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.
The Devils lost, 4-0, to the Panthers' in their last meeting on Feb. 17 in Florida and that game is still fresh in their minds.
"I think it's always nice to get right back at it and play someone quickly after they outplayed you and beat you pretty soundly," Sutter said. "One thing is this game is you don't have short memories."
The Devils are hoping to build off their 4-0 win over Colorado on Thursday night in Brodeur's first game back from a torn biceps tendon.
"We just need to continue on like we played the other day and compete and play hard and do a lot of the little things well," Sutter said. "Our detail to our game has to continue to be good. When we play that way we're a pretty effective team. We want to be a team that works and competes and forechecks extremely hard and be good when we don't have the puck."
The Devils fed off the emotion from Brodeur's return on Thursday. Sutter said the motivation today and for the rest of the season comes from the time of season. The Devils have only 21 games remaining and Sutter remembers well how the team's play dropped off in the final quarter of last season -- something it never recovered from.
"There are 21 games left. It's pretty simple," Sutter said. "We need to make the push here where we play well and have our game in order here in the last quarter of the season. I hate reflecting back on it, but it was around a certain time last year that we started letting our game get away from us and never regrouped from that. I just want to make sure that doesn't happen here and our awareness is good. The guys know it and they understand. There's a lot of pride in that room and they want to have a good finish to the regular season here, too."
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Although Shanahan has no goals in his last nine games after scoring his first five games after joining the team, Sutter said his play has been "fine." It's more because Shanahan hasn't been able to practice consistently or play over the last couple of weeks because of a bruised right foot, which caused him to miss two games last week.
"I think Shanny has been fine," Sutter said. "The tough part of Shanny has been he seems to get going and he's been held out of practice for a couple of days because of bumps and bruises and it's tough to stay in the flow of things, especially with someone who didn't start playing here until (Jan. 19). So, it's just getting consistently in the groove...But I expect him to get better and better as long as he's able to continue to practice with us throughout if he's sore.
YAYA first comment, but anyway, i hope the other lines do some work and not rely only on the ZZ-Pops line like Thursday's game...and they need to keep elias at wing and not at center
Posted by: SS | February 28, 2009 at 11:28 AM
I think it's only a matter of time until the Elias line starts producing more. All the other teams are focusing their shutdown units on Zach's line so that's giving them a lot of opportunities. I think the goals will come in time
Posted by: John S | February 28, 2009 at 11:45 AM
Jacko - good posting in the prior thread about Marty's rebound control - will look for that today - thanks
Posted by: Matt McNaught | February 28, 2009 at 11:51 AM
Coach Sutter has impressed all season long. He flat out knows the coaching trade. Lou as a former teacher knows that process and has a coach who's mentality understands the Devils ethic and lives it....The push for the chrome kicks into high gear.
Posted by: njteech | February 28, 2009 at 12:25 PM
Very winnable game today. Don't look ahead to tomorrow. Keep the foot on the accelerator and don't look in the side mirrors. Play hard for 60 and git-r-done!
Posted by: Captain Cornholio | February 28, 2009 at 12:29 PM
Should be a good one, the Panthers have been coming on lately.
Posted by: Shari | February 28, 2009 at 12:33 PM
I thought we'd see the Devils sit Marty and play Weekes with the Flyers up tomorrow. Let's see if the Devils can put together another strong effort.
And what a way for Parise to start it! Let's go boys!
Posted by: AJ | February 28, 2009 at 01:09 PM