Fire & Ice

A day to rest and review

With the Devils getting the day off from practicing (their first off day since camp started), I thought today would be a good day to review what's happened so far and where the players trying to make the team stand.

The Devils are 2-2 in the preseason with three exhibition games remaining. They visit the Islanders Wednesday night and host them on Friday night. They wrap up the preseason with a home game against the Flyers on Saturday. That's three games in four nights, so they'll be pretty busy and Devils coach Brent Sutter said he plans to get closer to the NHL lineup beginning with Wednesday's game.

Goaltender Martin Brodeur will make just his second start of the preseason Wednesday and will play the full game. The plan is for him to also go the distance in Saturday's game against the Flyers. After that, the Devils have five off days before their regular season opener against the Islanders at Prudential Center on Oct. 10.

Vrana might wing it

Rookie center Petr Vrana appeared to help his cause again tonight by scoring the Devils' second goal on a deflection with 1:52 remaining.

It's clear Devils coach Brent Sutter is thinking hard about keeping him on the team. When I asked Sutter tonight if he's thinking about using Vrana at wing, he admitted that he's already talked to Vrana and Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello about that.

"The one thing about Petr is he's very intelligent," Sutter said. "He's a very smart player. I asked him that question (about playing the wing) the other day and talked to Lou about that and (Vrana) said kind of what I thought: 'I don't see why not.' He's got a good understanding of the game. He's a very good positional player. That's the thing about him. What I like about him is that he does a lot of little things well on the ice that you don't notice. It's those little things that you don't teach."

Leblond makes Devils "take notice" again

For Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond, it was about doing his job. But, as a French-Canadian from Levis, Quebec, the Devils rookie enforcer admitted his third period fight with Washington's Donald Brashear also meant something more than that to him.

"The guy is from Quebec-City, he's a French-Canadian and I've been watching him growing up and now I'm here fighting him," Leblond said after tonight's 3-2 preseason loss to the Capitals at Prudential Center. "It's kind of special."

Leblond ended up with a four-stitch cut on the back of his head (left side), but held his own pretty well in a fight with one of the NHL's toughest heavyweights. Although Brashear won the bout, Leblond landed a few pretty good shots and earned Brashear's respect enough that the Caps winger gave him a couple of pats on the rear end when it was over.

"All game long he was asking me if I was tough in French," Leblond said. "He said, 'good fight.'"

Capitals beat Devils, 3-2 (updated with quotes)

Mike Green, Boyd Gordon and Alex Ovechkin scored goals as the Washington Capitals heled on to defeat the Devils, 3-1, Monday night in preseason action in front of an announced crowd of 8,536 at Prudential Center.

After the Devils fell behind 3-0, Zach Parise - his third goal in two preseason games - and rookie Petr Vrana scored in the third to make it close.

Center Michael Nylander had the primary assist on the first two goals for Washington, which remained unbeaten in the preseason at 4-0. The Devils dropped to 2-2.

Caps goaltender Brent Johnson stopped all 18 shots he faced in playing the first two periods. Jose Theodore played the third for Washington. Kevin Weekes went the distance in net for the Devils and made 23 saves.

After two strong efforts in beating the Rangers in back-to-back games, the Devils were missing something tonight. They outshot the Caps, 13-8, in the scoreless first period, but had some breakdowns that cost them in the second.

"The effort wasn't there," Parise said of the team's play in the first two periods. "I'm not making excuses but the ice was bad and we were chasing the puck all over. The effort wasn't there tonight for the first two periods and that was the difference. Then, we gave up that shorthanded goal right away in the third."

Caps lead 2-0 after second period

The Devils' lack of intensity caught up with them in the second period as the Capitals grabbed a 2-0 lead with goals from Mike Green and Boyd Gordon.

That was not a good period for the Devils. They managed only five shots on Brent Johnson in the period after getting 13 in the first. The Capitals had 11 shots in the second period.

Green gave the Capitals the lead with a power-play goal at 3:09. With Sheldon Brookbank in the penalty box for hooking, Michael Nylander sent a backhand feed through the slot to Green, who had a near-empty net to shoot into from the left circle for his first goal of the preseason.

Another nice pass from Nylander set up Boyd Gordon for a goal that made it 2-0 at 7:12. This time, Nylander passed from the right circle to Gordon, who was left alone in front. Gordon had time to pull the puck to his backhand and lift it past Kevin Weekes on the stick side.

Devils and Caps scoreless after first period

The Devils and Washington Capitals are tied 0-0 after 20 minutes in their preseason game at Prudential Center tonight. The Devils outshot the Caps, 13-8, in the first period.

Some observations from the period:

-The Devils are lacking some of the intensity they had in the two games against the Rangers.

-The Devils had another 5-on-3. I think they've had at least in one every preseason game so far. This one ended because of a Petr Vrana interference penalty.

-The power play didn't create anything in its three opportunities.

-Kevin Weekes looks sharp again. Very calm and in control. He stopped all eight shots he faced.

Leblond making an impression

One of the biggest surprises of training camp and the preseason so far has been left wing Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond. Leblond, who split last season between Trenton and Lowell after spending all of 2006-07 in Trenton, has played in all three of the Devils' preseason games so far and will be in their lineup again for tonight's exhibition against the Washington Capitals at Prudential Center.

Where he'll play after the Devils wrap up their preseason schedule on Saturday night remains to be seen.

"He's been great," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "The thing about him is not only does he give you that certain physical element, but he also can play the game. I thought (Saturday against the Rangers) he played a really good game. He made some real smart plays. He's warranted and deserved the opportunity to play. Where it all ends up at the end of the day, I don't know.

Weekes will go the distance; Mottau out sick

Kevin Weekes will get the start again when the Devils host the Washington Capitals Monday night for a preseason game at Prudential Center. The difference Monday will be that Devils coach Brent Sutter plans to play Weekes the full 60 minutes.

The time for splitting games is over as the Devils start gearing up for the start of the regular season.

"We're going to start here where these guys are going to play full games" Sutter said this morning.

Scott Clemmensen will dress as the backup tonight.

Martin Brodeur has played in only one preseason game so far. "They're getting me my rest early," he joked. "I need a lot of rest."

Don't worry. Brodeur said he will play Wednesday night's game at Nassau Coliseum against the Islanders and Saturday night's preseason game against Philadelphia at Prudential Center.

"We'll give him two full games down the stretch here," Sutter said. "That will be good for him."

Tallackson update

Devils defenseman Paul Martin said this morning that he spoke with Barry Tallackson on the phone on Saturday and 25-year-old right wing is resting comfortably at his home in Minnesota follow surgery on Friday to correct an irregular heartbeat.

"He said everything went well," Martin said. "His groin is just a little sore from where they had to go in. But he feels good. He said he'll be back (in New Jersey) maybe Tuesday or Wednesday."

Martin said Tallackson told him that the surgery took five hours to complete. The procedure was non-invasive. A surgeon inserted a tube into an artery in his groin, maneuvered it up to his heart and burned out the extra electrical path that was causing his heartbeat to race.

Vrana staying positive

The Devils have played three preseason games so far and Petr Vrana has played in all three of them. That's a good sign for the rookie center, who only got in one exhibition game last season before being sent down to Lowell.

"I'm really happy I got the chance to play in all of the games," he said after the Devils' 4-2 win over the Rangers today. "The last few years I only got the one game and that's not enough. The first game (in Philadelphia) went really well. The last two games, I think I've done whatever I've needed to do. I try to keep my feet moving and play a simple game and play smart and I think I've done that pretty well."

Devils coach Brent Sutter agrees.

"I thought this was his best game," Sutter said. "I thought he was just stronger on the puck. He made some solid plays defensively. He was just sharper."

Sutter said he thought Vrana played "OK" in his first two preseason games, but "I thought (today) was the best of the three. He's been solid."

Vrana, the Devils' second-round draft pick in 2003, scored a goal in Monday's 4-1 preseason loss in Philadelphia, but hasn't registered a point since then. Still, he's managed to stick around so far, though some players are already practicing in Lowell (they have not been officially assigned there, yet).

"I'm here. That's all that matters right now," he said. "We'll see over the next couple of days they're probably going to have to make their decision and it's going to be interesting to see what's going to happen."