Fire & Ice

Interesting developments

There were a couple of interesting things that happened tonight that might directly or indirectly affect the Devils leading up to the NHL trade deadline at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.

One was that ex-Devil Bill Guerin was pulled from the Islanders' lineup after warm-ups for tonight's game against Buffalo.

According to multiple reports, the Islanders have agreed in principle to a trade of Guerin to an Eastern Conference team. According to www.islanderspointblank.com, the deal is not with the Devils or Boston. Guerin would have to approve the trade because he has a no-movement clause and, according to islanderspoint blank that might not happen until Sunday morning.

It is notable that the Islanders had two scouts, including Director of Pro Scouting Ken Morrow, at the Devils' 7-2 win over Florida today. There has been some speculation that the Devils are interested in defenseman Brendan Witt, who is serving a five-game suspension for his elbow on Toronto's Niklas Hagman on Thursday. Witt, 34, has another season left on his deal, which would make him slightly less attractive.

Another name that's been floating around is Atlanta defenseman Niclas Havelid.

The other interesting development today was that the Phoenix Coyotes have told defensmen Derek Morris that he won't play again until he is traded. Morris sat out the Coyotes' game against the Blues tonight and apparently will sit until he is dealt.

Apparently, there are a bunch of teams lining up for Morris, who will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

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Another thing that I heard today was that the Capitals are one of the most serious contenders for Chris Pronger, if he is traded.

Brodeur will start again Sunday against Flyers

It will be three games in four days for Martin Brodeur.

After facing only 17 shots and having a pretty easy afternoon in a 7-2 win over Florida today, Brodeur will be back in net for Sunday afternoon's showdown with the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Flyers are in second place in the Atlantic Division, seven points behind the Devils.

"Marty is fine," Devls coach Brent Sutter said after today's game. "He's good to go tomorrow. With as much work as he's had in the last two games, it's actually worked out pretty well."

Brodeur faced only 24 shots in his first game back from a torn biceps tendon -- a 4-0 win over Colorado on Thursday night -- and has not been physically taxed, yet.

"I feel good now," he said after earning his 546th career win today, moving him within six of breaking Patrick Roy's all-time record.

Live post: Devils defeat Panthers, 7-2

Zach Parise had two goals and an assist to lead the Devils to a 7-2 victory over the Florida Panthers this afetrnoon

Today's attendance was 16,256 -- slightly up from Thursday's crowd of 16,107.

Brendan Shanahan, Travis Zajac, Brian Rolston, David Clarkson and Danius Zubrus also scored for the Devils.

Patrik Elias had two assists and now needs only seven more points to break John MacLean's team record of 701 career points.

The Devils have gotten three goals from the newly-formed line of Shanahan, Rolston and Clarkson. Rolston's goal came when he was on the ice with Brian Gionta and Zubrus, though (24 seconds after Zajac's power play goal). 

Zubrus scored with 2:39 remaining to complete the scoring.

Even if Parise doesn't score another goal today, he is on pace to finish 50 with 38 in 62 games. That would make him the first 50-goal scorer in team history.

They added assists to Gionta and White on Rolston's goal.

Martin Brodeur saw his shutout streak come to an end when Ville Peltonen scored with 1:30 left in the seocnd period to cut the Devils' lead to 5-1.

After Radek Dvorak lost the puck in the right circle, Peltonen picked it up and fired it past Brodeur on the stick side.

That snapped Brodeur''s shutout streak at 139 minutes and 33 seconds dating back to Oct. 29 against Toronto.

I'll go out on a limb right now and predict that Brodeur will start again Sunday against Philadelphia too. The Panthers have only 14 shots on goal - and just one in the third period -- so far, so it's not like Brodeur has had a heavy workload.

Brodeur has been run into a few times today, though, including that collision with Nick Tarnasky with 6:38 left.

Rolston nearly had a second goal when his shot hit the right post 4:01 into the third period.

Ready for the Panthers

Devils coach Brent Sutter said this morning that he will start today's game agaisnt the Florida Panthers with the same lines he used in Friday's brief practice.

As a reminder that was:

Zach Parise-Travis Zajac-Jamie Langenbrunner; Patrik Elias-Dainius Zubrus-Brian Gionta; Brendan Shanahan-Brian Rolston-David Clarkson; Jay Pandolfo-John Madden-Bobby Holik.

Jay Leach and Mike Rupp will again be the team's healthy scratches.

Martin Brodeur will start in the net for the Devils. Craig Anderson, who made 40 saves in a 2-1 win over the Rangers on Thursday, will start for Florida.

Brodeur: "There's a good opportunity here"

With his 37th birthday approaching on May 6, Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur knows he won't many more shots at a Stanley Cup.

That's why he wants to make the most of the chance he has this season. His teammates played very well during the 50 games he missed with a torn biceps tendon, going 32-17-1 to take over first place in the Atlantic Division.

Now, he believes he can add something to the mix and the best way he can do that is to be at the top of his game by the time the playoffs begin.

"You look at the situation that you're in," Brodeur said today. "You walk into this locker room and you're like, 'These guys have played pretty well.' We went out and beat some great teams at cricital times in the season and there's a good opportunity here. For me, it's kind of a driving point for me to get to where I need to be to support that cast and go as far as we can."

Brodeur worked hard last summer to get in better condition and try to redeem himself for what he admits was a disappointing performance in the five-game loss to the Rangers in the first round of the playoffs last spring.

Searching for the right combinations

As I posted earlier, Devils coach Brent Sutter tinkered with his line combinations again during today's practice.

After splitting them up again during Thursday's win over Colorado, Sutter put Dainius Zubrus back at center between Patrik Elias and Brian Gionta. But he also put Brian Rolston at center between Brendan Shanahan and David Clarkson.

Rolston said it's his "understanding" that he will at least begin Saturday's game against Florida at center on that line. It will the first time he played center in a game since Oct. 16 in Atlanta -- the game in which he suffered a high right ankle sprain. Sutter actually shifted Rolston to wing in that game before he was injured.

"I just think that he's been shuffling the lines a little bit lately," Rolston said. "He's trying to find certain things and I'm comfortable with it. Like I said from the beginning, it doesn't matter where I am."

Only four of Rolston's 11 goals this season have been scored at even strength, so it's clear that Sutter is trying to get more offense out of him and Shanahan, who has no goals in his last nine games after scoring three in his first five games with the team.

"I think we have to get back to some more balanced scoring," Rolston said. "Obviously, our top line has carried most of the offense and they're going to continue scoring. There's no question about that. They're a great line, but we have to get scoring from other lines and I think it will be there because we have too many skilled guys that will score."

(To right: Zubrus, who has one goal in his last 18 games, at today's practice).

Sutter mentioned he might still move Rolston back to left wing on a line with Elias at center and Gionta at right wing. Then, Zubrus would move back between Shanahan and Clarkson, who he played with in the third period on Thursday.

"With Rollie, he can play center between Shanny and Clarkie or Zubes can play center with Shanny and Clarkie and Rollie moves up and plays with Gio and Patty," Sutter said. "It's going to be a little bit of a feeling out process over the next little bit here. I'm not taking anything away from what the group has established or what they've done. I just want to make sure everyone's play is up to standards here moving forward in the last 21 games of the season and that's the accountability I have to put on them."

One line combination that Sutter put together during Thursday's game will stay together for Saturday's game. That was John Madden at center between Jay Pandolfo and Bobby Holik. Madden is technically the center, but both he and Holik said they switched off in the middle depending on the circumstances -- location of face-offs, positioning in offensive and defensive zone, etc.

"I liked Bobby on right wing last night," Sutter said.

Brodeur to start again Saturday

Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur said he will start again Saturday afternoon against the Florida Panthers at Prudential Center.

It will be his second game since returning from a torn biceps tendon. It also appears possible he will start Sunday afternoon against Philadelphia.

"I'm going to be playing tomorrow, but Sunday I don't know yet," Brodeur said after today's brief practice at Prudential Center. "We'll see how it goes and how I feel. We're going day by day. We're still in that process a little bit. But I'm going to go tomorrow."

Sutter said he's not looking ahead to Sunday's game, yet.

"I'm taking it day to day," Sutter said. "He said he felt really good today. I think Marty played very well last night, but it was one of those nights where it wasn't a real heavy workload. He said he felt good today and the decision is to go back to him tomorrow."

If Brodeur were to play three games in four days right off the bat, that might be pushing it a little bit after a 50-game layoff. But Sutter said he's "not ruling anything out."

"We'll go through another game and we'll see after tomorrow and make a decsion for the next day," Sutter said. "A lot depends on a lot of different factors."

(To left: Weekes during today's practice.)

One intersesting thing to watch is that Sutter did not start Weekes in any afternoon games this season. I don't know if that's only a coincidence, but he once mentioned that a goaltender's track record in afternoon games after there is no morning skate is a factor in his decision-making process. Scott Clemmensen, who is now in Lowell, started and won all four of the Devils' games that began at 5 p.m. or earlier while Brodeur was out.

Brodeur said he felt "good" today on the morning after his first start in nearly four months, a 4-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche. That was career win No. 545 and career shutout No. 99 for Brodeur.

"I felt great this morning," he said. "I woke up early, actually. I drove the kids to school."

He said he did not have any soreness at all.

"No, I felt good," he said. "Definitely, I'm a little tired right now. I went home and sat on the couch for a while (after Thursay's game). .I woke up this morning and I'm so excited to play hockey. It's so new."

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Sutter said that Jay Leach and Mike Rupp will again be the healthy scratches on Saturday.

Line combinations shuffled, but Zubrus back with Elias and Gionta

The Devils' practice today at Prudential Center lasted only about 20 minutes .

All 13 forwards and seven defensemen were on the ice, as are goaltenders Martin Brodeur and Kevin Weekes.

Brodeur and Weekes had a conversation at center ice at the end of practice. Then, while Weekes went back to get some in more work, Devils coach Brent Sutter and spoke to Brodeur while Brodeur rested on one knee at center ice.

After about five minutes, Brodeur left the ice while Weekes remained on. That might indicate that Brodeur is playing Saturday against Florida.

Sutter changed up his lines again a little, but not all of the combinations are the same as the end of Thursday's game.

The one significant change is that Brian Rolston is centering Brendan Shanahan and David Clarkson.

Dainius Zubrus is back with Patrik Elias and Brian Gionta and the Jay Pandolfo-John Madden-Bobby Holik combination that Sutter put together during Thursday's game is together today as well.

Of course, the Zach Parise-Travis Zajac-Jamie Langenbrunner remains intact.

Sutter is clearly searching for offense from a line other than that one.

Elias has no even-strength goals in the last 12 games, but has two power-play goals over that stretch. Gionta has three goals in his last 24 games. Zubrus has one goal in his last 18.

After scoring three goals in his first five games with the team, Brendan Shanhan has no goals in his last nine games. He has only one even-strength goal in his 14 games, but playing on the fourth line with Holik and Mike Rupp/Pandolfo obviously factors into that.

Line changes might stick; Sutter praises Pandolfo

From what Devils coach Brent Sutter said after tonights' game, it sounded as if the line changes he made during the 4-0 victory over the Avalanche might not have been just for tonight.

In search of offense from a line other than the Zach Parise-Travis Zajac-Jamie Langenbrunner combination, which accounted for three goals and five assists tonight, Sutter again took Dainius Zubrus off the line with Patrik Elias and Brian Gionta. Elias shifted to center and skated between Brian Rolston and Gionta.

Zubrus moved down to center a line between Brendan Shanahan and David Clarkson and John Madden technically was the center on the fourth line between Jay Pandolfo and Bobby Holik. Madden and Holik said they shared the centering duties, though.

"It was just a gut feeling at the time." Sutter said of the line changes. "You try to keep the guys sharp outside of Trav's line. There's little things that we've tried in different games here in the last couple of weeks. With Pando back in the lineup, Pando played well tonight. He worked pretty hard and did a lot of smart things.

"It's just a feel. Whether it stays that way Saturday, we'll see. But, with the way we played, there's no reason to have to change it unless I get a different feel tomorrow."

No plan for Brodeur's next start, yet; Smart call by Parise

Devils coach Brent Sutter said after tonight's 4-0 win over Colorado that he did not know yet whether Martin Brodeur will start the team's next game on Saturday afternoon against the Florida Panthers.

He's going to wait until Friday to make that decision.

“I’m not going to go there tonight with that because I want to see where he’s at tomorrow and how he feels and then we’ll made a decision for Saturday and worry about Saturday,” Sutter said. “I go day to day with the decision making on games. We’ll see where Marty’s at tomorrow and make a decision for Saturday.”

Tonight's game was Brodeur first since he tore a biceps tendon in his left arm on Nov. 1.

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On the Devils' second goal -- a power play tally by Patrik Elias 8:43 into the second period that made it 2-0 , defenseman Paul Martin said he shot the puck wide on purpose -- at the suggestion of Zach Parise before the faceoff that preceded it.