Pikkarainen told "to be ready" to play tonight vs. Rangers; Peters regrets extra penalty

Devils right wing Ilkka Pikkarainen said after today's morning skate that he will be in the lineup tonight against the Rangers

"I'm a little bit nervous, but in a good way," he said. "I've been waiting for this day." 

Pikkarainen, 28, was drafted in the seventh round/218th overall in 2002. He came to North America in 2003 and played three seasons in Albany, but never got to play in an NHL game. He returned to Finland for three years and came back this season for another try.

Now, his first NHL game appears to have arrived.

"The Devils drafted me and since that I've been waiting for this day and now it's here, so I'll be ready," Pikkarainen said.

He said he was told after the optional skate "to be ready."

Pikkarainen said he is completely healthy after having a bout with the stomach flu two weeks ago.

"I'm ready to play," he said.

Pikkarainen knows what he has to do to be successful.

"I know what my role is," he said. "It's go to the net, hit the guys, shoot the puck, do the good things and just try out there,"

It remains unclear, however, if Pikkarainen definitely will play. He still has to come off injured reserve and added to the 23-man roster, which means someone has to be removed from the roster. The Devils has made no roster moves as of 11:45 a.m.

Also, Devils coach Jacques Lemaire said he was considering making one lineup change with his forwards, but had not decided whether to do it, yet.  He would not say what fowards he was considering changing.

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Left wing Andrew Peters said he will participate warm-ups tonight, but he's "not sure yet" if he'll play.

"I'll know after warm-ups," he said.

Defenseman Andy Greene and left wing Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond were skating extra after the optional morning skate, so it appears they definitely won't be playing tonight.

***

Peters said he learned his lesson after getting benched for taking an extra unsportsmanlike conduct penalty Saturday that put the Devils shorthanded for four minutes in the third period. Lemaire talked to Peters about it Sunday.

"Yeah, he talked to me," Peters said. "It was more emotion than anything. I don't think I realized why I got my first penalty, but that's not an excuse. We talked about it yesterday. It's not really like me to do that, but I guess it's the emotions of the game. The refs have a tough enough job as it is. They don't need me yelling at them either. Regardless of whether I agree or disagree, I should just go [to the penalty box]. They're not going to uncall it or whatever you might say. I understand that."

Peters wasn't sure if it was something he said to the officials or his delay in going to the penalty box that earned him the second minor following a roughing penalty on Dan Carcillo.

"It might have been a bit of both, for pushing Carcillo and then maybe not going right to the box," he said. "I don't think I said anything that was way out of line. I just think I argued and that's that. It's over. Just move on."

Comments

[wassup?]

Did PL3 sleep with Lou's wife or something?

I thought he scored a few goals in Lowell this year. How come he isn't getting a shot?

Just curious.

[Warren]

There's an absolutely mortifying thought...PL3 and Lou's wife in the sack together!

[HF]

PL3 and Peters are useless, theres no need for talentless fighters to be on the roster. an agressive 6'2 power forward who is not afraid to drop the gloves once in a while ie. clarkson, pikarainen(i believe thats his game even though we havent seen him play here) is suffice.

[Rusty]

So he still is in the gray zone between sick and healthy. So if/when he blows plays tonight, we can blame it on that and still believe he is the savior that Lou praised so much?

[lowelldevilsfan]

Pikkwhatever is not a fighter.

[lowelldevilsfan]

Sad comment, thank Lou for giving PLL a 3 year deal last summer if you think he's useless. Throw in the 2 year deal for Peters.

[Warren]

If you keep thinking about it...you'll find there hasn't been much Lou's done right in the last 5-6 years.

[Jason]

You need a heavyweight on the team to go against other team's heavyweights. That's the reason for Peters. If anyone, it's PL3 that carries less value because he is too small to go up against the 6'4+ fighters.

[Ben]

parise comes to mind, oh and travis zajac, he's not exactly a bum either

[Ben]

so if you keep thinkin about it, you'll find lou is doing just fine

[airsilks]

I am just surprised that Andy Greene can't make it in over Murphy.....the fact Murphy has a right hand shot at least is a positive since we are all left handed otherwise.

[Bill Loney]

Amen to that; what a shotty roster, an overpaid, useless Pandolfo, Pikkarainen, Peters, the other Niedermayer brother, Leblond, Pelley, Halischuk. How much dead wood can a team have before it sinks? We don't want to pay Gionta $5mil per because he's not scoring 40 every year; but he was scoring what he was scoring because of the team around him. He'll easily have 40 this year in Montreal, and we look foolish letting him walk, while paying a bum like Pandolfo $2.5mil per? Is there another team in the league that would pay him $500K?

[Warren]

Ben: You don't really want me to go pro/con here. Because the two you mentioned are the ONLY Pro's. But there are a lot of cons...

[Mark]

We could put Shanny on waivers which would open up a roster spot for Pik? I don't think anyone would pick him up without some sort of guarantee that he'd play there and I'm actually hoping we could move him for a 3rd round draft pick that we could possibly use later to trade up.

[HF]

Totally agree Warren--Lou really needs a youth movement in the upper management division...

[Ben]

warren, how about you put together a list of all the gm's and compare lou to every single one. pros and cons. also, look at every other organization's records for the past 10 yrs, stanley cups, and how many times that organization has made the playoffs in that time. Look at the drafting of every organiztion over that same time period. Also look at the salary cap and the fact that it is going to drop next year. Look at the cap trouble that a lot of teams are in. go for it buddy, come talk to me when you study all of that and realize that lou is one of the better gms in all of sports

[Ben]

also, take note of the character that lou has, the number of players that have stayed here and those that have wanted to come back here. marty could have walked for much more money but he chose to stay. that kind of loyalty is thanks to lou. a lot of other gms don't have that kind of respect/character

[Mark]

$5+ mil for Gionta is simply way too much but he would have been worth $4 in my opinion. I certainly think he should pot 35 goals this year in Montreal. Remember, the past two years, Sutter had pushed him down for much of the year playing with Madden and Pandolfo. Who's going to score many goals with those guys? For some reason, Gio wasn't parking himself in front of the net and getting those garbage goals but he's back with two goals in two games for MTL. I can't blame Lou for lettig him go as it was smart cap management not to get into the hole of overpaying for him. Now...paying $5 mil for 4 years to an over 35 year olf Rolston??? That's right up there with some of the Rangers signings!

[pando20rules]

Bill Loney,

Can you let me know how you've determined Pikkarainen to be useless and overpaid? Same on Halischuk. Pandolfo was one of our better forwards Saturday night, as was Niedermayer. Peters LeBlond and possibly Pelley, you won't get much argument, especially Peters, but I digress. You haven't seen ANYTHING either way on Pikkarainen so give the guy a chance. And it's only been one game, so relax a bit too.

[Warren]

Ben...Lou WAS one of the better GM's.

Without going into details...his early mismangement of the cap...his loss of key players to free agency...his inability to sign or develop suitiable replacements...his complete lack of a future development plan for the goaltender position...and the fact that this team has CONSISTENTLY been eliminated EARLY in the playoffs.

There you go. In one little paragraph I just went for it. And, unfortunately, the results speak for themselves!

[HF]

Ben- no one is debating that lou over the last 10 years plus has given us a consistent regular season winner. However, why can we not be a little critical of how he's done post lockout and how the devs have lost stevens,Dano,rafalski, neidermayer, Gomez, Gio yet as of today in 2009, the devs are still missing a top #1 dman, a playmaking center, a GOOD right-handed d-man, PP quartback, and top 6 scoring winger. My point is LOU has not adequately replaced the above cornerstones of our championship teams. I understand losing players to Free agency and retirement but you must replace top talent with TOP TALENT. Lou has tried the cheap route or veteran route and nothing has worked.Are we not allowed to call him out?

[JJ]

lowelldevilsfan, did you ever see Pikka play in Albany? 305 PIM's in 196 AHL games, 389 PIM's in 147 games with Helsinki. Geez he had better be getting some of those due to fighting majors.

[Jason]

At least Peters actually SHOWED some emotion.

[Warren]

HF: Dead on accurate baby!

[Time for a change Vandergeek]

ben--Warren is right. The difference is the "other" teams have changed their GM's. When coaches and players CHOOSE to go against their contracts(i.e. Sutter and Shanny), also having to overpay and give no-trade/no-movement contracts to his"loyal"players, it is time for a change. The new saviour-Pichachoo is a guy that also chose to leave for overseas and came back ONLY because LL promised him an NHL spot. Stop your manlove for that wrinkled up- game has passed him by GM. Bringing back OLD players he drafted when the devils were cup winners is only to cover up how bad the organization is right now.