As a belated birthday present, I called myself up to New Jersey last night to see the Devils take on the Hurricanes. As most everyone knows, before the A-Devils returned to Albany in 2010 I got 4 years with Carolina while the River Rats were affiliated with them. Since I never got to see a Carolina game during the affiliation, last night was I guess about seven years in the making. And with 6 former Rats on the Canes, a few thought my allegiances would be tested. And thanks to one of them, it almost was.
The view from my original seat in Section 120.
-My “Welcome to Newark” moment of the night? As I was walking out of Newark Penn when I arrived from Secaucus, a mouse scurried past my feet on the sidewalk towards one of the sewer drains.
-Seth Helgeson had been recalled on an emergency basis and was practicing with the team in the morning. By the time I arrived in Jersey, he was already sent back down. Oh well. But I still got to see Eric Gelinas and Jon Merrill, even though they weren’t paired together.
Jon MerrillEric Gelinas…one of the last to leave the ice
-Thanks to a friend from back home with an extra ticket, I got to move down to Section 2.
And the upgraded view from my seat.
As for the actual game? Well…not what I hoped for. Carolina jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Marty (hey, at least I got to see him play and not just warmup and get injured this time!), then Travis Zajac got Jersey on the board (and hello Seven Nation Army). The game was going along very quickly, only 2 penalties were called all night, which is something I’m really not used to down here. Of course the Devils get a power play and an Albany player scored…but shorthanded. There was a moment of “oh crap” for me when Pat Dwyer got that unassisted goal, considering he spent all four of the Carolina years here (he got his first callup during the final season, and was the captain at one point too). New Jersey did make it interesting in the third when Andy Greene and Jaromir Jagr scored to sort of rally. And it was only fitting that Dwyer got #1 star, because of course it had to be an Albany alum.
Despite the loss, I had a fun evening. And I got to hang out for a few minutes with some of the people I interact with on Twitter on a daily basis that I never get to see since I live hours away. Thanks guys! And yes I will attempt to work on that “assignment” on Sunday we talked about.
And a few other photos from last night:
Marty!Of course if you know me, got to have a Henrique photo.Of course Cam’s in fighting position.What the night was really all about for me.
Things are looking very good for the Devils during the month of November. With a week of divisional rivals and a chance to snag first place in the Northeast Division on the line, the team looked to continue a three game winning streak. And despite a stumble in the middle game, it was another good week overall, as they notched four out of six possible points and held on to second place. Reviewing the week that was:
The week began with the second matchup against Hartford in 5 days, this time on home ice. After an uneventful first period that only saw one penalty call, the Devils took control in the second. Stefan Matteau scored his second of the season to put Albany on the board, then Reid Boucher followed with his sixth of the season halfway through the period. Brandon Burlon scored his first of the season on a power play just shortly into the third period for a 3-0 lead. And that was all Keith Kinkaid needed, as he continued his hot streak. He stopped all 24 Wolfpack shots (including 11 in the third period while the Devils only had 5) in notching his second shutout against Hartford in less than a week. Joe Whitney added two assists, while 3 other Devils registered one assist each. Jon Merrill returned to the lineup and finished at an even rating.
For the first time in what seemed like forever, an Albany team was playing for first place in the division, as the Devils traveled east on the Mass Pike to take on the Falcons for the first time this season. And in the first period, it seemed like the guys forgot to bring something…everything they’ve done in the past week. Jonathan Marchessault would score on a power play just two minutes into the game for a quick 1-0 lead. The Falcons would add to it when Keith Kinkaid left his crease to play the puck, just long enough for it to get turned over and Dalton Smith shoving it into the empty net to make it 2-0. It didn’t look good at the start of the second when Ryan Craig scored just 17 seconds in for a 3-0 lead. But Albany would start to show some signs of life. Reid Boucher would score his seventh to cut the lead to 2, then Kelly Zajac followed later with a power play tally to get back to within a goal. But Marchessault would strike again in the third on another power play goal to put the deficit back to two. Tim Sestito would bring the Devils back to within one with his third, but the Falcons would seal it late with an empty netter to break the Devils four game winning streak. Not the greatest night for Kinkaid in net, as he stopped 18 of 22 in just his second regulation loss of the season. Five Devils would record an assist.
The Devils finished out the week with their second trip in 3 weeks to Glens Falls to take on the Phantoms. Unlike the night before, it was Albany getting on the board first early on. Joe Whitney scored his 8th for a 1-0 lead, and special teams killed off 4 Phantom power plays. Second period the Devils put the game away, scoring 4 times on 14 shots. Mike Hoeffel started the onslaught with his third of the season for a 2-0 lead. Brandon Manning would cut the lead in half, then Reid Boucher scored his 8th on a power play to restore the two goal advantage. Stefan Matteau would add his third less than a minute later. Matt Mangene would bring the Phantoms back to within two 30 seconds later, but Tim Sestito would put the exclamation point on the period with a power play goal less than a minute after that for a 5-2 lead. The Phantoms would switch goaltenders to begin the third–Yann Danis in for Cal Heeter–and he managed to stop all 8 Devil shots. Bruno Gervais would score on a power play to bring Adirondack back to within 5-3, but that’s all they could muster. So they settled for a couple of scrums around Scott Wedgewood’s net, resulting in a couple of ejections for arguing with the ref. Wedgewood fared well in his first start in two weeks, picking up his fourth win and stopping 24 of 27 shots. The line of Whitney-Sestito-Matteau all produced multi point games, while three other Devils had one assist each.
Lines:
Coach decided to go with 11 forwards/7 defensemen on this night, so there was some shifting:
Rod Pelley-Harri Pesonen-Chris McKelvie
Joe Whitney-Tim Sestito-Stefan Matteau
Mike Sislo-Kelly Zajac-Reid Boucher
David Wohlberg-Mike Hoeffel-McKelvie
Also seen: Boucher-Whitney-Sestito and Zajac-McKelvie-Sislo
Extra: Riley Boychuk
Defense Pairings:
Seth Helgeson/Jon Merrill
Brandon Burlon/Raman Hrabarenka
Dan Kelly/Reece Scarlett
Corbin McPherson was the 7th D, mostly paired with Merrill; also seen: Burlon/Merrill on the power play, Helgeson/Hrabarenka
Extra: Harry Young
Obligatory Fight of the Week:
The winner by default, because this was the only one.
My Player of the Week:
This was a tough decision for me, with a few players having very good weeks. After going through game stats, I’m giving it to Reid Boucher…3 goals, 2 assists. Honorable mention to the newly formed line of Joe Whitney-Tim Sestito-Stefan Matteau, with Matteau stepping into Rostislav Olesz’s spot and starting to pick up his game.
Team Leaders:
Goals: Joe Whitney/Reid Boucher (8)
Assists: Joe Whitney (12)
Points: Joe Whitney (20)
Penalty Minutes: Seth Helgeson (34)
Plus/Minus: Joe Whitney/Reece Scarlett (+5)
Wins: Keith Kinkaid (7)
GAA: Keith Kinkaid (1.97)
Save Percentage: Keith Kinkaid (.921)
Elmira Update:
Not a good week for the Jackals, who are in the midst of a 3 game home series against Kalamazoo. They dropped a 6-5 shootout on Friday night, followed by a 2-0 shutout on Saturday. Maxime Clermont took the loss in the shootout on Friday, stopping 28 of 33 shots in 65 minutes, but gave up 2 goals in the shootout. He has yet to record a win this season, going 0-4-0-1 with a 3.98 GAA.
Notes:
-Now that we’re through the first quarter of the season already, where do some of the Devils rank in the AHL? Looking at the league leaders:
Joe Whitney is tied for 9th in the league in points with 20.
Reid Boucher is tied for second in the league in shots taken with 63. He is also tied for third among rookies in points (16), goals (8), and power play assists (6), and tied for first in shots taken.
Keith Kinkaid is tied for fourth among goaltenders with a 1.97 GAA. He is also tied for first with 2 shutouts.
-Still only two players out with injuries, Darcy Zajac and Scott Timmins. Dare I say, status quo for both?
This Week’s Schedule:
Only two games coming up this week, both at home. On Friday evening, Albany takes on Adirondack for the fourth time in the month of November, followed the next afternoon by a visit from Bridgeport to close out the month.
A couple of news items to pass along before the schedule resumes tomorrow night at home:
-Congrats go out to goaltender Keith Kinkaid, who yesterday was selected as the CCM/AHL Player of the Week for his performance last week. All he did was go 3-0, give up just 3 goals on 82 shots, pitch his first shutout of the season Friday evening in Hartford, and go 5 for 5 in a shootout win Saturday night in Syracuse. He is the first Devil to earn the honor since Matt Anderson in February. Kinkaid also won the honor during his rookie season in 2011-12, and is the only Albany goalie to win it since the Devils return to the Capital District.
-Defenseman Jon Merrill was activated off of injured reserve yesterday, and New Jersey has returned him to Albany. He only made it into one game, his debut on November 2nd in Minnesota, where on his third shift he went face first into the boards and suffered facial lacerations (later it was revealed he did get a concussion). With Anton Volchenkov going on IR as the Devils start a 3 game road swing out west tomorrow, it seemed like another defensive callup was a given. But not so fast…as of now no one from here has been summoned. But now Albany is back to having 8 defensemen on the roster with Merrill’s return and Harry Young’s callup from Elmira on Saturday. We’ll have to see how the pairings will be affected starting tomorrow night, if Merrill is indeed ready to return to the lineup.
Thoughts Inside The Box 