were finally alive. It was just the rush the Devils had needed. With time winding down, Devils coach Claude Julien waved Clemmensen to the bench, giving New Jersey a 6-on-5 advantage. Through a scrum of players, the puck squirted loose to Mr. Clutch, Brian Gionta, who hammered home the game-tying-goal with 11.6 seconds remaining in regulation. The Devils may have collected the most undeserved point in Franchise history.
New Jersey fed off the energy from the fans in OT. Despite being given a rare, Overtime powerplay, the Devils were unable to shoplift again. Instead, the game headed to a shootout.
Attempting to use this years new rule to their advantage, the Devils opted to shoot second. It would have worked, had the Devils been able to tally on any of their 3 shots. The only goal in the shootout came from Nashville’s Martin Erat, as he beat Clemmensen over the shoulder with a snapshot. Devils Captain Patrik Elias officially made the contest a game he would love to forget, losing control of the puck on his attempt and firing it right into the arms of Mason. The save gave the Predators a 4-3 victory.
With the win, Nashville ended its Metro-Area road trip with a perfect 3-0 record after recording wins against the Islanders and Rangers days earlier.
The Devils third period rally was their second in three home games this season. The prior coming during the home opener against Toronto on October 12th. On that date, Gionta bagged a third period Natural Hat Trick to send the game into overtime. When questioned about the coincidence, Scott Clemmensen offered: “We’d like to avoid being in the position where we have to do that, but it’s comforting to know if we do get in that situation, we don’t give up and we have a chance because we have done it before.”
An effective powerplay would solve that problem.
