Devils offense comes to life in 5-3 frantic finish win against Defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, (Brodeur Leaves Game)

As I mentioned in my previous posts, former Devils Captain Scott Stevens hated losing to the defending Stanley Cup Champions, and today the Devils followed up on his word defeating the Blackhawks 5-3 at United Center in Chicago. The win happened in frantic finish fashion and brought the Devils to a 4-9-1 record, but the Devils offense finally came to life with five different goal scorers. Jason Arnott opened the scoring in the first period and Travis Zajac made it 2-0 in the second. The Blackhawks cut the lead to 2-1 on a bad angle goal by Brian Campbell, which beat Devils goalie Johan Hedberg, who relieved Marty Brodeur, who left with an above the elbow bruise. The Devils would blow the lead in the third when Fernando Pisani scored to tie it at 2.

But, towards the end of the game Brad Mills scored his first NHL goal for the Devils and then Jamie Langenbrunner sealed the game with an empty netter, or so he and the team thought. With 33 seconds to go, Victor Stalberg scored for the Hawks to make it 4-3 Devils, but Andy Greene added another insurance empty netter. So, there is your frantic finish. Stalberg was involved in the Kris Versteeg trade in the summer.

The Devils finally scored more than 3 goals in a game this year for the first time as they put up 5, granted 2 of them were empty netters. This should increase their psyche and confidence coming home on Friday against the Rangers. Defenseman Tyler Eckford sat through most of the game, probably because the coaches were unhappy with his play.

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There is no word whether Marty Brodeur will play on Friday, but since its the Rangers, he might want to suit up. Lou Lamoriello said, the chances of Volchenkov playing are high. Brian Rolston might start practicing next week and there was no updates on the Devils other injuries. Zach Parise has to wear a knee brace for 6 weeks and cannot drive or do anything physically with it. He will be on crutches. The surgery was done in Cleveland, Ohio by a doctor recommended by his family, though many people feel it should have been done by national renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews in Alabama.