I just wanted to offer a brief synopsis of the New Jersey Devils ninth consecutive victory last night.  Joel will have the full scoop later this weekend.  Defenseman Vitaly Vishnevski scored the Devils first goal unassisted.  It was his first of the season and only 15th of his career.  Newly acquired Danius Zubrus added the second one, less than five minutes later on the power play.  Zubrus' sixth of the season was assisted by Patrik Elias and Brian Gionta.  It seems as if Elias has taken the demotion quite well.  In two games he has tallied two goals and two assists.

Nothing happened in the second 20 minutes other than nine Washington Capitals shots on net and four by the Devils.  Both teams failed to score on their two man advantages as well.

The final period was a lot more interesting offensively.  The Capitals finally got on the board on Alexander Semin's second of the year.  However, Travis Zajac scored an important goal for New Jersey merely 41 seconds later, staking the Devs to a 3-1 lead.  Brooks Laich finished the scoring and the game at 3-2 in favor of NJ.

Faceoffs:
This had to have been the Devils best night on the draw.  John Madden went 13-15, 87 percent.  Patrik Elias was also very good last night, going 11-18, good for 61 percent.  Travis Zajac was the only consistent Devils player less than 50 percent successful (6-14) on the faceoff.

Goaltending:
Martin Brodeur saved 22 of 24 shots while Olaf Kolzig rescued 19 of 22 shots.

Special Teams:
NJD converted 1-5 and held Washington to 0-4 on their man advantage.

Attendance:
The Prudential Center was not sold out last night, but 16,625 fans showed up for the contest, filling 92 percent of the building.  That is a start in the right direction.

Streaks:
The Devils extended their win streak to a season-high nine games, "matching the third-longest in team history. The record of 13 was set in 2000-01 (The Devils' 15 consecutive wins -- 11 at the end of the regular season and their first four games of the playoffs -- in 2005-06 do not qualify)." (Tom Gulitti of Bergen Record)

They also swept a five-game home stand for the first time in team history.

"They had 11 previous homestands of at least five games and the closest they came was going 4-0-1 during one in 1993-94," Gulitti said.

Notes:
Jay Pandolfo missed his fourth straight and will not be available against the Rangers or the Capitals on Monday night, in the Devils third game in four nights.
A fan remarked that Brodeur is in need of a rest and the Caps game would be perfect timing.

Next Game:

The Devils (16-10-2) are officially in first place and have their most difficult test on Sunday, when they travel to Madison Square Garden to face the New York Rangers.  The Devils have yet to defeat the Rangers thus far (0-2-1) and would love to come out victorious on Sunday's late afternoon (5:00 p.m.) game.

The Capitals' loss dropped them to 9-17-2, as they remained the only organization with fewer than 10 regulation wins on the season.

With no time to relax, the Caps immediately returned home for a Saturday night divisional battle with Atlanta, winners of three of their last four contests.  The Thrashers decimated the Caps 5-1 the last time these two teams played each other on Nov. 21st..

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