Devils Drop in Philly, Lose Salmela
Posted by freezethepuck on February 8, 2010
In their fourth meeting this season, the Philadelphia Flyers rallied to beat the New Jersey Devils with a final score of three to two.
New Jersey Devils left wing Patrik Elias (26) of the Czech Republic celebrates with Zach Parise, right, after he score a goal against the Philadelphia Flyers in the first period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Feb. 8, 2010, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)
The pace began very fast. Trading chances back and forth, the score remained dead even at zero after five minutes in. Jacques Lemaire doubled shifted Zach Parise, putting him on the top line with, of course, Travis Zajac and Jamie Langenbrunner; but shortly after his first shift, Parise took another shift with the fourth line.
The Flyers took the first penalty of the game at the 6:43 mark (Daniel Briere for high-sticking on Colin White). Parise didn’t take long to end the power play. Stationed below the goal line near the net, he looked to send a pass over to Ilya Kovalchuk, but a lucky bounce off of Chris Pronger‘s skate, and the puck went into the net instead. The goal, assisted by Patrik Elias and Andy Greene, was Parise’s 26th of the season, but only his fifth power play goal.
Less than a minute after Parise’s goal, Bryce Salvador fought with Flyer’s tough guy, Daniel Carcillo. Salvador definitely held his own, and defeated the enforcer easily. The first fight only took seven minutes and forty-five seconds to occur.
After receiving three straight power plays, the referees called the Devils’ Dean McAmmond for a hooking penalty. The Devils promptly killed off that penalty, without the Flyers obtaining any substantial scoring chances.
Then, with less than a minute to go, Greene took a tripping penalty against New Jersey boy, James van Riemsdyk. The period ended with Greene still in the box, and the Flyers set to start the next period with a power play.
The first period ended with five minor penalties between the two teams, along with the matching fighting majors.
New Jersey Devils defenseman Anssi Salmela (29) of Finland lays in front of goalie Philadelphia Flyers goalie Michael Leighton (49) after scoring a goal in the second period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Feb. 8, 2010, in Philadelphia. Anssi was injured on the play. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)
The second period began with the Devils having to kill off Greene’s penalty. With eighteen seconds remaining on the penalty, Anssi Salmela zoomed up the ice, cut to the middle of the ice. Just as Salmela shot the puck, Jeff Carter came across and struck Salmela hard with his shoulder. The puck went into the net, just as Salmela spun and landed belly first onto the ice.
Salmela lay motionless on the ice, and the trainers and medical staff quickly got to the injured Devil. The staff took him off on a stretcher, but he appeared awake, rather alert, and moved his legs and arms.
Unfortunately, Salmela probably will not remember his first goal as New Jersey Devil. He scored two previous NHL goals with the Thrashers, but never one with the Devils. Salmela’s goal was the first goal from the Kovalchuk/Salmela trade that went down on February 4, 2010.
After Salmela left the ice, his shorthanded goal put the Devils up two to nothing with nineteen minutes remaining in the second period. The referees did not call a penalty on Carter.
After cleaning up the blood from the ice, the puck dropped at center ice, and a few seconds later, Greene jumped out of the box. With a great heads-up pass from one of his teammates, Greene went in all alone against Micahel Leighton. Leighton, however, made a relatively good save, that bounced up a little on him and almost bounced over his shoulder into the net. The score remained two to zero, the Devils leading.
A few seconds to the five-minute mark, the Flyers got a great scoring chance against Brodeur. The Montreal native quickly sprung forward for a bit of a poke check, glove save. The puck drizzled out though, and a trailing Flyer had another chance. But before the puck could go much further than the top of the blue ice, Brodeur grabbed the puck, and held it firmly in his glove.
Philadelphia Flyers forward Scott Hartnell, left, celebrates with Jeff Carter after Carter’s goal in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils Monday, Feb. 8, 2010, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)
A while later, with just seconds remaining on an Elias penalty, Brodeur made another fantastic save. The Flyers tried to take the puck straight through the crease, and Brodeur, on his side, stacked his pads and threw his glove up high enough to bat the puck safely to the corner.
Brodeur surrendered his first goal of the game with a minute and a half remaining in the second period. Vans Riemsdyk skated the puck through the neutral zone, and shot through the legs of a Devils defenseman to score the first goal for the flyers.
That goal gave the Flyers the energy and life they needed. Pronger sent a head-man pass at center and Carter went down on a two on one with Scott Hartnell. Hartnell shot a great pass back to Carter and he scored his team-leading twenty-third goal of the season.
After the goal, Carcillo, on the bench at the time, stood up and headed to the locker room with twenty-three seconds remaining on the board. The referee signaled for a misconduct penalty.
The third period began with both teams trading momentum in the opposing zone. Just under four minutes in, Parise drew a penalty against Pronger. The Flyers managed to kill off that penalty, but a few minutes later, Parise drew another penalty, this time the offender going to the box was Lukas Krajicek.
An odd turn of events, Parise took only his ninth minor penalty of the season with nine minutes and thirty-six seconds remaining in the third; the game tied at two. Captain Mike Richards scored a power play goal, his twenty-third goal of the season, to give the Flyers their first lead of the game.
The Devils unraveled a little bit, but Lemaire changed his lines (Shocker) and put Zajac and Parise with Elias. The three generated some good offensive chances with some tic-tac-toe passes, and then Elias finished the play with a toe drag, and a hard shot that Leighton grabbed.
Just under three minutes remaining, the Devils offense was scrambling to get something going, but the Flyers’ offense decided to take over instead. Brodeur made another flurry of saves to keep the game tied.
Parise drew another penalty with just under two minutes left to go. The Devils were unable to manage much in the last two minutes, and the score remained three to two at the final buzzer.
Statistics and Other Notes:
New Jersey Devils defenseman Anssi Salmela (29) of Finland is helped off the ice after being injured in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers Monday, Feb. 8, 2010, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)
The last update (from Versus) on Salmela said he was up and around. Jay Grossman, Salmela’s agent, announced Salmela with a broken nose and several missing teeth, but he should be okay. Salmela is a tough kid, and developed into a very sturdy and reliable defenseman (at least the last two games he was). It will be an unfortunate loss for the Devils, but hopefully he won’t miss too much time.
Parise drew a team leading three penalties. The Devils finished the game with eight power plays. The scored on their first power play attempt, and then continued to score on their penalty kill.
Kovalchuk finished the game with: nine shots, 24:42 TOI, and no points.
Greene led all Devils with 26:20 time on ice; Zajac followed with 25:21.
Langenbrunner, who fans criticized throughout the last few games, had six shots (good for second on team). He played 23:30.
Elias in his second game after returning from a horrific concussion played 18:52, finished with two assists and five shots.
The Devils fell apart again in the second period. This is becoming a trend. Should the Devils worry?
The game ended with the shots reading 37-30, in favor of the Flyers.
Video below of the hit on Salmela:
Three Stars of the Game:
1. Mike Richards: 1 goal (GWG), -1 rating, 4 shots, 23:10 TOI
2. Zach Parise: 1 goal, -1 rating, 3 shots, 23:16 TOI
3. Michael Leighton: 28 saves on 30 shots, 11th win of the season.
