Live Blog 1/17/09: Devils 3, Islanders 1

0:46 Time called by the Isles. There's nothing to suggest a miracle finish is on the way so that's going to do it for now.

2:46 Break in the action and the building begins to clear out. We'll hang on for one more flurry here before packing up.

3:00 Isles are finally getting some sustained pressure but having trouble hitting the net.

6:35 The scoreboard and the Event Summary are claiming that the Isles are outhitting the Devils 26-7. Kind of strange considering the Devils had 7 hits in the first period.

8:30 Martinek and Comrie get the assists on the Comeau goal.

9:25 Comeau all alone in front grabs a rebound and easily puts it over a sprawling Clemmensen to get the Isles on the board. Devils lead 3-1.

12:16 Goal-mouth scramble with Sim hacking away at the puck to no avail. Clemmensen covered up.

14:12 Streit gets away with a dangerous cross-ice pass just inside the offensive blue line.

16:02 Rolston came in alone from the left side put pushed it just wide of the far post. Danis may have gotten a piece.

16:15 Witt being attended to on the ice. Now going to the locker room holding something up to the area near his left eye. Didn't see if it was a puck or a stick that got him.

17:40 Park danced between two defenders in the slot and got a good scoring chance on Clemmensen.

THIRD PERIOD

Second Intermission: There's still not much you can imagine a coach being happy about from this game. We'll see if they can generate anything in the third period to make Scott Gordon's post-game less prickly.

5:18 There's not much of a tempo right now, which is a good thing considering I feel a reboot coming on.

8:57 You can currently file this one under uninspiring.

12:15 Jackman and Salvador engage. Jackman landed a lot of what seemed to be forearms more than punches. But give him the decision and the takedown. Five each.

13:24 Devils fans are getting louder with each goal.

15:02 Madden works hard to get the puck out of the corner to Clarkson whose sharp-angled slapper beats Danis. Devils lead 3-0.

17:22 Good effort by Comeau to gain some speed at the blue line and work his way through the defense to get off a shot. Tough chance to score on though.

19:03 Langenbrunner sends a medium-soft shot/pass to the front of the net that deflects to a wide open Parise at the side of the net. No trouble for Parise to make it 2-0 on the power play goal.

19:48 Thompson to the box for boarding.

SECOND PERIOD

1st Intermission: The Isles are fortunate to be down only 1-0 after that period. You can't play that carelessly with the puck and expect to survive against the Devils. The good news is that they're still in this. The Isles do have 12 hits to 7 for the Devils. The home team should attempt to use physical play as a catalyst from here on. If you're wondering how the fan base would respond after the KC/Saskatoon news, it's a very strong crowd here. Plenty of Devils fans for sure, but it would be a good crowd even without them. There was one sign being paraded around the concourse with a very simple sentiment directed at KC. Something akin to the city having the main the feature of a vacuum cleaner.

0:45 Streit took a tough bump to the lower back but appears to be okay.

2:32 Langenbrunner flubbed a short-side shot at a half-empty net off a pass from behind the goal line.

4:46 Campoli with a nice hit on Andy Greene in the defensive zone. On today's episode of HNLI, one thing John Fischer was worried about was how the Devils would respond to physical play tonight. So for he doesn't have much too worry about.

7:23 Isles are making it too easy for NJ with giveaways. Danis just survived that mini-break.

10:04 Nothing doing on that last power play. If the Isles don't start putting some legitimate pressure on the Devils they're going to fall way behind fast. A goal-mouth scramble where Danis didn't see the puck right away almost made it 2-0.

11:44 Isles not moving the puck well at all on the power play. A poor pass results in a breakaway for Zajac who was only stopped from getting his second shorty by a quick glove from Danis.

12:55 Zubrus trips up Streit just outside the Devils' zone. Isles back to the power play.

13:54 Danis gets his pocket picked behind the net by Zach Parise, who gets the puck out in front of an empty net. Travis Zajac deposits it for the shorty. Devils lead 1-0 on a terrible goal to give up.

14:50 The No. 1 unit of Bailey-Nielsen-Hunter-Okposo-Streit goes of without generating much.

15:42 Today's press clips packet includes a couple of articles about Wade Dubielewicz being happy to be back with the Islanders. Talk about short-lived news. John Madden takes a 2:00 minute minor for high sticking.

16:59 Mike Comrie needs to get the offense going again. He has only 1 assist to show for the last 6 games after scoring goals in three straight.

18:00 Nifty pass from Streit to Park but Clemmensen gets a glove on it. That's the second glove save he's made from in close.

20:00 Thompson centers Sim and Jackman to start with Witt and Martinek on D. This is the Islanders' version of a crash line.

FIRST PERIOD

Just finished up the pre-game ceremony jointly honoring Bill Guerin for his 400th goal and Doug Weight for his 1,000th point. I'll post some video later if it looks worthy of posting.

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After a couple of days of headline-making off-ice news, it's time to get back to some hockey. For those who are curious, Yann Danis is back in his #34 jersey and Peter Mannino did make it in time for pre-game warmups.

I'd like to thank Steve and Alex from Hockey Night on Long Island for allowing me to occupy Alex's empty seat on today's show. It was a great episode and Steve did a terrific job running the board with so much news to discuss. As always, the show is archived on the HNLI show site and also available to download as a podcast from iTunes. Further thanks to John Fischer of In Lou We Trust who was an excellent guest and provided an astute preview of tonight's contest from the Devils' perspective.

Back shortly with the opening draw!