New Jersey Devils defeat Calgary Flames 2-1
On Wednesday 24 November the New Jersey Devils outlasted the Calgary Flames, defeating them in a shootout by the score of 2-1.
The Devils came into this game with some momentum. They had put together their best team performance of the season on Monday 22 November and defeated the Washington Capitals by a score of 5-0.
The Flames had gone 1-1-1 in the three games leading up to their contest with the Devils. Untimely penalties cost them potential victories in two of those games. Flames captain Jarome Iginla was the one
bright spot in those three games, scoring six goals and one assist.
When the scoring began on Wednesday, it was the Devils that struck first. The Flames had just killed off their first penalty of the game when Devils rookie Mattias Tedenby fired a shot from the slot that
David Clarkson was able to get a stick on to tip the puck past Flames’ goaltender Henrik Karlsson.
The score would remain at 1-0 until 1:18 into the third period when Rene Bourque deflected an errant pass into the net, beating Devils’ goaltender Johan Hedberg. The goal was Bourque’s 10th of the season.
The game remained tied at one for the remainder of regulation and neither team could score in the overtime, forcing the teams to a shootout.
In the shootout, the only player to put the puck in the net was the Devils’ Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk shot high to the glove side of Karlsson, scoring the game-winning goal.
After the game, Karlsson told NHL.com, “I was pretty sure he was going to shoot there and it felt like it went through my shoulder and my glove. It was a great shot by him. I wasn't stoned by it. It was
a good shot."
After the game, Devils coach John MacLean was happy with his team’s performance.
"Sometimes you have to stay with it, you have to stay with the plan," MacLean told NHL.com. "Some shifts you go out there and maybe nothing will happen, but you have to keep going. That's how we're going
to win right now, to be prepared to play that game for 60 minutes, and eventually the bounces will start coming, the opportunities will start coming and we'll start burying them more. That's how you have to build momentum."
The victory gives the Devils something to build on as they head to Long Island to face the New York Islanders, who are winless in their last 14 games. The Devils will play the Islanders on Friday 26 November.
The Flames, winless in their last three games, will face the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday. The Flyers currently sit atop the NHL standings with a record of 15-6-2.
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