Devils spank Penguins 4-1, drop third in a row

For the Devils perspective check out In Lou We Trust.

Games like this make me want to vomit words onto an empty blog post and call it a night.  There's so much I want to say and hardly any one thing I can focus on.

So with that said, where do we begin?

The Devils played a very physical game.  In fact, I think it's safe to say the Devils out-muscled the Pens in every aspect of play.  At what point did you not see a Pens  player wiped out on the ice?  Brooks Orpik, Kris Letang, Mark Eaton - all of those guys are defenders who got rocked left and right by the Devils' third and fourth lines.  When your D is getting bashed like that all night it normally doesn't turn out well.

Surprise - it didn't.

One can argue the Devils scored garbage goals on Sabourin, to which I say - that's the way the puck bounces.  Frankly, Zach Parise's deflection goal is easily one of the best goals I've seen in a while.  Besides, nothing could pose as more of a garbage goal than Matt Cooke's tap past Clemmensen in the third.

You may remember in the Penguins' loss to the Rangers last week that Petr Prucha tied the game on a rare off-the-boards rebound goal.  Tonight the Devils' Travis Zajac showed similar "skill" with a board-goal of his own.  If two weren't enough, the Pens helped out with a deflection on a Dainus Zubrus shot that presented Dany Sabourin with no chance of making the save.

This is the sort of game where you really miss the presence of towers like Hal Gill and Philippe Boucher.  I can't guarantee it, but I'd gladly wager money on the proposition that Gill would've kept Parise out from the front of the net on that redirect goal.  And even though we've yet to see much of Boucher since his trade from the Stars, he's an able-bodied defenseman that doesn't play scared like Letang and Goligoski.  That is exactly what the Pens need now.

Oh, and Marc-Andre Fleury back between the pipes would be nice too.

The good: Well, the Pens prevented the shutout.  Sadly that's the best I can pull from this game.

The bad: Defense.  Goaltending.  Penalties.  You name it.

The ugly: Bryce Salvador after taking an Alex Goligoski shot to the face.

Next game: Tomorrow night.  Islanders.  7:30.