Fire & Ice

Live post: Devils at Dallas Stars, 12/31/08

It's the last day of 2008 and the Devils are closing out the year in Dallas with a game against the Sean Avery-less Stars.

The Devils are 46-26-7 so far in 2008.

I am not in Dallas. In fact, I won't even be watching the game tonight. I'm enjoying my last off day of the year and will be enjoying the evening with friends. I will be DVR-ing the game, so I can catch up tomorrow.

Anyway, if you are home and watching the game and would like to share your observations here, I definitely will be reading them late tonight or tomorrow morning.

And I will be back at work tomorrow.

Happy New Year to all.

***

In case you didn't see it, NBC sent out a release earlier today stating that Mike Emrick still has laryngitis and won't be doing the Winter Classic tomorrow at Wrigley Field. I'm guessing that means he won't do tonight's game either.

Hopefully, Mike will feel better soon.

Live blog: Devils hold on for 4-3 win in St. Louis

The St. Louis Blues gave them a late scare, but the Devils held on for a 4-3 win tonight at Scottrade Center.

Jay Pandolfo finished off a 2-on-1 with Mike Rupp with 3:27 remaining in the third period to put the Devils ahead 4-2. John Madden got away with a trip of Jeff Woywitka in the neutral zone to create the odd man rush. That left Carlo Colaiacovo back as the lone St. Louis defender as Rupp carried in on the right wing and passed in front to Pandolfo for the redirection into a near empty net behind Manny Legace.

That goal proved big when Alex Steen scored on a rebound with 29.3 seconds remaining and Legace on the bench for an extra attacker.

The Devils have won two in a row and five of their last seven.

Zach Parise scored his second goal of the night with 5:41 left in the third to snap a 2-2 tie.

As Parise attempted to backhand the rebound of Jamie Langenbrunner's initial shot, his stick was hit by T.J. Oshie at the top of the crease. The puck ended up slipping between goaltender Manny Legace's pads for Parise's 21st goal and 44th point of the season.

Parise is on pace to finish with 49 goals and 103 points. That would make him the first 100-point man in team history. He also would break Brian Gionta's single-season record of 48 goals, set in 2005-06.

Scott Clemmensen finished with 28 saves for the Devils to improve to 13-5-1 for the season. His 13 wins since Nov. 15 are the most in the NHL over that span.

The Blues outshot the Devils, 31-26 for the game.

Devils' Coat Drive on Sunday

The Devils will hold their annual coat drive prior to Sunday's game against the Ottawa Senators at Prudential Center.

The game begins at 5 p.m.

There will be volunteers from Jersey Cares at collection areas in the two tower entrances, the Lafayette St. entrance, the VIP entrance and the parking garage entrance. The wives/girlfriends of the Devils' players will also be there to assist.

Fans making a donation will be eligible to win autographed Devils' memorabilia.

Lemieux signs two-way contract with Sharks

In case you guys missed it, the San Jose Sharks announced today that they have signed former Devil Claude Lemieux to a two-way contract. This brings Lemieux a step closer to making it back to the NHL, but he's not there yet.

He must clear waivers first. If no other team claims him before noon on Tuesday, the Sharks said they will send him back to their AHL affiliate in Worcester, Mass. Lemieux has two goals and four assists in 14 AHL games with Worcester, where he was playing on an AHL contract before today.

“This is simply the next step in the evaluation process with Claude,” Sharks general manager Dou Wilson said in a statement.

Lemieux, 43, last played in the NHL in 2002-03 with the Dallas Stars. He retired after that season.

***

Have a question for the Devils' radio broadcast team of Matt Loughlin and Sherry Ross? E-mail them to burningquestions@newjerseydevils.com. 

The questions can be for Matt or Sherry or you can ask them to ask one of the players' a question. They'll give the answers on the air during their radio broadcast.

White out with upper body injury; Salvador will play in St. Louis

Defenseman Colin White did not practice today and will not make the trip to St. Louis with the team today for Tuesday's game against the Blues because of what the team is calling an "upper body injury."

Devils coach Brent Sutter said White was injured in Saturday's win over the Rangers. White played the full game. In fact, he played more than seven minutes in the third period.

White has been bothered by a sore throat for more than a week, but that wasn't keeping him out of the lineup. I don't think this "upper body injury" is related to that, but I guess you never know.

Sutter said "at this point" there was no plan for White to join the team for Wednesday's game in Dallas either.

On the positive side for the Devils, Sutter said defenseman Bryce Salvador will play in St. Louis after missing the last five games with what the team is now calling a inner ear infection.

Salvador practiced with the team today for the first time since he last played on Dec. 17 in Buffalo and reported no problems.

Salvador practicing; White missing

Devils defenseman Bryce Salvador is practicing with the team this afternoon for the first time since he left the Dec. 17 game in Buffalo after two periods with what the team is now calling an inner-ear infection.

He said Saturday that he hopes to play in Tuesday night's game in St. Louis. That would be his first game against the Blues since they traded him to the Devils for Cam Janssen on Feb.  26.

It took me a while to notice, but Colin White is not practicing. It appears that Salvador has stepped into White's spot next to Jay Leach.

Johnny Oduya continues to be paired with Paul Martin and Andy Greene and Mike Mottau are together again.

When I find out why White is not practicing, I will let you know. I'm not sure what his status is for Tuesday's game in St, Louis.

The line combinations remain the same.

Forwards: Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner; Elias-Zubrus-Gionta; Rolston-Holik-Clarkson; Pandolfo-Madden-Rupp.

Defensemen: Oduya-Martin; Salvador-Leach; Greene-Mottau; Brookbank (extra).

Goaltenders: Weekes, Clemmensen.

Sunday off for Devils

The Devils were given today off after defeating the Rangers, 4-2, on Saturday night. They'll practice Monday afternoon at Prudential Center before traveling to St. Louis for Tuesday night's game against the Blues.

Defenseman Bryce Salvador hopes to return for that game after missing the last five games with what the team is now calling an inner ear infection (Seinfeld reference: "My wife has an inner ear infecton"). Salvador played seven seasons in St. Louis before being traded to the Devils for Cam Janssen on Feb. 26.

The Devils broke out offensively Saturday after going seven periods -- plus an overtime -- without scoring.

After not scoring more than two goals on Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers in 15 consecutive regular season games, the Devils have scored 12 goals on him in winning 8-5 and 4-2 in their last two meetings.

Devils' leaders step up

The Devils have had several challenging moments already in this season and it's not even half over yet. Every time so far they have responded.

Tonight's game was another pivotal moment for the Devils, but not just because they were facing the Rangers. After being shut out in consecutive games, the Devils' confidence in their scoring abilities was shaken at least a little bit. But they got two goals in the first 4:14 tonight to break out of it and went on to a 4-2 win that pulled them within four points of the Rangers for first place in the Atlantic Division with four games in hand.

Devils coach Brent Sutter said the reason the Devils have responded so well to adversity this season is inside the locker room.

Clemmensen comes through on 5-on-3; big shots for Rolston, Zajac

The biggest moment in the Devils' 4-2 win over the Rangers tonight was probably Brian Rolston's power-play goal, which came only 2:54 into the game and ended their team-record goal-scoring drought at 159 minutes at 18 seconds.

Almost as important was Scott Clemmensen's play during the Rangers' 5-on-3 power play late in the second period. The Devils were up 3-1 at the time, but a minor on David Clarkson for playing with a broken stick and an interefence call on John Madden gave the Rangers a two-man advantage for 39 seconds.

"You just try to weather the storm and get through it," Clemmensen said. "Sprinkle in a little bit of luck here and there and that's it."

The Rangers had five total shots during the 5-on-3, but Clemmensen's best save of the sequence was a right pad stop on Chris Drury's one-timer from between the circles, which was set up by Scott Gomez. Clemmensen also stopped Nikolai Zherdev's follow-up.

Live blog: Devils defeat Rangers, 4-2

The Devils snapped out of their scoring funk to beat the Rangers, 4-2, tonight at Madison Square Garden.

Zach Parise's goal with 7:02 left in the third period has increased the Devils' lead to 4-2.

Parise converted Jamie Langenbrunner's backhand feed from behind the net for his team-leading 19th goal of the season.

It's been a big night for Travis Zajac, who has a goal and two assists.

Defenesmen Dmitri Kalinin's goal 8:59 into the third period had cut the Devils' lead to 3-2.

Kalinin blasted a slap shot from the left point past a screened Scott Clemmensen on the stick side for his first goal as a Ranger.

The Devils were outshooting the Rangers 28-16 before David Clarkson's penalty for playing with a broken stick with 3:26 left in the second. After Kalinin's goal, the shots are 30-29 in favor of the Rangers.

The crowd is really into it now. They were mostly quiet earlier in the period.