Langenbrunner out for at least next two games

Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner did not make the trip with the Devils to North Carolina and will miss at least the next two games of the team's Eastern Conference quarterfinal against the Hurricanes with a suspected groin injury.

The Devils are still calling it a "lower-body injury."

Langenbrunner was injured in the second period of a 2-1 overtime loss in Game 2 on Friday night.

"Jamie Langenbrunner will not be with us on this trip," general manager Lou Lamoriello said. "He'll be out these next couple of games and we'll see how he is when we get back. But he's not out of the first round at this point."

"It's going to be a day-by-day situation, but he definitely will not be on this trip." 

Lamoriello didn't want to speculate on whether Langenbrunner will be back for Game 5 on Thursday.

"It's too early to tell, so I don't want to mislead anyone," he said. "We certainly hope so."

Lamoriello said there was no exact moment when Langenbrunner was injured, though he left shortly after attempting a shot while the Devils were on the power play. Lamoriello said it was not a previous injury that was aggravated and called it "a freak event."

"It was something that just occurred," Lamoriello said. "We don't know exactly how it transpired, but he felt it at a certain point."

Devils coach Brent Sutter said he had "an idea" of what he is going to do with the lines in Game 3 on Sunday night with Langenbrunner out, but would not get into specifics.

"How that all lays out we'll see, exactly who we put with Travis and Zach and what we do with the other guys," Sutter said. "I don't want to disprupt too much. Yet, obviously, there has to be somewhat of a change and we'll make that tomorrow."

Patrik Elias shifted from left wing to right wing to play in Langenbrunner's spot on the line with Zach Parise and Travis Zajac on Friday, but Sutter seemed to be leaning today toward putting Elias back with Dainius Zubrus and Brian Gionta or at least keeping .

He did say Parise and Zajac would stay together.

"Those two guys are pretty good for us," Sutter said. "That's the thing about it. Those two have been a pretty good pair for us as has Patty and Gio."

Could Brian Rolston play the right wing?

"If he's asked to, yeah," Sutter said. "If that's where we want to put him into, he's going to have to play the right side."

But Sutter admitted that right wing is probably the third option for Rolston, who has played more left wing and center this season.

"It's the time of year where guys have to repsond to whatever situation they're put into or position they're put into," Sutter said. "It certainly changes things when you take Jamie out of your lineup. There's a lot of different things to weigh out here and now we're on the road and don't have the last line change."

I took that as a hint that Sutter could break up the checking line of Jay Pandolfo, John Madden and Brendan Shanahan. When I asked if that was possible, Sutter didn't rule it out.

Sutter said it was "a possibility" that Bobby Holik, who was a healthy scratch for the first two games of this series and the last two games of the regular season, would play in Game 3.

"That still hasn't been decided yet," Sutter said. "We're still thinking about it."

Comments

[Tim]

crap

[Jeff in Hoboken]

Welp, it was a great first game!

[JPL]

Not the news I was wanting to hear.

[JT]

this sucks.

[WTF]

o boyyy

[Hoekster316]

Double crap

[MikeK]

SOS.

Let's hope that someone responds.

[Robbie]

MikeK hopefully Rolston does.

[Tim]

Its not the end of the world...if we can win without marty we can win without anyone...every1 just needs to step up a bit...especially rolston

[DCdevil]

there goes the cup

[Zorin]

let's hope this sends the team into panic mode and they respond the same way they did when Marty went down, gather the strength, focus and fight harder than ever. Let's get the next win for #15!
Let's Go Devils!!!!!!!!

[Tapiolevo09]

Time for Rolston and Holik to step up and prove they were good off season signings.

[futureman]

I dont want to see holik anywhere but the stands

[DevsFaninTX]

Any speculation as to what the injury might really be besides "lower body injury?"

As for the team, I think we'll be good assuming our players play to their potential. We really need to split in Carolina though.

[Jeff in Hoboken]

Alright after calming down here's what I'd like to see:

Elias/Zajac/Parise
Rolston/Zubrus/Gionta
Pando/Madden/Shanny
Clarkson/Rupp/Holik

Does this sound right?

[BF]

Maybe this will spark them. Everyone will step up (I hope)

[Sohl]

Ugh, crap. All the optimism for nothing. Hopefully they play well without him.

[JPL]

I would but Shanny with Zubust and Gio! Clarkson with Madden and Pando and Rolwaste with Rupp and Holik.

The injury to Langs looked like a Groin or Hamstring from the replay they showed.

[rob]

TG- can you talk to coach about possibly having Jeff Frazee tend goal, and have a dynamic duo of marty and scotty on D?
Or maybe MB as a Winger?
Just trying to have fun after a tough loss, and the yankees playing terrible.

[Brandon]

Who did we pick up TG?

[RickyM2]

What zorin said makes a lot of sense. Teams start to pull together when the panic button is on. Either way, I'm hoping Sutter is not scared, and has the situation under control. We still have goal scorers, and we still have our defense intact. Its not over by any means. I'm still confident

[futureman]

I would like to see Elias stay on the second line. Then put Rolston on the first line. Just to see if Parise and Zajac can light a fire under his arse. Plus the second line has played well together so far. Everything else stay the same and bring up a formward for the 4th line. A responsible forward(not Holik). My bro told me Gio kind of half arsed it to a loose puck and thats what led to the CAR goal. I was at the game and didn't see what exactly happened. Just wondering if anyone else saw that?

[chris]

Please, no Holik! Not with the Canes power play! He's too slow, in addition to his ridiculous penalties.

[Swab First Class Kip Nicaragua]

Oh boy. I guess you gotta put Rolston up with Parise and Zajac and just hope the guy shows up. Bring in Holik to center the fourth line. Pray.

[Rico Suave]

oh boy, i had that feeling this was happening. the bottomline is rolston needs to step up his role big time now. i definately do not like the idea of zajac, paraise, and elias on a line. i would much rather that role be filled by rolston, and langs was the one with the big shot on that line. also, a line of gio zubs rolston would leave zubs centering two big time shooters. the lack of a setup/pass man on that line would ruin them fast.