NEW JERSEY @ BOSTON LIVE-CAP

By Steve Stirling
for 2ManAdvantage.com

Published: January 5, 2008

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9:35 PM ET: That’s it for me tonight, Goodnight!

9:33 PM ET: A nice effort there in the third by the Devils, but in all honesty, the game’s 60 minutes long, not 20. Inconsistency through the first two periods doomed their game despite a heroic and dominating performance in the third. Bruins win in Boston, 4-3.

9:30 PM ET: MADDNESS at the end of the game as the buzzer sounds. Devils give it one last ditch effort but cant push it through a mess of bodies in the front of the net. Bruins win, but for good measure Chara and Gio go at it! Atta boy Gio!

9:29 PM ET: Thomas stops another onslaught from NJ. 30 seconds left.

9:27 PM ET: Let’s hope Weekes can skate to the bench for the extra attacker here. He looks sluggish. Bruins ice it back to the Devils zone with about a minute left.

9:24 PM ET: Weekes looks as though he may have hurt himself stretching to make a save on a quick chance by the Bs. Could be a groin. Trainer is out there, but Weeksie says he’ll stay.

9:22 PM ET: Good set up leads to little in the first minute of the powerplay. Bruins get a key clear.

9:19 PM ET: Powerplay for the Devils! The Bruins are on life-support here in the third as the Devils continue to bombard them from all angles. Zajac is taken down in front and draws 2.

9:18 PM ET: David Clarkson hearts wrap-arounds.

9:17 PM ET: The boys in red black and white are smothering the Bruins in the third. 15 shots to zilch so far in the third. 40-24 overall.

9:11 PM ET: Zajac drives in a great rebound from the slot off a point shot by Mike Mottau! 4-3! We’re still in this!

9:08 PM ET: So I have no idea why everything is suddenly bold, but it accurately reflects my anger over this game, so i’ll stick with it. Devils draw another PP on a hook by Savard.

9:02 PM ET: The good: Devils outshooting the Bruins 8-0 so far in the third. The bad: Asham takes a bad interference call. Bruins PP.

9:00 PM ET: Great PK by the by the Devils. Madden makes a crafty little move and gets a great shot on net that’s snapped up by Timmy Thomas.

8:58 PM ET: Gionta gets his stick up under a Bruin’s chin and that will give them a powerplay in a few seconds.

8:57 PM ET: Devils have come out fightin’ in the third. Thomas smothers a a point blank backhand from Parise on the powerplay.

8:55 PM ET: Clarkson draws a penalty as he’s taken down by Wideman. Devils powerplay!

8:53 PM ET: Back for the third with a strong shift by the Zubrus-Elias-Gionta line, strong enough to pique the interest of my cat, Noodle, who is now watching the TV attentively.

8:36 PM ET: That’s the end of the second folks. Get your rally caps on for the third!

8:34 PM ET: Le sigh. Savard tips a rebound up over Weekes on the very next play. 4-2.

8:33 PM ET: Evidently, the scorekeepers don’t think it’s possible that Oduya could have scored. Understandable. Asham has credit for it at the moment. Nonetheless, 3-2.

8:31 PM ET: Good God. I think Johnny Oduya may have just scored a goal. There may be hope after all. Asham seems to think it’s his but it appears Oduya’s shot from the point deflected off Chara’s leg and in.

8:29 PM ET: Laser Beam! Weekes makes a beauty of the save on a 2-1 by the Bruins. Gionta takes it the other way and nearly gets one by Thomas as he breaks in on the side.

8:27 PM ET: Kind of ho-hum action here late in the 2nd. Bruins not giving the Devils much.

8:21 PM ET: Even though he hasn’t beat up Chara yet, Gionta has really started to pick up his game here in the second half of the period. He’s created the most promising opportunities so far by zipping around the ice.

8:17 PM ET: Devils starting to show some life now, throwing their bodies around. Zubrus can’t get a handle on a great chance in the slot fed from Gionta.

8:12 PM ET: Wow, this ain’t pretty. Martin coughs it up right to Savard deep in the zone. Great save by Weekes to save the play though.

8:08 PM ET: I think the problem is that Gionta hasn’t had his regular David and Goliath scrap with Chara yet. Step it up Gio! Jump on that giant’s back!

8:05 PM ET: Penalty killed, though the Bruins get some good chances.

8:02 PM ET: No such luck. The Devils look lifeless to start the period and Zubrus takes a delay of game penalty, though for what exactly I’m not sure.

8:01 PM ET: And we’re back. Let’s hope the boys can make some use of the last minute of this powerplay and wipe away a bit of the bad taste from the end of last period.

7:44 PM ET: Period over, back in a bit.

7:43 PM ET: Holy crap. That was miserable. 3-1. Every aspect of the Devils game managed to fail right there as a bad pass gets past Oduya and Marco Sturm picks it up on a breakaway, misses, gets his own freakin’ rebound and manages to push it past Weekes with 0.6 seconds left. Wonderful.

7:42 PM ET: Powerplay! Slashing on Bigfoot.

7:40 PM ET: No good. Dennis Wideman floats a heavily screened shot past Weekes. 2-1.

7:37 PM ET: In case you’re watching tonight’s game on television you may notice there’s a hockey game going on in between FSN-NY’s round-the-clock coverage of Bitegate 2008: The Derian Hatcher Story.

7:35 PM ET: I wonder how many comical references to Chara’s height Doc and Chico utter in a Devs-Bruins game. My count is four so far.

7:32 PM ET: The crowd at the Garden wakes up as P.J. Axelsson throws one off of Colin White’s stick and past Weekes. 1-1. Bootastic.

7:30 PM ET: Martin and Elias continue their strong play tonight as a nice one-timer setup between the two gets stopped by Thomas. Maybe Elias has finally stopped moping about not being captain.

7:23 PM ET: Laser beam Weekes makes his first prominent appearance of the evening, making a big stop on a Boston 3-2. Pretty lukewarm action on both side so far despite Zubs’ goal.

7:19 PM ET: Chico takes a moment during some down time to ponder if he’d chomp down on someone’s finger a la Mr. Hatcher. Awesome.

7:16 PM ET: Alright apparently it wasn’t as close a call as I expected! Goal #7 for Dainius Zubrus!

7:14 PM ET: Woo! We may or may not have a goal here as Zubs whacks in a rebound high off Thomas. Close call on the high stick.

7:09 PM ET: Clarkson and Bigfoot himself Zdeno Chara apparently scrapped off screen there for a moment. Maybe we’ll see some hideously mismatched fisticuffs before long. Pray for Clarkson’s face.

7:07 PM ET: And we’re underway!

6:51 PM ET: I’m actually picking up the game on HD for the first time tonight which is the most exciting development in my Devils life in recent memory. I could totally see Lou’s liver-spotted head with complete clarity while he was talking about Derian Hatcher’s overactive appetite.

6:48 PM ET: Hey everyone, the live-cap makes its triumphant return tonight courtesy of yours truly after a long break. Thanks for sticking with us through the holidays, which have been extended considering no less than half of the staff has fallen victim to the new year’s flu.