NJ 2 - ATL 5

The only thought running through my head today is "I sat in 2 hours of traffic in New Haven to see that?" Granted Connecticut's endless road construction isn't the cause of last night's disaster, it's still enough to thoroughly piss me off. I missed the first 15 minutes of the 1st period waiting at the GWB, but from what I heard, the Devs definitely capitalized on their chances and didn't give the Thrashers much to work with. By the time I sat down to watch the game, Parise had just scored on the PP and things were looking good. Then Bobby had to ruin everything.

The fact that it was going way wide and Martin deflected it in doesn't hurt as much as the fact that it came with less than a minute left in the 1st and Atlanta was in the middle of a change. Bobby had a fence of 3 Devs pinning him at the boards and just decided to throw it up; good things happen when you put the puck at the net. Regardless it was still 2-2; they weren't losing, yet. Hnidy and Kozlov capitalized on their chances while the Devs failed to do so on countless power plays and that was the game.

It's pretty easy to tell that the Devs were defeated when they couldn't lead a decent breakout. Whether the Thrashers were playing that well or the Devs were just flustered, the fact remained that the puck wasn't going tape-to-tape and there was no speed in the neutral zone. As a Devils fan, I see this way too much when the pressure's on; it's been happening since I can remember going to the games (to date myself, Sean Burke and Chris Terreri were in goal and I was 7). The tape-to-skate passing ruined any chance of a comeback as they never carried the puck deep into the zone nor could they get a dump and chase going. Easy defense for the Thrashers, who just had to clear the puck and wait for a turnover (Kozlov's goal) to seal the deal. Hopefully the Christmas break will give everyone a breather and let Elias and White recover or they're going to have to find a way to bring back Matvichuck, Brooks, or Fahey.

On a plus side, the Rangers blew a 3-0 lead in the 3rd to lose 4-3. THEY LET A DEFENSEMAN SCORE A HAT TRICK! And I thought the Devils' defense was weak.