Shanahan says he'll play vs. Flyers; Devils can clinch playoff spot tonight

Only three Devils skated this morning in Philadelphia -- left wing Brendan Shanahan, defenseman Jay Leach and goaltender Kevin Weekes.

Shanahan skated for 20 minutes and said he will play tonight against the Flyers after sitting out Sunday's loss in Boston for what Devils coach Brent Sutter called, "a maintenance thing."

Shanahan said he could have played Sunday.

"Brent has mapped out certain days in the schedule," Shanahan said. "With six games in nine nights, it was just a recovery day for me. I felt fine. I, obviously, could have played, but we're looking ahead more. They'll be doing that with a few players leading into the playoffs, not just me."

Shanahan also skipped Saturday's practice.

When I asked Shanahan if there was anything bothering him, he replied, "No. Just some of the jokes made on the Tonight Show. Other than that, I'm good."

That was my fault for leaving him that opening, but then I specified if there was anything bothering physically and he said, "No, I'm good".

Sutter was not at the arena this morning, so there was no official word on who would come out of the lineup to make room for Shanahan's return, but Jay Pandolfo, who played Sunday after being a healthy scratch for six in a row, appears to be the likeliest candidate.

***

The Devils can cllnch a playoff berth for the 12th consecutive season with a win tonight in Philadelphia and Florida loss of any kind to Carolina tonight.

The Devils would also clinch a playoff spot with an overtime or shootout loss tonight and a Panthers' regulation loss to the Hurricanes.

Any combination of three points clinches a playoff spot because, though the Panthers would still be able to match the Devils' points total, they don't have enough games left to equal their win total and wins are the first tiebreaker.

***

Left wing Patrik Elias and defenseman Andy Greene were also at Wachovia Center this morning, apparently for treatment.

Elias also was excused from Saturday's practice, but claimed he was "just resting." Then, he did not play in the final nine minutes of Sunday's game.

"We were losing 4-1," was Elias' explanation.

Elias said he is playing tonight, though.

***

Shanahan gave an interesting answer this morning when asked if anything had surprised him since joining the Devils in mid-January.

"I knew it was a good team," he said. "I didn't realize until getting here -- I'm impressed with the depth throughout the lineup, all four lines. Some of the defensemen on our team don't get enough credit. We all have confidence in them as a team and the more I see them, the more I like them. Which is good, as opposed to the other way around. So, our team and specifically our defense has impressed me."

***

Some things I missed with the Hockey East 25th Anniversary Awards that I mentioned Sunday. Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello was honored along with the other four founders of the league with the inaugural "Founders' Awards."

Devils defenseman Mike Mottau, who won the Hobey Baker in 2000 while at Boston College, was voted one of the top 25 defenders (defensemen and goaltenders) in Hockey East history.

Comments

[TattedDevil]

TG,
Any word on if there will definitely be some sort of ceremony for Marty before the Tampa game on the 3rd?

Thanks!

[TG]

No official word on that yet.

[theking72]

Maybe Shanahan should cut down on the effort to make jokes and show us something on the ice already

[Scratch20]

Glad Shanny is playing, hoping the rest did him good, he looked tired the last couple of games. Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope Pando is the odd man out.

[Alz]

Elias, more than anyone else last night, deserved a break for the way the game ended up. At least he threw the body around and made some good plays.

Parise should have taken some notes.

[LT]

TG

Is Marty starting tonight?

[LT]

TG

Is marty starting tonight?

[Devilswede]

Yeah, you can sense that Elias is a big game player. The playoff are around the corner and he just picks his game up instantly. Other players have disappeared lately, but this guy always shows up in big games. It was not a coincidence that he was the best player on our team last night. I don't care what anyone else says, Patrik Elias is still the best player/skater on this team...I don't care how many more goals and points Parise has.

[HF]

LT- do you even have to ask that?

[ronmexico3]

Elias is great as long as he doesn't have a "C" on his jersey...I'll give you that.

But better than Zach?

um, in a word, No...

[Morethanyouknow]

Patrick Elias is better than Zach because of experience and somethings called RINGS!

[TG]

Well, Brodeur did not skate today, but I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that he is starting tonight.

[JJ]

A couple losses in the last 10 games and people are freaking out already? You'd think that from the comments on the last post from yesterday that we are about to get knocked out of playoff contention rather than on the verge of clinching a spot. Bash Zubrus, bash Mottau, bash Havelid, bash Salvador blah blah blah. Same BS over and over again after a loss. BOSTON PLAYED GREAT yesterday, we didn't. Did we play poorly? NO. The difference once again was our special teams. I've been saying this ALL YEAR LONG, we are a GREAT team at even strength and when we are even or plus on special teams (PK & PP combined) we win. When we are minus, we lose. All I need to know about last night was 0 for 5 on PP and we gave up 2 PP goals (-2). You can talk all you want about playing more physical, having more "fight", getting into fights, whatever. Bottom line we took stupid penalties, gave up 2 PP goals and allowed them to play with an early lead at home. That's not a formula for winning against a good team. Also in the 2nd per. if we score on the PP when it was 3-1 instead of putting zero pressure on their PK units and then give up a goal afterward it's a different game.

[Ray]

TG-
is it possible to find out our winning percentage when Doc is not doing the play by play. i swear we lose when he does NBC and Versus picks up our games. we probably have to listen to that guy with the stupid boston accent tonight.

[TG]

Doc is doing the game tonight on Versus with Darren Eliot.

I haven't kept track of what games he's missed and whether the team has won or lost. I do know the Devils won in Montreal last week when Doc wasn't there.

Of course, it would be ridiculous to keep track of his absences because there is no connection to how the team plays.

[Scratch20]

Doc didn't do the play by play when Marty tied the wins record up in Montreal, we won that one.

[Scratch20]

Oh TG, lighten up

[Devs]

haha i agree scratch20

[JT]

no panic here. I agree with you JJ. no need to panic or bash anything. in my opinion, at this time of year, if we make it out of a game healthy it's quite the success!! Right now it's about tweaking and preparing for the playoffs. We didnt play badly and we did well against Boston this season just not last night. there's nothing to worry about. plus, we still do have the most regulation wins in the Eastern Conference. pretty impressive.

[Pearl Jammed]

JJ i agree whole heartedly with 99% of what you said. However, i do think that Havelid hasn't been what i expected as of yet, and has had little impact upon the roster, which does suprise me

[Ortugg44]

How about our record when that guy Eric sings the anthem at Prudential. If I'm not mistaken, we've never lost a game when he sang. :)

[TG]

He's pretty good, too. Gets your attention with the deep voice.

[DevsFaninTX]

What happened on the tonight show that he is referring to?

[Tommy.]

The thing I notice with this devils team if they score within the first 5 minutes they don't lose. And if they don't do that it's usually a long night for them and they're flat most of the game.

[JJ]

PJ. Give Havelid some time. It takes a while for new players to get acclimated esp. defensemen. He's not really the type of player who stands out anyway.