Anyone who has watched a New Jersey Devils game this season will have most likely seen the standings for the "Hummer Metro Ice Challenge".  It's a competition between the three metro area teams, including Devils, and the Rangers and Islanders representing New York.  Check out the standings and you will find the Islanders in first place and Devils, surprisingly at the opposite end.

Even though the Devils outhustled, outplayed and even outshot the Islanders, they still found a way to lose for the first time at home since Dec. 15.

Playing before 15,975 at the Prudential Center, the Devils outshot the Islanders 38-23, yet suffered their fifth loss of the season to the Islanders, who are now 15-0 when leading after two periods.

While the Devils started the game with a slow and sloppy first period, the Islanders were not much better.  That changed at 6:10 of the opening frame when Colin White and Mike Mottau committed simultaneous infractions, giving the Islanders a 5-on-3 power play advantage for a full two minutes.

Add the fact that forward John Madden missed the contest with a right ankle laceration and the Devils were faced to kill penalties without Madden and Jay Pandolfo, who is most likely out until the All-Star break with his lower body ligament problem, which he suffered against Dallas back in November.

Continuing his success against the team that drafted him in 1989, Bill Guerin lit the lamp for the first of two goals against the Devils last night.  Mike Comrie and Miroslav Satan assisted on Guerin’s 16th of the season.

Guerin has three goals in five games against the Devils this season, including the game-winning overtime goal back in October.

White committed another penalty 2:25 later, but the Devils fortunately killed off that penalty to head into the locker room only down 1-0.

Head coach Brent Sutter’s team continued erring in the following period as defenseman Johnny Oduya went to the box for a delay of game infraction 59 seconds in.

Even though the Islanders did not score on the ensuing man advantage, Mike Sillinger would 1:18 later to make it 2-0 Islanders. 

This woke the sleeping giant.  Could the Devils earn another come-from-behind win?

If it were not for Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro, who was recently added as a reserve to the Eastern Conference All-Star team, the answer might have been yes.

Unfortunately, DiPietro started between the pipes, making 37 saves in the process.

For the next 15 minutes of play, the Devils turned up the volume, drawing four consecutive second-period power plays and attacking the net.

Although the power plays yielded nothing more than DiPietro’s magic, they mounted confidence for the New Jersey attack.

By the final horn of the second period, you knew that the Devils would come out storming in the final 20 minutes.

As I stated in my previous blog, never count the Devils out until the final buzzer of regulation.

They peppered Dipietro, who held the Devils scoreless, until Travis Zajac finally scored with 12:49 remaining in regulation, sparking hopes of another comeback.  Brian Gionta and Dainius Zubrus assisted on Zajac’s ninth, which slid by DiPietro, off his stick and into the net.

The Devils’ crowd came alive as they began to pressure the Islanders and force DiPietro to make some unbelievable saves.

The Devils continued to plug away and outskate the Islanders, eventually drawing the lone third-period power play after a combined nine through the first 40 minutes.

They had a few good chances to score, including a sequence by Brian Gionta, who broke down the right wing, fired a low shot, got his own rebound, dished it to Jamie Langenbrunner who seemingly had as much of the net as he could ask for.  Langenbrunnber fired the puck at the former first-round draft pick, who got enough of the puck to keep the Islanders in front 2-1.

As the Devils pulled Martin Brodeur with about a minute and a half left in the game, they gave the Islanders as much as they could handle without breaking them.

Arguably, the best chance of the night was a rebound in front that Dainius Zubrus tried to shoot into the yawning net, until DiPietro stuck out his glove and robbed him of the game-tying goal.

Former captain Patrik Elias was also denied at point blank range by DiPietro with 1:21 left in the second period.

Guerin knocked down a keep-in attempt at the Devils blue line, skated down the right side and scored the game-sealing empty-netter, his team-leading 17th, while Brodeur could only watch from the bench.

Not a bad game by the Devils, who cannot make a habit out of spotting opponents early two-or- three goal leads.

Notes From Last Night:

Memorable Come-From-Behind Wins for the Devils This Season:

Oct. 13: Atlanta led 4-2 midway through second period, Devils scored the next three, won 6-5 with Elias’ last-minute tally

Nov. 28: Dallas led 2-0 after first period, Devils won 4-2, Pandolfo injured himself in third period, has not played since

Dec. 5: Boston led 3-0 after opening frame, Devils won 4-3 in overtime after Thomas left the game with injury

Dec. 21: Edmonton led 1-0 after two periods, Devils scored three in final frame via Elias and Gionta’s teamwork, won 3-1

Jan. 12: Buffalo led 2-0 after one period of play, Devils scored the next two, Elias and Parise scored in the shootout and Brodeur stopped both Sabres shooters, Devils won 3-2

Playing Together:

The Devils surely missed Pandolfo and Madden’s presences, who were not in the lineup together for the first time since April 8, 1999.  In my opinion, it is a different game with those two healthy and lining up against opponents’ No. 1 lines.

Stay Positive:

On a positive note, Mike Rupp and David Clarkson both looked great and were high-flying once again last night.

Rest:

The Devils have the day off before they host Florida on Friday night.

Attendance:

The Devils crowd of 15, 975 filled 90 percent of the arena, but it is still not enough.  We want to rank among league leaders in points and attendance numbers.

It's a great experience, I’ve done it, Joel has, Jeremy has, and you should as well.

So get out there and cheer on the Devils!

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