The New Jersey Devils seem to amaze the hockey world night after night.  Tonight was no different as they dismantled the Southeast Division leading Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 (Just as Ethan predicted they would). 

The Devils seem to get scoring from everyone this season.  Last night four different New Jersey players tallied goals as the Atlantic Division's hottest team collected two more points (some may argue that Pittsburgh is hotter considering it has won eight straight).

The Devils opened the scoring in the first period on a Travis Zajac goal, the only one in the opening frame for either team.  The most interesting event came at the very end of the first period where David Clarkson squared off with Carolina's Mike Commodore.  The two would exchange a punch or two and wrestled off to the ice.

The lead would last for about ten playing minutes as Carolina's Keith Aucoin scored his first NHL goal (congratulations to Aucoin, who is not related to Adrian of the NY Islanders). 

It seemed as though the second period would end tied until Patrick Elias entered the zone and blasted a rocket of a slap shot off of the right post and past goaltender Cam Ward.  This goal would prove to be the go-ahead goal and Elias' team-leading sixth game-winner thus far.

In the third period, the Devils clamped down on defense, allowing six shots for the final 20 minutes.  The Hurricanes, who managed merely six shots in the opening stanza as well, were unable to come back from the one-goal deficit, which slowly became three.

Brian Gionta placed his 13th goal of the season home on the power play to give the Devils a comfortable two-goal advantage.  And to put the nail in the coffin, Sergei Brylin netted his fourth of the season with about two minutes to play to give New Jersey the 4-1 margin of victory.

In the win, goaltender Martin Brodeur only needed to make 20 saves for his 23rd win.  Brodeur was not tested by the Hurricanes, who only dressed 17 skaters due to injuries, and were clearly out of sync.  Brodeur has absolutely silenced the critics about whether or no he was "losing it".  Maybe, they should be focusing on NY Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who allowed six goals last night and is clearly struggling with a 3.97 GAA in January and an 0-3-1 record in his last four starts.

The Devils have not only found their mid-season stride, but are focused on playing 60 minutes of hockey, which they were not doing consistently earlier in the year.  When they picked up the pace in late-November, they went on a nine-game winning streak, and were playing fearless of their opponent.

Head coach Brent Sutter's team is playing with passion that shows in the standings.

With 53 points, the Devils remain in the Atlantic Division lead, only one point better than the sizzling Penguins.  They are also sitting in second place in the conference, still seven points behind the red-hot Ottawa Senators.

The Devils take one night off as they travel to northwestern New York for a rematch with the Buffalo Sabres, whom the Devils owned in their last two meetings, both shootout wins for New Jersey in the Prudential Center.

Go Devils!

Score, Score First, Score Early.

The Devils completed all of above against the Hurricanes on Thursday night.  Zajac's goal was the first of the contest by either team, less than eight minutes into the first half of New Jersey's brief road trip.

They scored on the power play and first for the fifth consecutive game.

"They improved to 17-4-1 when scoring first and 12-1-1 when leading after the first period." (TG)

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