For the first several minutes of the New Jersey Devils' Game 4 matchup with the New York Rangers on Monday night, a feeling of dreaded deja vu was slowly building.
Just like in Game 1 and Game 3, the Devils were controlling the tempo through tough forechecking and aggressive defense, creating multiple scoring opportunities. Just like in those previous games, though, Ranger goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was stopping everything thrown his way.
“I thought we put some pressure on early, and it looked like it was going to be more of the same from the night before,” DeBoer said in the post game press conference. “We got some quality chances early, couldn’t get one by him."
Suddenly, at 8:10 of the first period, defenseman Bryce Salvador wristed a shot from the left point past Lundqvist to give the Devils a 1-0 lead. It was a huge lift for New Jersey, and a spark that ignited their offense.
Salvador, always known as a "defensive defenseman", played in all 82 regular season games for the Devils this season and scored exactly zero goals while notching nine assists. He has now registered three goals and seven assists in 16 pl ...
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Article written by Carl Stoffers
NHL Playoffs: Bryce Salvador Providing Unexpected Offense for New Jersey Devils
May 22nd, 2012 by Carl Stoffers Leave a reply »
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