Elias practices, will play vs. Penguins Tuesday

Patrik Elias partcipated in this morning's practice at Prudential Center and will play against the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday night after missing the last four games because of a bruised left knee and a bout with the flu.

Elias said he has "no problems" with his knee and his conditioning is back to where he needs it to be. "I skated four times and I feel fine," he said.

After Saturday's 7-1 loss in Pittsburgh, Devils coach Brent Sutter tried to lighten things up at the start of practice with a game involving two pucks and all of the players on the ice. It was forwards vs. defensemen, extra forwards Rod Pelley and Barry Tallackson and the coaches. They could score at either end of the ice.

After that, they had a normal practice that included working on five-on-five play and battles down low. Practice was wrapped up with a fun, three-on-three game (with the same teams as earlier) with the nets set just inside each blue line.

"There's a difference between being tense and being intense and I think our team has been the last couple of games probably a little bit too uptight and a little too tense," Sutter said. "I want these guys to have fun playing the game, too."

Oddly, Sutter had Elias on the fourth line for today's practice, skating between Sergei Brylin and Arron Asham. "He hasn't really had a full practice with the guys and we didn't want to disrupt the other lines today," Sutter said.

As it turned out, it was Asham's left hand and not his right one that was sore after Friday's fight with Matthew Spiller. "It just got tangled up in his jersey," Asham said. X-rays taken Saturday came back negative and Asham said "it feels 100 times better today than it did the last few days."

"I don't know if it's a sprain or if it's just a bruise," Asham said. "It's definitely nothing serious. At first, I thought it was pretty bad, but it was basically swelling. It's gone and everything is fine now."

Defenseman Bryce Salvador did not skate again today because of his sore left leg/foot. Salvador has not been on the ice since last Tuesday's practice. "Hopefully tomorrow he'll get to go on the ice and we'll see where he's at," Sutter said.

Sutter wasn't sure if he is going to make any changes with his defensemen for Tuesday's game. "We'll see," he said. "That will be thought about through the day here today and the decision will be made in the morning."

Today's line combinations and defense pairs:

Forwards: Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner; Pandolfo-Madden-Gionta; Zubrus-Rupp-Clarkson; Brylin-Elias-Asham; (empty)-Pelley-Tallackson.

Defense: Oduya-Martin; White-Mottau; Greene-Rachunek;  Vishnevski-Brookbank.

Comments

[Drew]

I wouldn't mind seeing:

Parise, Zajac, Langs
Brylin, Elias, Gionta
Zubrus, Rupp, Clarkson
Panod, Madden, Pelley

[Ron]

TG-obsviously it will depend on if Salvador is ready to come back, but any ideas on the D-pairings for tomorrows game?

[Jeff O.]

Patty will surely help the offensive woes we've had of late.

[TG]

Well, Salvador won't play and, as I mentioned above, Sutter was still thinking over whether he'd make any changes with his defensemen. The pairings in practice were the same as they have been.

[alzheimers]

As much as I don't like them getting Salvador, God help us all if they have to put Brookbank back in the lineup tomorrow.

[Pat]

ALZ, VV was the problem, not SB. He's young and needs some time to develop, unlike VV who obviosuly is never going to stop running and chasing. He can't keep up with the quick, shifty forwads either. SB will be ok w/time. Obviously, Sutter wants to keep the 2 extra pairings together so they can build some familiarity with each other, so don't expect to see Greene/Rachunek being split up to mix up w/VV/SB anytime soon. The X factor is who to pair Sal with. Sutter likes the first 2 pairs so its Sal + whoever else when he returns.

[RJ Arditti]

i dunno what D pairings Sutter is going to use, but he has to change something, that game saturday was, for lack of a better term, an abortion. something needs to change or its going to be a quick playoff series.... definitely a rough game to watch lately with the Dev's, and it kinda makes me glad that i won;t be at the rock on Tuesday. They gotta start putting something together for the love of pete

[Yaron]

The way I see it, we may be slumping at exactly the right time. No matter what the record has been, I feel that ever since the trade deadline, this team has played very mediocre hockey. If we can manage to rebound now, we may get hot right as the playoffs start.

[scottyc]

i like the way brookbank looks, i think he needs alittle time and will be solid like big colin ... i'd like to see martin & white // Salvador & rachunek // oduya & brookbank ... i know the last one might be trouble but i think that gives the pairings balance and puts our 2 best up front to stop top lines ... but whatever, i'm sure it wont happen

[Mike]

These guys need to start playing Trap hockey again. The defenseman are not skilled enough so the offense has had to share to much of their work load. I want to see a patient trapping team capitalize off the other team's mistakes like the 95 team did. And I don't give a crap what the NHL offices or broadcasters think about it. We need the trap!

[TG]

Brookbank made that bad play, leaving Drury alone on the tying goal vs. the Rangers, and followed it up with a bad game on Friday. I'm not sure where his confidence is right now. The same with Andy Greene. He made the right read on both goals that went off him on Saturday and had some bad luck, but a confident player is maybe a little more relaxed in those situations. At least those guys are still young, though. I'm not sure what the answer is with Vishnevski and Rachunek.

[e-max]

How we respond with Elias back in the lineup will pretty much set the tone for (gasp) the playoffs. It's not too late to make some noise and get on a roll, but it has to start now.

(picturing John Belushi in that classic scene from Animal House) Who's with me? hooooooooooooo....

[Craigwell]

i dont like that sutter is trying not to disrupt the line s he has, elias practices on the 4th line...

what lines?? Zub-Rupp-Clarkson was the only line he had while patty was out, and they didnt do much the last two games.

put it back the way it was, parise-elias-langenbrunner.. and let it sort out.

[Jeff O.]

Vishnevski just turned 28. he's not exactly old. he can still fix his issues.

[TG]

Vishnevski is 28, but this is his eighth season in the NHL. This is really the first time through for Greene and Brookbank. They're still learning.

My point was that Vishnevski/Rachunek don't have that excuse.

[Mike]

What issues? Vish is the only player who I am confident can actually lay a hard check on someone. Which is way more than one could say for the rest of the team. We need Vish and Rachuneck both in the lineup every night. They are both more skilled than any of these other young guys. Hell, I would even put them on the same line! Let them do some damage out there. Lay down some thunderous hits at our blue line and send a message!

[RJ Arditti]

well, i think we can get on a roll as well, but everyone needs to step up, from Zach all the way down the line to Kevin Weekes. I leave marty out of that statement because marty is the picture of consistency, as is evidneced by the fact that he is on his i think 9th straight 30 win season... thats pretty darn impressive so no flies on him.

As for the rest of the team, i think we need Elias to really REALLY find that fire that drives him, because he just seems so complacent this year, and for a guy with a contract like his to play complacent is never going to bode well for us as a team. I love Patty and i know he has it in him... he just has to find it

[RJ Arditti]

Oh and one other thing about our D...... when we did well in the playoffs we always had a definite #1 defenseman, and quite simply we don;t have a #1 Defenseman... we have 2 #2's and maybe 2#3's and the rest i would call a number 5 or lower D-man compared to devils teams of the past

[Steve Lepore]

Hey TG, can you ask Sutter what's up with his brother quitting as coach of the Red Deer Rebels?

[mikedeadworks]

I guess it's just me that notices the biggest D-problem is Andy Greene. Brookbank did move out of position vs. the rags. and sometimes Vish takes himself out of the play to make/finish a check... but most of the immature mistakes and very costly ones at that in the past string of games have come from #6 in one way or another.

[TG]

I heard that about Brian Sutter this morning. I guess it was because the team did so poorly this season. I didn't get a chance to ask Brent about it, though. He was in a hurry to get out of there after practice today. Maybe it was because of the coaching situation. The assistant coach is taking over as the head coach. I guess Brian is out of the picture completely.

[Falcone]

Need to have on D 3 big guys paired with 3 small/speed Offensive dmen.

White/Mottou
Oduya/Brookbank
Martin/Salvador/VV

First sub though would be KR over VV in my opinion. Andy Greene needs a fresh start.

[Sarah]

I don't understand the hate for Brookbank here. I know he had a rough night against the Rags, and may not have played fantastic against the Isles, but on the whole, he's been a lot stronger than Greene -- who has clearly had his confidence shaken and needs to be back in Lowell. The kid is a disaster in the defensive zone. I will admit I liked what I saw from him earlier in the year but he's just not cutting it anymore.

I think the top two pairings are working for now -- Oduya and Martin are both +20something, let them be. The wild card pairing is Salvador and one of VV/KR/SB, once Salvador is healthy.

With Elias back, the offense will come. They've had these issues before, better now than in the first round.

[Jeff]

Again I will state we need hunger and heart something most of this team doesn't have right now. Send Greene and Brookbank down get it to 7 defensemen competing for 6 spots maybe if needed call up the 3 Character player we have wasting away in Lowell Matvichuk, Marshall and Rasmussen all 3 will be eager to play hard and impress not only the Devils but possible suitors for next season. Pelley,Greene and Brookbank are all minor league players right now and should be developing in Lowell where they can find their games and learn from their mistakes where the stakes aren't as high as with the big club. As for Asham we waive him now if we need space for any of the 3 players I listed.

[bf]

All I can say tonight is, lets go Islanders!!!!!