With the season pretty much hanging in the balance—and the Carolina Hurricanes and Buffalo Sabres both winning on the same night—the New Jersey Devils (34-35-4) lost to the Boston Bruins (40-22-10) by a score of 4–1 at the TD Garden and now face a tall order if they are going to make the postseason.
Speaking after the game with MSG, Devils star winger Ilya Kovalchuk put it bluntly, “We can’t lose any more games.”
Now in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, New Jersey remains six points behind the Carolina Hurricanes (9th seed) and remains nine points behind the Buffalo Sabres (8th seed).
New Jersey gave a very good effort in both the first and third period but failed to take advantage of their scoring chances. The Devils scoring woes continue, having now only scored five goals in their last four games.
More telling in this contest was their lack of discipline when it came to penalties, giving Boston the power play five times—the Bruins played with the man advantage for most of the second period.
Despite the loss, Devils goalie Martin Brodeur played pretty well, saving 26 of 29 shots on goal.
New Jersey coach Jacques Lemaire was disappointed, bluntly saying, “I wish we had played a more disciplined game. I’m going to look how we played.”
The Devils came out on fire and struck first, scoring at 11:05 in the first period.
On the play, winger Mattias Tedenby sat behind the left side of the net and threw a quick pass to Ilya Kovalchuk in front, who slapped it past Bruins netminder Thomas—it was Kovy’s 27th of the year.
It didn’t take long for Boston to answer.
At 15:39, just minutes after New Jersey’s score, Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg threw a shot on goal from the top of the right circle that was redirected past Brodeur by Shawn Thornton, who was positioned in front of the net.
To the delight of the home crowd, Boston took the lead at 8:17 in the second period as Zdeno Chara zipped a quick shot by Brodeur after another power play. The goal was significant for the big defenseman; it was his 402nd career point.
A big difference in between the first and second periods was Boston’s quickness, as they raced to nearly every puck and drew several New Jersey penalties.
Coming out on fire in the third period, the Devils looked to tie the game but were dealt a painful blow as gifted winger Milan Lucic buried home a laser of a shot from the left side at 16:13.
Lucic’s goal all but took the life out of New Jersey.
Boston drove the nail in the coffin at 19:20 after the Devils pulled Brodeur for the extra attacker and the Bruins’ Mark Recchi got the empty net goal.
Speaking after the game with MSG, Devils star winger Ilya Kovalchuk put it bluntly, “We can’t lose any more games.”
Now in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, New Jersey remains six points behind the Carolina Hurricanes (9th seed) and remains nine points behind the Buffalo Sabres (8th seed).
New Jersey gave a very good effort in both the first and third period but failed to take advantage of their scoring chances. The Devils scoring woes continue, having now only scored five goals in their last four games.
More telling in this contest was their lack of discipline when it came to penalties, giving Boston the power play five times—the Bruins played with the man advantage for most of the second period.
Despite the loss, Devils goalie Martin Brodeur played pretty well, saving 26 of 29 shots on goal.
New Jersey coach Jacques Lemaire was disappointed, bluntly saying, “I wish we had played a more disciplined game. I’m going to look how we played.”
Painful Summary
The Devils came out on fire and struck first, scoring at 11:05 in the first period.
On the play, winger Mattias Tedenby sat behind the left side of the net and threw a quick pass to Ilya Kovalchuk in front, who slapped it past Bruins netminder Thomas—it was Kovy’s 27th of the year.
It didn’t take long for Boston to answer.
At 15:39, just minutes after New Jersey’s score, Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg threw a shot on goal from the top of the right circle that was redirected past Brodeur by Shawn Thornton, who was positioned in front of the net.
To the delight of the home crowd, Boston took the lead at 8:17 in the second period as Zdeno Chara zipped a quick shot by Brodeur after another power play. The goal was significant for the big defenseman; it was his 402nd career point.
A big difference in between the first and second periods was Boston’s quickness, as they raced to nearly every puck and drew several New Jersey penalties.
Coming out on fire in the third period, the Devils looked to tie the game but were dealt a painful blow as gifted winger Milan Lucic buried home a laser of a shot from the left side at 16:13.
Lucic’s goal all but took the life out of New Jersey.
Boston drove the nail in the coffin at 19:20 after the Devils pulled Brodeur for the extra attacker and the Bruins’ Mark Recchi got the empty net goal.
