Okay, so last night’s Devils-Rangers game was pretty much the nadir of what Devils hockey has to offer, so we’re anticipating that tonight can only be better. Right? Right? Okay, don’t answer that. Anyway, we’re all on board with the Devils’ plan of starting a new, better winning streak, and it all starts with Weekesie. When Doc confirms that Weekes is starting tonight, Pookie says, “Thank God. I was beginning to think Sutter had completely lost his mind.”
FIRST PERIOD
Before the puck drops, Chico tells us our starting goalies are a combined 3-21-2 against their respective opponents. Well, something’s got to give!
19:09 A big rush by Gio, Zach and Patty results in Semin’s traditional hooking penalty. Doc tells us we’ve got the same officials tonight as did the Rangers game last night. Great. Because they did such a bang-up job in that one.
17:36 The Caps finally manage to clear the puck after some pretty snappy perimeter passing and some good chances in close by the power play unit; so far the Devils have had more shots and more quality scoring chances than they did in their entire last game. This looks like a team that might be a bit pissy about how anemic they were yesterday.
16:22 Building off a successful weathering of the power play, the Caps have a hard-hitting, hard-shooting shift led by an Ovechkin fueled by what Chico calls “reckless abandonment.” Weekes ends up shutting things down on an off-the-rush shot by Fleischmann.
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