New Jersey Devils' Johan Hedberg stops 34 to shutout Ottawa Senators 1-0 -NHL Update
Johan Hedberg had his eyes on the puck and nothing else in New Jersey’s contest against Ottawa as the Devils goalie blocked all 34 shot attempts on his net to shutout the Senators, 1-0, Tuesday night, March 20, 2012, at the sold-out Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, Ontario.
Not having scored the single goal in regulation, New Jersey would have certainly let down their hot headed goalie who worked so hard in the net to keep Ottawa out throughout the 60-minute matchup.
Failing to take advantage of their first power play opportunity coming into the matchup as Ottawa captain, Daniel Alfredsson, was booked for interference only 50 seconds in, Ilya Kovalchuk scored the game-winner on another added man advantage with less than three minutes remaining in round-three.
New Jersey gave three penalties during the contest but Ottawa kept failing at each end to take advantage of any single chance.
"It's always exciting when you score and especially because it was a big game for us, but (Hedberg) was outstanding and he's the reason why we won," Kovalchuk said. "I've never see anyone work harder than this guy in practice."Every day he shows up, and when he gets a chance, he plays unbelievable. We've got two great goalies, and we're very confident in both of them."
Kovalchuk’s game-winner was definitely a chance for New Jersey to rejoice, knowing that it was most likely going to take them to victory.
"It seemed like whoever was going to get the first goal was probably going to win the game," Devils’ head coach, Peter DeBoer, said. "Thankfully we got one and it was big."
New Jersey Devils are well into the playoff race standing at number six in the Eastern Conference with 89 points. They have the next at home against a struggling Toronto Maple Leafs club and a chance to extend it to two straight.
Ottawa still stands at number seven with 84 points. The Senators have the next against their Canadian rival team, the Montreal Canadiens, on Friday, which should surely be a must see in any case due to the extreme enmity between both.
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