http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Rr9Oea4LnM

Our last three games have basically epitomized the Devils’ entire season…blowing a multi-goal lead in horrendous fashion at Columbus, no-showing in the first period in Pittsburgh on Friday night before rallying in the final two but in typical Devil fashion finding ways not to score, and then last night’s effort against a beaten-up Tampa team which you would think could get the train started back in the right direction again.  Except we’ve seen this script a million times already this season.  After our insane comeback in Boston, momentum lasted only one more game before hitting another pothole against the Flyers.  We came home from a four-point West Coast trip and then lost our first two games back at home.  And we responded to a wild win over the Rangers last weekend with the aformentioned duds at Columbus and Pittsburgh.

So to make a long story short, yeah even a 3-0 shutout last night isn’t enough to wash out the taste of what’s been a 2-4-1 month thus far.  Of course I’m also a little grumpy that I had to miss last night’s game due to our second big snowstorm already – still before Christmas and the official beginning of winter.  Instead of dealing with possible delays on NJ Transit and icy roads on the way home I wound up selling my tickets for forty cents on the dollar essentially and sat this one out.  I was so annoyed at the last two games (and really the last two seasons on the whole) I didn’t even watch much of last night’s game, though somehow I saw every goal.  Last night actually looked like it was going to be yet another ‘snatch defeat from the jaws of victory game’ as another crappy backup was on his way to shutting us out before Damien Brunner of all people continued his zombie-like revival by scoring on a mini-breakaway late in the second period.  Replays show that Brunner had a little help from defenseman Matt Carle, who inadvertently deflected Brunner’s shot past Anders Lindback while attempting to catch him from behind.

No matter how it was scored, Brunner’s goal opened the floodgates and Danius Zubrus entered beast mode in the third period, getting the Devils’ last two goals as they pulled away from the Lightning for a deceptively easy 3-0 win.  Deceptive because over the last two periods Tampa actually outshot us 27-12, but Martin Brodeur was as usual up to the challenge after a particularly bad game in Columbus.  With Cory Schnieder allowing nine goals in his last three (including a clunker that sent things spiraling out of control on Friday night) and Brodeur also struggling before last night, coach Pete DeBoer challenged the goalies to step up and run away with the job.  It was Brodeur who answered the bell, gaining career shutout #124 and third of this season, tying several others for the NHL lead despite an uneven season thus far.  Much to Brodeur’s dismay however, he didn’t get a chance to play the puck during the final four minutes when Lightning coach Jon Cooper strangely left the net empty down three goals.  You almost never see that in the regular season, it’s almost as if he was worried about the Lightning getting shut out.

Brodeur may have been denied a golden opportunity for his fourth career goal, but fellow HOF’er Jaromir Jagr never misses a chance to bust on linemate Zubrus (see above YouTube).  Among his gems was the pointed crack that ‘in Washington, I went from being a 120-point player to being a 70-point player with him’.  Even when Zubrus was getting interviewed Jagr couldn’t resist a crack from the peanut gallery prompting a good-natured, ‘someone escort him out of here please’ from the big Lithuanian.  In a season of mostly annoyances it’s nice to see the two vets having fun with each other, as they seem to have replaced Brodeur and David Clarkson as the team’s resident bromance.  Indeed, most of this team is likeable.  Even Brunner has stepped up his effort in the last week after being called out by DeBoer following the Detroit game which he was a healthy scratch for.

To be fair it’s also easy to forget just how many injuries this team has had.  Three starting forwards (Ryane Clowe, Ryan Carter and Stephen Gionta) are all out of the lineup, as well as two starting defensemen including the team captain (Bryce Salvador, Adam Larsson) and role-player Peter Harrold as well.  At least some of the walking wounded appear on the way back with Salvador practicing, Larsson skating after a suspected concussion and Clowe perhaps ticketed for a long-awaited return Wednesday.  While you certainly can’t fault the effort of guys like Tim Sestito and Cam Janssen or the fact that Reid Boucher is getting a taste of the NHL, it’ll still be nice to have the ability to roll four lines again.  Defensively, getting Salvador and Larsson back will certainly help, especially considering they can replace a struggling Mark Fayne and send Jon Merrill back down to Albany, where he really should be for most of the season.  Still, it’s not as if this team was playing particularly well early in the season either when most of the above were playing.

At least the Devils finally get an extended break this week after a brutal month travel and game-wise in the schedule.  Of course then they have to play four games in six nights after that before the Christmas holiday but the Devils certainly have to make hay in the next three games with Ottawa and Anaheim at home followed by a trip to DC to face the Alex Ovechkins on Saturday night.  Despite the injured returning and the fact that in this division a three-game winning streak puts you in a playoff spot, sooner or later – preferably sooner – the Devils have to go on an extended run to break out of the pack before someone else does it.