Martin Who? Scott Clemmensen Fills in Admirably for Injured Brodeur

Who is the wall that is S Clemmensen? 

Several weeks ago when he took over for the injured Brodeur, he looked like he had just come up from the minors. 

Not tight against his posts, slow lateral movement, leaving juicy rebounds, not reading the play well, and trying to do too much with the puck. 

Things looked shaky for Clemmensen.

Nine games later, things couldn't seem more solid. 

Clemmensen is reading plays well, controlling his rebounds, and timing his movement from post to post perfectly.  Several saves in tonight's game against Pittsburgh were due to his positioning—not his reflexes. 

Scott will never be Brodeur when it comes to playing the puck, but he has been picking his spots to play it and the breakout has been the better because of it. 

The Devils have always been a streaky scoring team, but their play of late—and to a lesser extent, Sutter's system—has diminished that tendency. 

The only reason I can think of to have Langs still playing on the second line and not Rolston, now that he is back, is only because he is not up to game speed yet.  I hope that will all change after this weekend's games. 

Langs played well last year when paired with Mad Dog and Pando, and does not have the speed to keep up with the quicker Zajac and Parise.  Rolston does. 

Elias has been on fire as of late.  His pairing with Zubrus and Gio has done nothing but elevate each of their games.  Larry Brooks made the understatement of the year when he said Elias was making a BIT of a fool out of him. 

He is making a big fool out of him for suggesting Lou trade him away. 

Things are looking well in Devils country, but still wishing Marty a speedy recovery.