Everyone was probably predicting a blowout Devils loss tonight, because that is how things have been going with them, but the Devils again out on one of their best defensive displays this year with a 3-0 victory over the Coyotes. Ilya Kovalchuk had his first 2 goal game as a Devil and defenseman Mark Fayne scored his first NHL goal. Martin Brodeur made 29 saves on 29 shots for the shutout and Ilya Bryzgalov made 26 saves on 29 shots.
Kovalchuk scored his second goal on a 5 on 3 power play, so good to see that work for the Devils. It was only a 15 second 5 on 3, so the Devils made the most of it. The win snaps the Devils 5 game losing streak and they are now 9-19-2 and still a long way to go. Here is something interesting, Kovalchuk's wife Nicole was in the crowd today, so it obviously gave him some relief. Ilya was away the whole year from his family and has not seen them this year, so the kids and Nicole came up.
Anssi Salmela played his first game of the season today and looked rusty and tentative in the defensive zone, but looked good in terms of moving the puck. Mark Fayne's goal was originally credited to Langenbrunner, but was later switched to Fayne. Elias had two assists in the game and leads the Devils in points this season. So, overall a good effort for the Devils today, who had a fast start instead of a slow one like against Montreal and Detroit. Hopefully this is the game that gets Ilya Kovalchuk going and hopefully his wife could stay up in NJ forever and provide some inspiration to him.
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