Islanders Ice Devils 4-0

    After wrapping up a mediocre week in Florida, the Devils returned to the Tri-state area and visited the Nassau Colosseum yesterday evening.  Unfortunately, the red shirts may have left their desire to win back in the Sunshine State because they sure didn't come to Long Island to play competitive hockey.  The Islanders had control of the game from the outset as the Devils struggled all night to muster any sort of effective offense.  The Devils' defense didn't fare much better, but the most disheartening weakness was, once again, the goaltending. 
    Clemmensen, who has now allowed a whopping 8 goals in his previous 2 games, seemed overwhelmed after allowing his first goal at 3:50 of the first.  It began with Sean Bergenheim's one-timer to Clemmensen's glove side, which came from a nifty pass by Islander defender Mark Streit.  Although Clemmensen had earlier made a magnificent save on a Bergenheim breakaway, the Islanders kept steady offensive pressure from that point forward.  The defense was thoroughly overmatched for the remainder of the game.
    The real story of the evening was the Islanders' netminder, Yann Danis, who probably earned the first star of the game with his brilliant play in the second period.  The red shirts threw everything they could at Danis, but the resilient goalie began to deflate the Devils with save after save, stopping an astounding 19 shots on goal.  But don't let the number of shots fool you.  The Devils offense was clearly off their game.  Parise had more than a few opportunities to score, but could not finish off the play.  Probably the best indication of their sloppy puckhandling was on Mike Rupp's turnover in the slot in front of Clemmenson, which Islander Jon Sim quickly capitalized on with a backhand shot and NY's second goal. 
    The final period of the match was a hapless display of desperation by the Devils, who managed to send three players to the penalty box with back to back to back infractions.  It almost seems obvious that the relentless offense of the home team would take full advantage of these opportunities.  The first power play score would come at 16:07 in the third.  Kyle Okposo would squeeze one by Clemmensen's stick side, as he attempted to hug the post ineffectively.  The fourth and final goal would come on a 5 on 3 power play, in which former Devil Bill Guerin would blast one from the left point with a little over 2 minutes remaining in the game.
    To lose this badly to the worst team in the division is, frankly, inexcusable.  Luckily, the Devils will have 5 full days to recover from this embarrasment.  And when they return to the ice, the legendary Martin Broduer is expected to start as the red shirts return to the Rock for his first start since his November 1st injury.  Broduer has now missed 50 games this season, and although Brent Sutter has done an excellent job maintaining a successful season so far, Martin's return has arrived just in time.  The home team will host the underachieving Avalanche this coming Thursday at 7:00 pm.  Let's just hope Devils' defense shows up to play their expected aggressive, physical brand of hockey or Broduer's return to the ice will end in yet another disappointing defeat.

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