Rolston "sloppy" in his return; Clemmensen "solid" again

Devils right wing Brian Rolston admitted he was "rusty" and "sloppy" in his first game back from a high right ankle sprain tonight against the Flyers.

It was considerable considering that Rolston had not played in seven weeks and had only three practices to regain his sharpness.

"I felt OK," Rolston said. "I was obviously sloppy, catching and passes and things like that, but it will get better."

In his first game action since he was injured on Oct. 16 in Atlanta, Rolston played 18 shifts for a total of 11:48 in ice time. Rolston played mostly on the third line with Jay Pandolfo and John Madden and also saw time on the power play point.

Rolston practiced this week on the fourth line with Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond and Mike Rupp and also took warm-ups with those two, but Devils coach Brent Sutter said he decided at the last second to play him with Pandolfo and Madden instead. David Clarkson played with Rupp and Leblond.

"I decided to do it when I was walking up to the bench," Sutter said. "It was something I wasn't sure that (he would do). I had to think about it. It wasn't something I thought I would try right away."

Rolston said wasn't surprised.

"I know Brent likes to shuffle lines and I played a little bit with the fourth line and a little bit with Johnny," he said. "I wasn't surprised, no. I think he uses everybody at any time." 

***

Sutter was happy again with the play of goaltender Scott Clemmensen, who made 29 saves to post his fifth win in his last six starts.

"I thought Clemmer was solid," Sutter said. "The first shot I don't really know if he saw it or not. They guy (Kimmo Timonen) walked in pretty deep and pounded it. The second one went off a stick (of Bryce Salvador). He made the saves when he needed to. I said before your goaltender has to give you a chance to win and he did that tonight."

Clemmensen was the first goaltender other than Martin Brodeur to start against the Flyers since Feb. 27, 2002 when John Vanbiesbrouck played in a 1-0 loss to the Flyers at the Meadowlands.

Clemmensen said he's not reading anything into the trend that he has started the last four games and seven of the last eight.

"I try not to read into it, but at this point I'm going to be ready to play every game," he said. "Not that I assume that I'm going to (play) or assume that I'm not. But because of the way the last few weeks have been going, I'm going to make sure that I'm ready to play every game."

***

During the game I had thought that Scottie Upshall's power-play goal, which gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead with 4:28 remaining in reguation, went in off the stick of Devils defenseman Jay Leach. But Salvador said after the game that it went in off his stick and the puck never reached Leach, who had his back to Upshall.

***

Flyers GM Paul Holmgren said Simon Gagne left the game early tonight because he, "just got a little dehydrated and started to cramp up so he couldn't go." Holmgren and Gagne insisted his departure had nothing to do with his concussion problems of the past.

"No, I wasn't feeling good yesterday either," Gagne said. "I pretty much slept all day, so I think it's just maybe (the) flu or somethign going on now. My stomach didn't feel that good the last two days."

Comments

[Pearl Jammed(RJ Arditti)]

MSG + has a good replay of Upshalls goal, and its definitely off of Salvadore. too bad too because he was having a great game. i know i criticized Colin White earlier but he Definitely seemed to play better after he got into that tussle behind the net..... i still think he looked like a one legged man in an a$$ kicking contest in the first period though

[Brodeur30]

Huge win. After getting bent over by Crosby and the Pens we responded well and found a way to win. Elias is just clutch. He's going to have a good year this year I think. Looks relaxed out there and has the puck on a string. Parise was huge again. Him and Elias are dangerous in OT.

Big win boys....Let's get another one Saturday night in MTL!

[AK47]

Great win,but we still have a huge problem: SPECIAL TEAMS. PP and PK will hurt us even more down the road.Oh yea did I mentioned that we are on the top 5 on 5.

[DanT]

sloppy roli? no way! ..... we all saw the bounce over his stick at the point on the PP. not his fault the ice was comical all night. he's too hard on himself. sloppy is the wrong word.

[Pat D'Amico]

I did notice Rolston was a little sloppy with the puck and was kind of slow, I'm sure it will all be back in a week or two.

[Salvatore from Garfield]

AK47- Can you elaborate on what you mean by on top 5 on 5?

Anyway, I do agree. Our special teams look AWFUL. If we're going to compete with better clubs, we really need to step up on both PP and PK.

[Guy]

Agreed. In my opinion, the penalty kill is WAY too passive. You cant let teams just pass the puck around to set up a great play. Against the devils, all you need on the PP is good passing, and someone from the point who can get the puck through traffic and we are dead.
Power play looked in a word, pathetic. We can only hope it gets turned around somehow.

[Frankie D]

The Devils PK is 27th out of 30 teams in the NHL. The PK is way too passive. The puckhandler gets no pressure and has all day to decide what to do.

[Frankie D]

Oh yeah, the Devils PP is also 27th out of 30 teams.

As AK47 alluded to, the Devils are 2nd in the league behind Boston at 5 on 5 goals for/against ratio.

[Puckster]

Sloppy or not, I'm very glad to have Rolston back. The ice seemed choppy all night, so that may have accounted for some of the miscues at the blueline on the PP.

Very good team effort. I thought everyone played well, especially Elias and Parise (obviously). Clemmer was very solid in net. Leach played well and seemed confident out there.

Clarkson had a lot of intensity tonight (even more than usual). Its possible he wants to make sure he doesn't get lost in the shuffle with all the regulars coming back. I don't think he has anything to worry about. He's having a good season and plays hard every night.

[RestlessKnight]

Great sign for the devils to be excelling 5 on 5, rather than the PP. Their PP has been weak for years and inconsistent. They will experience a good stretch. Their PK has been brutal, unacceptable and if Sutter doesn't straighten it out, then it will be the end of him.

I doubt I'm the only one scratching my head when stuff like this comes out. . ."Devils coach Brent Sutter said he decided at the last second to play him with Pandolfo and Madden instead". I was sold on Sutter before he arrived, but he is whacky. Every friggin' fan would have had Rolston practising with the Madden line initially instead of the fourth line and not been making the stupid statements about keeping the top two lines together that he will break up within the couple of weeks anyway.

Who gives a crap if Clarkie took it well. He's a second year player happy to be getting the opportunity and expects to be on the 3rd-4th lines. Did Brookie take it well getting removed from the top line. If he didn't shatter Bergfors and Vrana's confidence then they're not as fragile as Elias. You better LEAVE HIM ALONE now and if I see him on the bottom lines again I'm bringin' Burns back who knows what is needed and knows it before he gets to the bench.

[GreenMan]

Far and away the biggest positive of the night was Madden's & Pandolfo's ES TOI...11:05 & 10:40 respectively.
Welcome to the 21st century Los Diablos!

[GreenMan]

P.S. Somebody should have told Zajac that unlike carrying unlicensed firearms in NYC, winning faceoffs in Philly does not carry a mandatory minimum sentence.

[Brodeur30]

I'm excited to be at the Devils homestand starting on Wednesday and going through Saturday! (Pens, Rags, then Sabres). Should be a good time!

If anyone wants to meet me for a drink let me know!

[Paul]

Great to see Rolston but he clearly needs more conditioning and work on his timing. Is there any reason he couldn't have played a game or two in Lowell? I've always wondered why hockey players don't rehab in the minors like baseball.

[Falcone]

Rollie did have a sloppy game, but that's understood for first game back. Hopefully he' back up to par by Sat night.

I agree with AK47, our special teams are aweful. We really need to work on that or we won't go far this season.

Patty came up huge last night and is riding a good streak. Hopefully that continues.

Nice job to Jay Leach. Guy is big, but he's smart as well. I liked what I saw out of him last night.

[Falcone]

Rolllie did have a bad game last night. But its understood.

As AK47 said above, our special teams are aweful and we need to work on that big time.

Nice job to Jay Leach he played a great game last night. He's a smart player and he's got good size.

Elias is rolling and I hope it continues. Having Patty and Zack on the ice in OT together makes a lot of sense. Its do or die or at least go to a shoot out so why not?

[JJ]

Zubrus played another very nice game last night also.

[BishopQ]

Rolston was just a half step behind each pass last night. You could see him reaching out for it and not quite getting it. Yes, the ice looked awfully soft causing the puck to bounce but he did have a sloppy game. Not uncommon after that much time off. At least he never got out of position defensively leading to a opportunity for the Flyers.

[Alzheimers]

During the Devils Powerplay, they really should just speed the video up about 50% and play the "Yakkity Sax" theme in the background.

[JJ]

I'm not one for debating line combos but I've given this one some thought based upon how certain guys are playing and particularly meshing together lately. Going back to Sutter's original idea of rolling 4 lines (with greater ice time to the top three lines) and getting away from using a "checking" line (esp. on the road) altogether since it doesn't seem to be working anyway. Anyone like this crazy idea once Rolston is ready to take a regular shift and when Holik gets back?

Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner
Elias-Zubrus-Gionta
(nothing earth shattering there - here's the blasphemy)
Madden-Holik-Rolston
Pandolfo-Rupp-Clarkson

Each line has a little bit of everything; size, speed, finesse and can play good defense while being a scoring threat. I know putting your two best faceoff men on the same line may be a bad idea but I'm getting tired of the Maddolfo thing and you can always change things up during the game depending upon how your special teams are being used. To go a little more top heavy offense switch Langs & Rolston.

[JJ]

I meant to say each of the top three lines has a little bit of everything...

[Jason]

"Sloppy" is unacceptable, vulgar language TG. Enjoy your indefinite suspension.

[Jason]

Sorry, I meant Rolston should enjoy his suspension, not you.

[michael jackson]

Rolston was watching... it will take time to get his game back, based on what I saw of the rangers game last night, montreal isnt going to make it easy.