Live blog: Langenbrunner suffers lower-body injury, Devils lose 6-3

Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner suffered a lower-body injury and the Flyers defeated the Devils 6-3  tonight at Prudential Center.

Langenbrunner headed to the Devils' locker room with the trainer after taking a hard hit from Flyers defenseman Luca Sbisa along the right wing boards in the Philadelphia zone 7:55 into the second period. It appeared Langenbrunner had a left leg injury, but it was difficult to tell.

Simon Gagne put home the rebound of a Mike Knuble deflection for power-play goal at 11:57 of the second to pull the Flyers even at 3-3. Then, Scott Hartnell beat Bryce Salvador to a Mike Richards rebound to give the Flyers the lead with 3:05 left in the second.

Joffrey Lupul made it 5-3 at 11:22 of third and Hartnell added an empty netter with 1:56 left.

Richards have four assists.

Zach Parise's goal with 18.2 seconds left in the first period had given the Devils a 3-2 lead.

Devils rookie left wing Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond had his first NHL fight 4:00 into the second period against Riley Cote. Cote landed the better punches early in the bout, but Leblond rallied late to make it a pretty even fight.

The Devils have settled down a little bit early in the second after a sloppy first defensively.

David Clarkson fought Flyers defenseman Andrew Alberts at 7:05 of the second and won that fight with a strong start. He quickly knocked off Alberts' helmet off and nearly knocked him down early. Alberts fought back later, but the decision goes to Clarkson.

***

After Travis Zajac won a left circle draw from Mike Richards, Parise went to the net to tip a pass from Brian Gionta. Flyers goaltender Martin Biron made a pad save, but Parise jammed the rebound home on his backhand for his fifth goal of the seaosn.

Biron has not looked good, but the Devils have been sloppy. Parise had a goal and two assists in the first period.

Dainius Zubrus' power-play goal with 4:51 to go in the period had tied the game at 2-2 after Mike Knuble's power-play goal at 11:25 of the first period had given the Flyers a 2-1 lead.

The Devils and Flyers had both scored on their first shots of the game.

Zajac scored just 47 seconds into the game to give the Devils a 1-0 lead. Zajac backhanded the puck in front from behind the net and it went in off defenseman Braydon Coburn's left skate.It was Zajac's first goal of the season.

Jeff Carter tied it at 1:50, however, on a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Martin Brodeur high to the glove side.

Carter is all over the place. The Devils have not looked sharp and have been sloppy in their end.

Devils left wing Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond received a five-minute major for boarding Riley Cote at 9:01. The Flyers converted with the goal from Knuble, who went wide around defenseman Bryce Salvador in the right circle before cutting to the net. Brodeur pokechecked the puck off Knuble's stick, but it might have gone in off Salvador's right leg.

Zubrus re-tied it by putting his second whack at Parise's centering pass between Martin Biron's pads for his first of the season.

***

The Devils host the Philadelphia Flyers tonight at Prudential Center for the first game of a home-and-home series.

Martin Brodeur will start in net for the Devils. Martin Biron gets the start for the struggling Flyers, who are still looking for their first win of the season (0-3-3).

Here are the starting lineups.

DEVILS

Forwards: Zach Parise-Travis Zajac-Jamie Langenbrunner. Defense: Johnny Oduya-Andy Greene. Goaltender: Martin Brodeur.

FLYERS

Forwards: Arron Asham-Jeff Carter-Scottie Upshall. Defense: Braydon Coburn-Kimmo Timonen. Goaltender: Martin Biron.

Again, Flyers center Daniel Briere will have surgery to repair a torn abdominal muscle on Saturday and will be out for a month.

Left wing Simon Gagne will play tonight.

I'll be posting my observations throughout. Here's the Devils' lineup for tonight.

Forwards: Patrik Elias-Dainius Zubrus-Petr Vrana; Zach Parise-Travis Zajac-Jamie Langenbrunner; Jay Pandolfo-John Madden-Brian Gionta; Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond-Mike Rupp-David Clarkson.

Defense: Bryce Salvador-Paul Martin; Colin White-Mike Mottau; Johnny Oduya-Andy Greene.

Goaltender: Martin Brodeur.

Healthy scratch: D Sheldon Brookbank.

Injured: C/RW Brian Rolston (high right ankle sprain), C Bobby Holik (fractured right pinky).

Comments

[95-00-03]

Thanks for the great updates as usual TG. Psyched to see the Devils momentum keep going and looking forward to another W for Marty and the boys. GO DEVILS!

[Jason]

You know, this made me realize something. In the late 80's and 90's you used to see 5 min majors all the time. Now its a rarity. The game has changed so much in such a short period of time. You know what else you never see these days? Freezing the puck.

[Spleens]

Parise is playing like a man possessed. Go Devils!!

[Kelly]

Looks like a good crowd. Hope the majority are Devs fans. PARISE!!!!

[Jersey Mike]

Nice to see Zubrus score a meaningful goal. That ought to keep the critics quiet for about a minute.

LETS GO DEVILSSSSSSSSS

[Shari]

It was a little Helter Skelter for a while but the Dev's will settle down and with any luck pick up the w. I'm wondering if Sutter will bench Blondie for a while. This game is picking up the nasty, I Love it! I would not let up on This Team, The Dev's need to stay sharp because The Flyers will not go down easy Me thinks.

[K]

Flyers are in trouble. Chico and Doc got it right - house of straw down low.

TG - Is the crowd better upstairs than the TV cams are showing? Downstairs looks empty!!

[Kelly]

P3L the clear winner.

[TG]

The crowd is OK. Hard to tell how many were in the lounges that weren't sitting in the lower bowl

[Ali-P]

TG please don't post anymore favorable Jersey stats. It is voodoo. Kind of like mentioning a goalie shutout or a pitchers no-hitter. :)

[Spleens]

Marty looks human tonight. :\

[Jeff]

Can someone tell me why Gionta hasn't been moved up to the Parise Line???? Clarkson on that line is a joke!

[Hattrick]

great another injury......and now we are losing.....

[Jeff]

Can someone tell me why Gionta has not been moved up with Parise??? Clarkson doesn't belong on that line and we are wasting Gio on the checking line

[TG]

Langenbrunner is injured, so they needed a right wing on that line. They've been rotating them.

[McJags]

Great, if Langenbrunner can't play tomorrow, who get's called up? Or do we go with 7 defencemen?

[mikeford]

our defense is atrocious. salvador cost us 2 goals, white cost us 1 and oduya cost us the first one.

unreal. pathetic. disgusting.

[K]

Ok - so without 12, 15 and 16, who are the loudest guys on the bench? These guys need a cheerleader!

[in lou i trust]

2 on 3 defenders and we give up the goal....what ever happened to taking the body.....and I don't care that we might lose, I want to see Weekes in there tomorrow, otherwise we have learned nothing over the past 2 years.....and its not like marty is shutting them out either even though he hasnt had a lot of help either

[Spleens]

Game turned around on that iffy call on Madden that let the Flyers score off of the ensuing faceoff (still hating that rule). Marty isn't playing well and the Flyers are just skating harder than the Devils are. That's the danger about playing a winless team. They're throwing everything they have at the Devils, and we're being a bit too complacent.

[in lou i trust]

take away either one of my eithers

[TG]

Announced attendance is 15,529.

[Brodeur30]

Parise can only do so much. my god. If Zubrus had any finish he'd have 2 or 3 goals. Gionta is pathetic. 0 goals on the year. none. Trade his a$$ while he still has some value...

[Sauce from the Swamp]

TG...

Marty needs to sit tomorrow... Looks a little slow tonight..

[in lou i trust]

i don't know how much value, if any, gionta has right now...its pretty sad...hope he turns it around