Devils Continue Their Hot Streak

A Guest Blog By Fanspeak Contributing Writer Brian Murphy

A revived Ilya Kovalchuk scored his 20th goal of the season as the Devils knocked off the Hurricanes once again.  Kovalchuk, who performed under expectations the first half of the season, now has six goals in the last seven games to help the Devils extend their win streak to 5.  With the win, the Devils are now 13-1-2 in the last 16 games and are the NHL’s hottest team.

The Devils took a one goal lead into the third period and then blew it open with two early goals by left wingers Brian Rolston and Patrick Elias.  Elias also added an assist to receive the game’s 3-star honor.  It really is nice to finally watch these career-long Devils greats play well with the $100 million dollar man and win games.  Kovalchuk was under much scrutiny by Devils fans for his bad play early in the season, but tonight he heard chants of “Kovy, Kovy, Kovy” and was eating it up.

Goalie Johan Hedberg (aka “MOOOOOOSE”) has now won four straight in the net, not giving up more than 2 goals in any of those games and recorded 25 saves tonight.  The back-up has been in place for legend Martin Brodeur after he sprained his right knee on February 6th.  There is a chance that Brodeur will practice with the team on Thursday, and may be able to play against the rival Rangers on Friday.  In order for the Devils to keep up their winning ways, they need the net-minding to stay spectacular.

I mentioned in a previous blog that the Devils had a huge opportunity to make moves in the playoff hunt before playing the Hurricanes in the previous game.  The Devils won that game in an OT thriller and play the ‘Canes for a third time in 12 days on Saturday.  In terms of the playoff hunt, the Devils are now in 13th place in the East and behind the Hurricanes for 8th place by only 12 points.  The Devils are on a record-breaking run if they make the playoffs this year considering they were 27 points behind 8th place on January 9th before winning two straight against the Lightning.  If the Devils do make the playoffs, the rest of the league better watch out because the boys from Jersey are tearing it up and should not be taken easily.