Taking it easy

After saying his team looked a little tired in Friday's win over Washington, Devils coach Brent Sutter kept most of the players off the ice this morning to get them rested for Sunday's game against the Rangers. Rod Pelley, Mike Rupp, Johnny Oduya and Kevin Weekes were the only players to take the ice.

"I thought we played a team that looked a little bit fresher than we did last night," Sutter said. "Some of the little things we did weren't sharp, but I think that's a reflection of your schedule. We thought we would try to make sure they are as fresh as they can be for tomorrow night."

With a 5 p.m. faceoff against the Rangers, the Devils also won't have a morning skate on Sunday. Although the team has won nine in a row, Sutter hinted that he's thinking of making some lineup changes. He spoke Friday about how the Rangers like to roll four lines and that's why he likes to dress 12 forwards against them, so it's possible left wing Mike Rupp could get back in after sitting out the last 10 games as a healthy scratch. Martin Brodeur will be in net for the 12th game in a row.

The Devils had a nine-game winning streak from Jan. 3 to Jan. 21 of 2006 that the Rangers snapped with a 3-1 win on Jan. 22 at Madison Square Garden. The Devils are 0-2-1 against the Blueshirts this season, including 0-1-1 at the Garden. The Rangers have lost three in a row. Henrik Lundqvist will be back in the net Sunday after backup Steve Valiquette got the start in a 4-2 loss in Atlanta on Friday. 

Comments

[Chris]

The Devils didnt play their best game at all last not.. that third period was horrible and against any other team they would have gotten housed with an effort like that.. the nice thing though is that they know it.. Brodeur talked about it in the post game. Tomorrows game is huge.

[frankiedue]

Do we remember what happened the last time the Devils got a day off? I hope they learned their lesson.

[Devswriter99]

When a team goes 9-0, it deserves a day of rest. Also, White and Langs are back in uniform. Much different situation, much different roster.

[Jesse]

I think they should really go with seven defensemen. They used 12 forwards the last three times they played the rangers, and look how those games ended.

[Pat D'Amico]

I'm glad they got the day off, you could tell they were tired because they weren't doing the little things that matter, like the two goals Brodeur let in are lazy mistakes.

[Jason]

And again, the day off pays off with a loss.

[Scott]

Enough with the complaining about the call last night...The truth is the Devils are playing poorly and should have lost both games to the Caps.

And at what point do they get mad about being shut out by the NYRs ?!?!

Trade Elias while we still can !!! Add one of our d-men, some prospects and/or draft choices...anything to get a scoring forward (who does not disappear) and a top-2 d-man (which we so desperately need).

Beauchemin, Boucher and any d-man on the Canucks....and Hossa and Marleau are all available.

This team is one playoff round and out as constituted.