Asham's hand sore; Rachunek, Greene in

Right wing Arron Asham was sent back to New Jersey on a 5:30 p.m. flight to have X-rays on his right hand. Asham's hand was sore from his one-punch knockdown of the Islanders' Matthew Spiller on Friday night. Although Asham has had problems with his hand on and off this season, Devils coach Brent Sutter said the injury was caused by Friday's fight.

"His hand was sore last night and it was sore this morning, so we figured why take a chance?" Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said.

Barry Tallackson was called up to take Asham's place in the lineup against the Penguins tonight. Tallackson caught a 6:15 a.m. flight out of Norfolk this morning and connected through Washington to get to Pittsburgh. "It was an early morning for me, but I'm not complaining," he said.

Defensemen Karel Rachunek and Andy Greene will be back in the Devils' lineup tonight in place of Vitaly Vishnevski and Sheldon Brookbank, who had a rough game Friday against the Islanders.

Sutter said Patrik Elias (bruised left knee/flu) skated again today in New Jersey and the Devils expect him to be back for Tuesday night's rematch with the Penguins at Prudential Center.

Bryce Salvador (left leg/foot) remains off the ice and is "day to day."

Comments

[troy]

Anyone know if brodeur is starting for sure?

[DP]

good to see greene and rachunek get back in, i was actually thinking that it would be wise to at least try them out, to give two kinda puckmovers in there. especially rachunek b/c i like his game right now a lot and idk why he was taken out in the first place. vish had a couple solid games but the last couple has gotten back to his old ways and brookbank has been making a lot of mistakes lately.

[Mark Krulish]

couldn't get Noah Clarke?

[TG]

Of course Brodeur is starting. Why would you think otherwise in a game for first place in the division? By the way, Sutter said earlier that he thought the ovation last night was a combination of appreciation for Kevin Weekes for the role he plays and for Brodeur not being injured and being able to come back in the game. That sounds about right to me.

[TG]

FYI: Tallackson is wearing No. 21 tonight

[troy]

Brodeur looked tired last night and he cant be when playing pittsburgh tonight or they will light him up like a christmas tree. weekes isnt great, but at least hed be fresh.

[MoonDragn]

I think Noah Clarke is still injured right?

[jules]

A "rough game against the Isles"? That's being too generous, isn't it?

[TG]

I think Sutter's words were "they didn't have the strongest game."

[jules]

Well, hopefully Racoon and Greene will have "strong games" tonight.

[mikeford]

Poor Asham. He'd been playing better recently, has a great fight and then hurts himself in the process.

[NJD26]

This Salvador thing is getting annoying, I know the Devils are always secretive with injuries but they haven't been this secretive since the Nieuwendyk injury nonsense during the playoffs.

And we just cannot play Brookbank or Greene anymore, they're both clueless.

[Kevin]

TG- i dont know if you're going to read this before the end of the game but if you can, canyou find out who Sutter was yelling at at the end of the 1st? He was screaming at someone after Rutuu got called for Unsportsman-like at the 20 minute mark.

[TG]

They've been secretive about plenty of injuries besides this one. How about Martin's injury earlier this season as just one example? Salvador got hit by Fedoruk last week in the left leg and didn't practice the next day. Then, he got hit in the left foot with a shot in Colorado. I think you're looking for something more here than it is, but I don't blame you because of this team's history of covering up injuries.

[Craigwell]

somehow i knew Asham was out with the hand as soon as I saw Tallackson. (center ice, pittsburgh broadcast, so no doc & chico to tell me, nor did i read this blog today till now)

This must be why Asham does not fight that often now. Poor guy. Fills the spot well on the 4th line.

[mikeford]

andy greene should never play in the NHL again after that blunder in the 1st.

[Shari]

Here We go again.

[AreJay]

This third period has shown how heartless this team might actually be.

Because they absolutely are talentless. I thought maybe they had a little bit of heart. No wonder non-legit NHL players like Brookbank, Greene, and Mottau make huge mistakes that cost games.

Is this not the worst offensive team in the history of this club? Has to be, right? Even if it doesn't end up being so stats wise, it certainly feels like it. The complete void of talent on this club is astounding for a team so high in the standings.

If this club had just ONE MORE forward. Just one more, we'd be 10 points up on everyone else.

[95-00-03]

I was at the game last night vs the Islanders and I was amazed how many Islanders fans were there. They lost 6 games in a row and they still bring the fans in. I only wish NJ could do the same. We are in a scoring slump and our fans are giving up. I for one refuse to give up on my team even with Pittsburgh kicking our a**. Keep the faith Devils fans. It's all we got at this point. GO DEVILS!

[95devils]

This may be one of the worst offensive teams ever in the nhl. Then subtract elias who is in bed taking his Robitussum for the third time this season and it is downright AHL Lowell Devils standards. Anybody have a list of what defensive forwards lou will target in the offseason? We know he won't target offense. Guys like Mottau and Brookbank will probably hang around this team through next year because they are 'lamoriello's finds' and they must be good or must be given a chance if lou found them.

[JoeDevs]

Well, I predicted 6-0, pretty close, eh?

This team is pure garbage. They don't play hockey the right way.
Anyone who thinks they have a chance to win a playoff round has Alzheimer's disease. They will be lucky to hold on to a playoff spot, I can't see another win the rest of the season, no joke!!

[JoeDevs]

On the Isles fans thing, really not that many overall. 700-800 tops out of 17k.
I was there too so please don't try to tell me there were more than 850 NYI fans there. And, they were very quiet too.

[ALEXNJD]

Andy F***ing Greene and coach who puts him in the lineup. What a embaresment game, even worth then last night. The end of the season will be the same as the start.

[aarrghhh]

Hey, TG, are they going to scrap the umbrella experiment or wait until it costs them another game? No doubt the confusion caused by changing things up midstream cost that goal. Four guys deep, and since there's only one point, that's all she wrote... easiest 3 on 1 you'll ever see.

The Devils playing umbrella on the PP is frightening. Not to the opposition, but to me.

[e-max]

Greene was bad but Motteau was worse. The 3-on-1 preety much was it, I haven't seen a team pack it in this bad after one botched play since, well, since we did it against the Rangers a few days ago...wait, scratch that, since we did it against the Islanders last night...

No where to go from here but up I suppose.