The injury bug just won’t leave the Devils alone this season. First Brian Rolston’s ankle. Then Bobby Holik’s pinky. Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond’s cracked orbital bone struck a blow to hyphen-lovers everywhere (see what I did there?). And now tragedy has even befallen the man, the myth, the monster…the Mister Andy Greene.

Andy apparently took a puck off the hand early in the Devils 6-5 shootout loss to the Maple Leafs Wednesday night. The Lean Greene Point-Producin’ Machine managed a career-high three assists despite the broken hand. Hell, maybe it was even because of the injury. Maybe it made Andy angry. You wouldn’t like Andy when he’s angry. Greene celebrated a birthday by getting his hand X-Ray-ed. That’s gotta suck, but Andy’s hardcore like that.

The puck that befell the Greene Monster came off the stick of Pavel Kubina, no less. Y’know, the guy who knocked Scott Stevens silly with a puck to the head a few years back. Greene’s injury is slightly less scary than Stevens’, though, and will shelve Andy for about a month, maybe more.

While the Devils must wait another four-to-six weeks to again Go Greene, one Sheldon Brookbank will be paired up with Mike Mottau as the Red n’ Black’s third pairing. Getcha Pepto Bismol ready.

So besides the terror-inducing duo of Mottau/Brookbank (inducing terror in Devils fans, I mean. Not so much the opposition), what else can we expect tonight? Welp, after taking part in his NHL debut and notching his first-career point with an assist, Matt Halischuk gets to take a cozy seat in the press box, as Niklas Bergfors gets to make his season debut for the Devils tonight. Since Niklas’ only other prior NHL experience was the season opener last year against Tampa Bay, and since he got hurt in that game and never made it back to the NHL, and since last season’s opener so thoroughly sucked - I say that game gets stricken from the record. Niklas Bergfors gets to start anew tonight, in his first ever NHL game. I don’t care what the record books show.

The Devils ride into tonight’s game on a three-game losing streak (yet still managing the charity point in two of the three), sitting at 5-2-2. The Thrashers come in as the second-worst team in the NHL, one point ahead of the Islanders and sporting a 2-6-2 record. The Thrashers recently fell victim to that evil injury bug themselves, losing No. 3 overall pick Zack Bogosian to a broken leg during a 7-0 drubbing at the hands of Philadelphia last week.

Before I begin, I’d like to apologize for the lack of pictures in this post. I have them up and ready to go, but I seem to be having a problem with getting them posted. I’ll try to have this problem rectified as soon as possible. - Josh
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So it’s in the books, the Devils open the 2008-09 season with a 2-1 victory over the Islanders. It wasn’t all pretty, but it wasn’t all bad either. So, I present to you, loyal 2MA reader…THE AWESOME, THE NOT-SO-AWESOME, AND THE DOWNRIGHT RIDICULOUS of the Devils’ season opener as I saw from my perch in 114:

THE AWESOME – No more Zombie Nation!

I’m not going to lie – I’m conflicted with this awesomeness. After Gary Glitter’s arrest and persecution, I was perfectly fine with the Devils’ choice to stop using Rock And Roll Pt 2 as their goal song. When they used Ole! by Bouncing Souls two years ago, even better – awesome band, awesome song. But last year’s song, Kernkraft 440 by Zombie Nation, just sucked.

So, I guess the annoyance with last year’s song trumps the distaste of the performer of the new/old song. And in the end, Glitter’s paid his debt to society, so maybe it is alright after all to be using his song again.

It’s still better than Zombie Nation.

THE NOT-SO-AWESOME – HE’S NOT WEARING A MASK!

I was in the middle of a conversation with a friend about hockey rules when Marty was run into by Paul Martin and lost his mask. I know hockey’s a fast sport, and sometimes things happen faster on the ice than we notice them on television or in the stands, but can someone please explain to me why someone was allowed to fire a shot even in the general direction of a mask-less goalie before a whistle was blown? Pucks have been frozen by overzealous referees in less time than it took for play to be blown dead after Marty lost his mask.

Brodeur is on track to shatter records left and right. This should be a huge deal for the NHL. A slow whistle by the referee could have easily ended any chance Brodeur has at taking his place in the record book – and ultimately raising the NHL’s profile on non-hockey friendly outlets such as ESPN. There are some things that are just too dangerous to mess around with, and a mask-less goalie is one of them. Any time a goalie loses his mask, play needs to be whistled dead immediately. Period.

THE DOWNRIGHT RIDICULOUS – Green men and dancing guy strippers…wait, I’m at a Devils game?

Look, I know the Devils get a bad rap over their marketing and fan relations and in-game entertainment. Usually I’m one of the ones complaining the most. But if this is what’s in store for this year, I recant all of my prior complaints. Just don’t make me watch these people anymore.

First is the guy with the multiple shirts. He does some kind of strange dancing stripping routine that was funny at first – especially when he stopped a guy who clearly didn’t want to have anything to do with him. But the next five or six times? Not so much. The enthusiasm is nice. The shirt-removing routine grows old really fast.

The green guy was less obnoxious, but far more difficult to understand. My friend tells me it’s a reference to It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, which is probably more correct than my guess – an overzealous fan of Andy Greene. Whatever it is, I’m reasonably certain green guy was not wearing underwear beneath his frighteningly form-fitting costume. And I really didn’t need to see that.

Pre-season is officially wrapped up, folks, and it was a fun one. Where else would you get to see Brian Gionta go toe-to-toe with Mike Comrie?!

We’re officially 5 days away from the season opener on October 10th, and those 5 days will be the most exciting ones. The roster should be primed in the next few days, and we’ll have a bigger idea of who will be taking the ice next week.

Stick with us as we’ll have analysis from the whole crew here at 2MA, as well as some reader-submitted opinions as well! Details to follow tomorrow.

I can smell the ice!!

Dear sir or madam,

The gentlemen and lady of www.2manadvantage.com request the honor of your presence the evening of September the 24th, 2008.  The occasion marks the first world-famous 2MA LiveCap of the 2008-09 National Hockey…

Ah screw it, I can’t do high-class.  Let me start again:

YOU!  ME!  LIVECAPPING!  TOMORROW NIGHT!  BE THERE OR BE…ELSEWHERE!

In all seriousness, the first livecap of the season will take place tomorrow night for the Devils home pre-season opener against the Rangers.  Be here around 7ish.  I have intentions on testing out what I believe will be a new, improved LiveCapping format.  What will be so awesome about it?  Well, for one, I’ll see your comments in real-time and will be able to approve them the second you make them.  That’ll speed up the conversation.  Also, everything (should) occur in real-time - no more refreshing the page for updates.  If Steve, Joe, Scott, or maybe even Patty happen to be around, they’ll be able to LiveCap right there with me - literal 2 Man Advantage LiveCap!

In the end though, it’ll be your feedback that will decide whether we move to this new program full-time or revert to the format of years past.  So please, come check it out tomorrow night and let me know what you think.  I’m optimistic that it’s going to be awesome.

See y’all tomorrow night!