The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (8-17-2) at the Ottawa Senators (12-15-2)

Season Series: It's the first of four meetings this season. New Jersey took the first three meetings on the 2009-10 schedule before Ottawa goalie Brian Elliott stopped all 24 shots in a 3-0 win on Jan. 26, the most recent matchup

The Last Devils Game: The Devils rolled into Pittsburgh riding a 2 game losing streak. Lets face it, the Devils haven't been playing well at all and the Penguins, well they've been the best team in the league recently, so losing 2-1 wasn't so bad right? Oh, yea, the Devils really need any point they can get right now so yea, any kind of loss is soul sucking.

The Last Senators Game: The Sens hosted the Rangers and played a see-saw hockey game where everytime they scored the Rangers would find a way to tie it up. Eventually after the Rangers did it 3 times in a 3-3 game, the Rangers struck twice more for a 5-3 win.

Tonight's Game: What can you say? We know the fans are miserable right now and Lou isn't happy either but didn't make any huge changes between the Pittsburgh game and tonights game. Unless you want to say that Stephen Gionta and Olivier Magnan is a huge shakeup, which it isn't.

So tonight is a matchup of two teams that are just plain struggling. Look at Ottawa, they are paying Alex Kovalev $5 million this season to sit on the 4th line because his game has become total crap. BUT, the Sens are 12-15-2 and I think any Devils fans would jump to be that close to a .500 hockey club. To me the Sens are a few tweaks away from being competitive, the Devils on the other hand, well you've watched them this season.

Volchenkov returns to his old stomping ground tonight for the first time since bolting this summer and he told the media yesterday that yes, he is a little nervous. That makes me nervous because he doesn't need any distractions as the defense is playing poor enough as it is.

Marty Brodeur makes his return in net tonight and lets hope that brings some kind of uplift to the entire team. I'll be one to admit that I didn't think Marty looked all that hot before his injury so I can't really say I am expecting much from his return tonight. The saving grace for Marty is that Ottawa isn't too far ahead of the Devils in the goals per game department.

Hopefully New Jersey can find a way to score a few tonight, find a way to win and find some momentum because tonight they are playing what some say is one of the worst teams in the league right now (although they are better than NJ) but they turn around and come home to host one of the best teams in the league, the Detroit Red Wings, tomorrow night.

Injury report: New Jersey forwards Zach Parise (knee) and Jacob Josefson (hand) and defensemen Bryce Salvador (concussion), Anssi Salmela (knee), Mark Fraser (hand) and Matt Taormina (ankle) are on injured reserve. … The Senators are healthy.

The Devils were supposed to be awesome this season...so far it has been anything butThere is a lot of chatter on the various Devils forums and websites that I browse throughout the day about the need to get rid of John MacLean. While I can't say that this seasons shortcomings aren't his fault, I honestly believe that 27 games is far too quick to let a coach go. If you want to take that as "keeping our heads in our asses" then ok, that is what I am suggesting. Maybe we need to look at guys like Larry Robinson and Adam Oates first. I mean Larry didn't have the greatest time coaching this team his last time around and Oates was brought in to help the PP score, which it hasn't.

The Devils could probably benefit from getting rid of a few players and bringing in some new faces to maybe spark this team into actually looking like a professional hockey team. But, before I start naming players that should go, lets give some thought to having Lou himself leave this team.

     
The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (8-16-2) at the Pittsburgh Penguins (18-8-2)

Season Series: Second of six meetings between these Atlantic Division rivals. Brent Johnson made 30 saves and Paul Martin had an empty-net goal and an assist against his old team in a 3-1 Pittsburgh win in New Jersey on Oct. 11.

The Devils Last Game: It wasn't nearly as bad as the game prior to Saturday when Montreal embarrassed the Devils at the Rock but in the end, it was the same result. The Devils weren't able to get any kind of momentum or consistent pressure on the Flyers and ended up losing 5-3.

The Penguins Last Game: The outcome was never in doubt Saturday night in Columbus, as Pittsburgh rolled to a 4-0 lead after one period on the strength of three power-play goals, two by Martin (his first goals since that empty-netter in New Jersey). Sidney Crosby also scored twice, extending his points streak to 15 games, and the Penguins left Nationwide Arena with a 7-2 victory.

Tonight's Matchup: As a fan, you have to be worried about this game. The Peguins are playing GREAT hockey at the moment and Crosby looks as good as anyone in the NHL right now. Marc-Andre Fleury looks to have found his focus as he is 10-0-1 in his last 11 starts, allowing two goals or fewer nine times.

In short, this game could get rediculous.

What can the Devils do? Saturday showed us that even when Kovalchuk and Zajac do find the net, the problems of this team run much deeper than those two not scoring. The Devils defense doesn't seem to understand the concept of positioning so I am not very hopeful for a good outcome tonight. The period to watch will be the second period as this period has killed the Devils so far this season.

Maclean was doing all kinds of line switching in practice yesterday so I am not even going to take a stab at the lines today. The one thing we do know is that Kovalchuk better show up with energy tonight as he will get double-shifted on the fourth line all night and the Devils are dressing 7 d guys.

IF the Devils come out flat tonight and get run out of the building, having the next 3 days off might not be a good thing if your last name is MacLean.

            


The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (8-15-2) visit The Philadelphia Flyers (15-7-4). This is the second meeting of the season.

Season Series: The Devils won the first meeting between these two teams just last Saturday. The Devils scored early in the game only to watch Philadelphia tie it late and force OT and then a shootout. Arnott and Zajac found the net during the shootout to give NJ the 2-1 win. These two teams will meet 4 more times after today.

The Last Devils Game: It was a complete embarrassment on home ice by both the team and the fans in attendance. The Devils lost to the Canadiens by a score of 5-1 but Montreal scored twice in just 90 seconds to begin the game, which took the fans right out the game. The Devils never really recovered and looked out of sync the entire game.

The Last Flyers Game: Tim Thomas had a huge game for the Bruins as he faced 41 shots by the Flyers. The Bruins found the back of the net three times and shutout the Flyers for a 3-0 win. no comments