Instead of watching the first American Idol of the season (I never really got into that show anyway), here I am catching up on a few news items:
-Two separate roster moves: on Tuesday forwards Kelly Zajac and Bryan Haczyk were returned to Trenton, despite playing well in their season debuts on Sunday afternoon in Atlantic City. I think I may know the reason: the Titans had a Wednesday morning game and were in need of players (they lost a chunk of their roster due to AHL callups when NHL camps opened over the weekend). We shall see if either return for the weekend depending on events in New Jersey. Then this morning forward J.S. Berube was also sent to Trenton, where he made his season debut after being sidelined since training camp. He didn’t do so bad, actually notching a goal and an assist in a 4-3 overtime win in front of a very intimate crowd, you could say (cue the Lowell jokes in 3, 2, 1…).
-Meanwhile, down in Newark, a group of Devils made the trip to take on their New Jersey counterparts in a Red-White scrimmage earlier this afternoon. The White team (mostly New Jersey regulars) defeated the Red team (mostly Albany regulars with a few extra New Jersey vets mixed in) 4-1. The only Red goal? First round draft pick Stefan Matteau. The White goalie? Martin Brodeur. The Circle of Life has been completed. The newly re-signed Travis Zajac celebrated his new 8 year contract extension (YAY!) by scoring twice, with Ilya Kovalchuk and David Clarkson adding a goal apiece for the White team. From what I was reading on the Devils PR’s Twitter feed, it wasn’t a normal game per se…the time was divided up with even strength situations and power play/penalty kill. There was even a shootout at the end, where Albany regular Harri Pesonen was the only one to convert.
Thoughts Inside The Box 