In an otherwise compelling game where there was a ton of action with nine goals and over thirty shots on goal for each team – along with the predictable early bout between current enforcer Krys Barch and former enforcer Eric Boulton – one overriding theme dominated the Islanders’ 5-4 win in Newark last night.  And if you don’t know what that is, clearly you don’t read my article titles.  New Jersey’s special teams looked more like they required special needs classes last night, not only failing on five power plays in the game (and nearly conceding a shorthanded goal to Michael Grabner late in the second when he hit the post on a breakaway), but the PK failed in even more spectacular fashion, going 1-4.  .250 isn’t even a great batting average in baseball, but it’s hideous when it’s your penalty kill percentage.

Even those numbers don’t tell the whole story.  Three little words described both the success of the Islander PP and the failure of ours: Shots on goal.  With five full power plays, the Devils’ new ‘shooting’ power play under Matt Shaw managed only nine shots in ten full minutes with the man advantage.  Granted, their first couple of power plays had good movement and some promising opportunities but later on in the game the Devils reverted back to an overpassing nature.  Although the Isles had almost as many power play chances (4 to our 5), they only spent 4:14 on the man advantage – because they were scoring so fast.  And with that 4:14 they put a whopping fourteen shots on net, many of them coming in the one power play that actually did not score.  Not as if they needed a lot of time to score, since the three goals themselves came in a combined 2:14.

As annoying as the special teams were last night, this game deserves far more coverage than just my venting on how special teams cost us three points in the standings last night (more on that later), despite our third straight OT/SO loser point.  Give the Devils credit with this much: they did come back no fewer than three seperate times in the game, in a strange matchup that seemed ominous from the start.  In our prior three games, the Devils had gotten off to bad starts – and yet somehow got the lead in every game.  Clearly it was a point of emphasis for coach Pete DeBoer and the Devils did in fact come out flying last night, putting ten of the first eleven shots on net.  And yet this time the Devils were the ones to fall behind after some great goaltending by Evgeni Nabokov held the fort long enough for the Isles to take advantage of their first power play after a defensive breakdown led to both Brad Boyes and John Tavares being wide open down low, and Boyes found Tavares for a quick one-timer to put the Isles ahead at 14:31.

I guess what goes around does indeed come around, although it is odd that in four straight games the team that’s dominated early found themselves behind.  The hole would only get deeper early in the second with – wait for it – yet another Islander power play goal, after Keith Aucoin snuck down low and Travis Hamonic split the D with a pass to find a wide-open Aucoin, and he eventually batted home a rebound at 2:41 of the second period.  Just when it looked like it was going to be one of those nights where nothing went right, the Devils’ amazing fourth now third line of Ryan Carter, Stephen Gionta and Steve Bernier struck back, with Bernier batting home a rebound after his linemates both took shots toward the net.  Just three minutes later, Carter would figure in yet another goal with an assist this time from Matt Anderson (a Cinderella story in himself, being that he’s a 30-year old AHL lifer playing just his second game), who found the gritty winger open in the slot, and Carter would bat home a second-chance rebound at 6:21 to tie the game.

Just as the Isles’ lead wouldn’t last long, neither did the Devils’ tie, as Tavares would strike again just seventy seconds later after Nabokov sent the rebound of a David Clarkson shot right to Matt Moulson, who somehow found Tavares down the ice with a pass off the boards.  Tavares got a step on Bryce Salvador, and seemingly willed the puck through Martin Brodeur (after it changed direction off Salvador’s stick) to give the Isles the lead back.  Good forechecking and good passing got the Devils even once again before the end of the period, when Henrik Tallinder dumped the puck in towards Travis Zajac, then Tallinder circled back to the opposite point where Zajac found him with a return feed.  Seemingly stunned at being wide open and not knowing what to do for a second, a wide-open Tallinder finally shot, and scored at 17:12.  Ironically, the stay-at-home Tallinder has been the subject of trade speculation lately, given the Devils’ glut of defensemen, but he hasn’t let it affect his play to this point.

Now tied at three, the third period settled into more of a straightforward game and seemingly one more break either way could make the difference.  That break came when Adam Larsson (one of two Adam’s making his season debut for the Devils) made a costly gaffe, deflecting a soft shot by Mark Streit past Brodeur at 11:32 to put the Isles ahead once more.  Although Larsson played reasonably well otherwise in his nearly eighteen minutes – and was even a +1 on the night in spite of this goal – that gaffe marred his evening, after finally getting off the bench thanks to Mark Fayne‘s ‘minor’ arm injury.  Fortunately, our other Adam – Mr. Henrique – would take the Devils off the griddle one more time, when he beat Nabokov with a nifty backhander off a rebound of a David Clarkson shot at 13:50.  In his New Jersey season debut after thumb surgery, number 14 quickly revived the chants of ‘Hen-rique!’ at the Rock.

Late in the third period came the most pivotal point in the match…a too many men on the ice penalty against the Isles gave the Devils a power play in the final minute and thirty of regulation.  A goal here would almost certainly give the Devils a two-point win over their division rivals.  However, the powerless play stunk yet again.  I wouldn’t so far as to say the Devils were playing for OT but the overpassing was wearing on my last nerve to put it mildly.  Of course, the Devils’ PP failed, of course Tallinder would take a penalty in OT and of course the Isles would score with the resulting 4-on-3 after a mere fourteen seconds.  Yes, Brodeur made a mistake puckhandling and then another one desperatly flailing into position, but let’s be honest, the Isles were scoring one way or another anyway.  Instead of a +2 point differential in our favor, the night wound up being a -1 against us – the three-point swing I spoke of before.  All because we couldn’t convert a power play at the end of regulation.  At least Jack Capuano‘s club showed us what a power play is supposed to do, put the darn puck on net.

Although the Devils still kept their six-game point streak alive, these lost points hurt considering the Isles look like they’re serious about contending for a playoff spot this year in a short season.  Not to mention after a cozy early start of the season in terms of games played for the Devils, they’re now on the verge of a twelve game in twenty-two day stretch.  Not to mention including last night, eight of our next ten games are division tilts including a whopping three against both Pittsburgh and the Isles.  Adding in Opening Night, the Devils and Isles will have faced off a whopping four times in the season’s first month, including their next matchup Super Sunday on Long Island.  Before that however, comes a trip to Pittsburgh against a Penguin team also in the midst of a division stretch.  After being embarassed at home by the Isles a couple nights ago, Pittsburgh returned the favor against the Rangers last night.

While there’s still some intrigue to how the Devils will handle their eight defensemen, the ‘unsigned’ Devil in Matt Darche and the Devil in limbo (Stefan Matteau) while the team decides whether to burn an ELC year off the first-round pick’s contract, at least the return of Henrique means they’re completely healthy for the moment – last night’s missed game by Fayne aside.  Speaking of the underappreciated Fayne, if anyone had any doubt as to how important he is to the team, just look at how pitiful the penalty kill was last night.  Going into last night’s game the PK was 23-26, close to 90% which is in line with their record performance of last season – and two of the goals they had allowed were on a four-on-three and a five-on-three).  Not to mention the defense as a whole looked out of sorts as the Isles peppered the Devils with 34 shots in the game’s last 50+ minutes.

If you’re fantasy goalie-watching, DeBoer has already announced that Brodeur will get the nod at the Consol Energy Center tomorrow afternoon, while Johan Hedberg will make his second start of the season on Sunday, after a strong outing in Boston two nights ago.  Presumably Brodeur will be back in net for Tuesday’s showdown with the Rangers – the teams’ first game since last season’s epic Conference Finals.  After that game, the Devils will be through almost all of the speculated ten-game ‘evaluation period’ (our tenth game is Thursday against the Lightning at home).  It’ll be interesting to see what dominoes will fall, but if the Devils are going to keep up their point total, the PK’s going to have to get back in gear and the PP’s going to have to be more consistent.  Special teams are just too critical in this short season with whistles more frequent.