Michael Grabner scored on a shorthanded breakaway, made possible this time by Ilya Kovalchuk (rather than yesterday's goat Adam Larsson, who scored today) -- and Al Montoya played outstanding for the second day in a row.
Like yesterday, Montoya's performance was matched by his counterpart at the other end, but despite Martin Brodeur's multiple saves on breakaways (Kyle Okposo here, John Tavares there, Grabner both here and there) it wasn't enough for the Devils to conjure a sweep.
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It almost went to extra time, however, as on a D-zone faceoff with just over five seconds left, Frans Nielsen won the draw behind him, but Kovalchuk [sorry, it was actually Dainius Zubrus] beat the Isles to the corner and fed it to Zach Parise alone in the crease -- Milan Jurcina had abandoned the slot but also not gotten to the corner in time, so he was in no man's land. Fortunately, replays showed Parise's last touch on the puck was a kick with his skate to shove the puck over the line. Goal overturned, and the Isles first road victory of the season preserved.
There is a little more drama to sort through and plenty of interesting plays, but we'll get to that in the recap. This is your instant-analysis thread for your pluses and minuses from another wild day. One tired but nonetheless frequent minus: Jurcina's partner Mike Mottau, whose awful clear led to an earlier Devils tying goal and who just isn't getting it done. But since that's old hat we'll go with another who nearly cost them the lead: Nielsen's drop pass at the Devils blueline late in the game was a big nicht nicht and nearly cost the Isles dearly.
Game Highlights