The Matchup: The Chicago Blackhawks come rolling into town tonight to take on our Devils. The puck drops at 7pm and you can watch it on MSG Plus HD or listen to it on WFAN 660 AM.

This is the only time we will see the Blackhawks this season (unless we both make it to the Finals). The last time we saw Chicago, Nov 3, 2010 where the Devils prevailed 5-3. Of course we'll always remember Chicago as the team Marty got #552 against.

What you need to know: Chicago, like New Jersey, currently sits in 6^th place overall in their conference. If the playoffs started today, both Chicago and NJ would face off against the conference’s weakest division winner, which is usually the benefit of 6^th place. There are apparently a number of lineup changes for NJ tonight and the Blackhawks continue to miss a lot of players in their lineup (see injury report!!).  Chicago is 7-2-1 in their last 10 while NJ is 5-4-1 but a concerning 1-3-1 over their last 5.

Chicago is getting hot at the moment which is dangerous at this time of the year and the fact they are doing it without captain Jonathon Toews should be concerning for most Western Conference fans.  Bottom line, Chicago is an excellent hockey team with just one weakness that I see…inconsistent goaltending. Tonight won’t be an easy 2 points.

What I expect tonight: The Devils have been firing the puck lately but just not finding twine. On top of that, the defense has been a little loose over the last few games. The Devils have conceded at least four goals in four of their last five games. If the Devils are going to hang on to 6^th place, that HAS to stop. The Hawks have a number of weapons on offense so the defense is going to need be on their A game tonight. Marty gets the start tonight.

Injury Report: For Chicago, Marcus Kruger (concussion-like symptoms) is questionable for Tuesday's game. Sami Lepisto (left leg), Jonathan Toews (concussion), Steve Montador (upper body) and Daniel Carcillo (left-knee surgery) are all out indefinitely. … Anton Volchenkov is questionable for the Devils with a lower-body injury. Henrik Tallinder is out indefinitely with a blood clot in his left leg.

Line Changes:  The big news this morning was that Adam Larsson is going to be a healthy scratch tonight. Peter Harrold, who was called up from Albany yesterday will take his place in the lineup. Larsson has been struggling with some consistency as of late and taking a night off might do him some good. He’s a young kid, he’s probably feeling the pressure of being the future of the Devils defense and trying to make a push into a decent playoff position. I really have nothing but respect for Larsson but I agree with siting him for a game or few to try and get him refocused on playing some sound defense.

This is probably what you will see tonight…

Adam Henrique - Travis Zajac - Ilya Kovalchuk
Zach Parise - Patrik Elias - Dainius Zubrus
Alexei Ponikarovsky - Jacob Josefson - David Clarkson
Petr Sykora - Ryan Carter - Steve Bernier

Andy Greene - Mark Fayne
Bryce Salvador - Marek Zidlicky
Matt Taormina - Peter Harrold

Martin Brodeur
Johan Hedberg

..And Finally:

There isn’t a lot of bad blood between the Blackhawks and the Devils, mainly because we don’t play them enough but as a hockey fan, I watch them enough and I have to say, when it comes to my list of douche’s in the NHL, Patrick Kane is pretty far up the list. Maybe it’s his look, maybe it’s his attitude but I honestly believe if he could hop in a time machine and change professions, he could easily have been the guy that played the douchebag role in most 80’s flicks. This guy is just begging to be put through the boards night after night. Unfortunately, I don’t see any muscle in our lineup tonight that can do just that…

Hey there Devils Fans! Ive heard some of your requests and I'm answering! Welcome to our newest segment called, SpotLight. SpotLight will feature a paragraph regarding one player from the Devils each game and will be our "SpotLight Player of the Game". This player will be discussed in a paragraph or two in the conclusion of our game recaps, highlighting their stats and big plays (or lack there of). 



Tonight's SpotLight Player of the Game will be Johan Hedberg. The 38 year old Swede will play in his 26th game of the season this year, hoping to improve his 15-7-2 record this evening against Ottawa in a game that has more importance than most would think it has. In his last 5 games, (dating back to 01/11/12 against Edmonton) Moose is 4-0-1 winning his last two in road games to the Capitals and the Islanders. Hedberg has allowed 9 goals over the course of those 5 games, recording a shutout over the Caps in a 5-0 rout in the nations capital on March the 2nd. The Moose will look to get New Jersey back to their winning ways tonight after the Devils dropped their last two games to two of the leagues hottest clubs, being outscored 9-4 gaining no points. While on the topic of points, we look at the teams playoff picture. After a loss last night to New York, allowing them to clinch a playoff berth for the first time since their historic '94 Cup run (One Since Forty i continue to say to myself), the Rags become the first team in the Eastern Conference to secure a playoff position, and second in the league. Holding 6th place will be a difficult task for New Jersey as the season dwindles down to the nitty gritty with just 9 games left to play, 2 more against 7th place Ottawa (tonight and April 7th). Tonight's game is HUGE! If the Devils win this evening, they will gain points 88 and 89 placing them 5 points ahead of the Sens. Hedberg and the rest of the Devils will have to turn their play around tonight against an opponent who tends to be overlooked in the eyes of the rest of the league for the most part, despite bumping the Bruins out of 2nd place earlier this past week. 


For all the latest Devils news, follow us on twitter: @RWTDblog @DEVIN88MATTERA @RealScottRobb and @Rvaidya33 and you can like us on our facebook page! From all of us here at Running With The Devils, I'm Devin Mattera, you stay classy Devils Fans.

Game 72 - Pittsburgh Penguins  vs New Jersey Devils
Date and Time: Saturday March 17, 2012, 1 PM      
Location: Prudential Center
TV: MSG Plus (Devils Pregame at 12:30)    
Radio: WFAN 660 AM

The Matchup: The red hot Pittsburgh Penguins skate into town. This will be the 5^th of 6 total meetings this season, The Devils have won the last 3 meetings. Would you like a stat that is a little worrisome going into this game?

Last 10: Pittsburgh 10-0-0; New Jersey 6-3-1

The Devils have been good but the Penguins have been GREAT. I don’t hesitate to tell you that I honestly believe that if you are an Eastern Conference team and want to appear in the Cup finals, you will HAVE to beat Pittsburgh in order to get there. That’s not saying that Pittsburgh is the team that will get to the finals, although I have them there at the moment, I am just saying I believe them to be the strongest team in the East. If I had to call it right now, I would say we will be seeing a rematch of the 2008 and 2009 Cup Finals.

Keys to the Game: I’ll be honest, the Devils game the other night was a complete snoozefest. I know they got a lot of shots on goal in the second but a 0-0 game going into a shootout doesn’t interest me. I’m not big on games with 2 goalies dominating the scoring opportunities. History says Jeff Friesen would have beaten Giggy…isn’t that right Jeff??

With the Penguins, it’s going to be contain Malkin, keep Crosby quiet, and somehow beat Fluery, none of which is an easy task, especially as of late. I expect a tight game as most of them have been but Pitt is on fire at the moment which will make this game even tougher. Hopefully NJ having won the last 3 meetings will have Pittsburgh over thinking this one.

Playoff Picture: NJ is still in 6^th, 5 points ahead of Ottawa and 2 points behind Philly. I’m ok with staying in 6^th because I don’t want to start with Pitt in round 1.

… And Finally: This is the annual Devils put on the Xmas Tree Jersey game. Are you a fan of that jersey? Honestly, when that was the everyday jersey, I don’t remember fans liking it. Anyway, the first time we put those jersey’s on, we played Pittsburgh and wiped them out..let’s hope for a repeat.

Game 71: Colorado Avalanche vs New Jersey Devils
Date and Time: Thursday March 15, 2012, 7 PM      
Location: Prudential Center
TV: MSG Plus 2 (Devils Pregame at 6:30)    
Radio: WFAN 660 AM

The Matchup: The Avs come to town tonight to wrap up the regular season meetings between these two teams. This will be the second time we meet and let’s hope it goes A LOT better than the last. The Avalanche won 6-1 back on Nov. 30 in Denver 

Keys to the Game: Let’s show up tonight!! I didn’t think the Devils did a very good job at anything the other night in Philly so we need to do a better job all around. The Avs are coming off a huge win in Buffalo last night so let’s hope they are a little fatigued tonight. The Avs are in a battle for 8^th place in the west so you have to believe they are going to bring it tonight.

If the Devils do anything different tonight, it has to be getting pucks to the net. They got 17 shots on net Tuesday night which I can honestly say should never be enough to win a game. The Avs do a decent job keeping pucks from getting to the net so saying to get more pucks on net isn’t an easy task.

Would be nice to see the Devils Power Play come back to life as well and do you know how they go about doing that? Getting more pucks to the net!!

I expect a HUGE game from Henrique tonight. The Calder trophy for me comes down to Henrique and Gabriel Landeskog  so if Henrique wants to prove why the trophy should be his, no better night to shine than when the other guy trying to win that trophy is on the ice.

Playoff Picture: NJ is in 6^th place and honestly, that’s where I want them to stay. I didn’t like the effort the other night but didn’t mind the loss to keep us in 6^th. I think it’s a no-brainer that I would rather play Florida than Pittsburgh. Win or lose, the Devils aren’t moving out of 6^th tonight.

… And Finally: One of the best goals Parise ever scored came against the Avs in NJ….

Game 70: New Jersey Devils @ Philadelphia Flyers
Date and Time: Tuesday March 13, 2012, 7 PM     
Location: Wells Fargo Center
TV: MSG Plus 2 (Devils Pregame at 6:30)   
Radio: WFAN 660 AM

The Matchup: The Devils face the Flyers in the finale of both the home-and-home this week and the regular season meetings. This is the 6th time these two teams will meet this season with the Devils winning 3 of the previous 5 meetings. Most recently, the Devils knocked off the Flyers at home on Sunday night 4-1.  The two teams are also battling of 5th place overall in the Eastern Conference.
 
Keys to the Game: Again strong defense is going to be needed to knock off the Flyers. The Devils did an excellent job the other night in our own building but it takes a tighter game to win in Philadelphia. Look for this game to have an edge. The Flyers can’t be pleased with how they’ve been playing and the fact that they lost to NJ on Sunday night and have the potential to drop in the playoff picture with a loss tonight. The Devils shooters will have to bring their A game tonight as Igor Bryzgalov will be in goal tonight and he’s been the better goal on the roster lately..

Injury Report: The Flyers likely will be without forward Jakub Voracek (head) and defensemen Kimmo Timonen (lower body) and Andrej Meszaros (lower body). Defenseman Pavel Kubina is day-to-day (upper body). … The Devils continue to be without defenseman Henrik Tallinder (blood clots in leg) and center Travis Zajac (Achilles).

Playoff Picture: NJ and Philly are tied for 5th place overall in the Eastern Conference with 85 points. The winner tonight will take sole possession of 5th place and be matched up with the Pittsburgh Penguins at the moment. Ottawa is in 7th place with 81 points and not in action tonight.

… And Finally: This has to be my hands down most favorite moment of the Flyers/Devils matchups this season and probably well beyond that. K-O-valchuk!!!!

Game 69: Philadelphia Flyers vs. New Jersey Devils                                                                     
Date and Time: Sunday, March 11, 2012, 7 PM      
Location: Prudential Center
TV: MSG (Devils Pregame at 6:30)    
Radio: WFAN 660 AM

The Matchup: The Philadelphia Flyers are riding a five game win streak as they take on the hometown New Jersey Devils at 7 o'clock this evening. The Devils, who are 4-1 in their last five, defeated the Flyers in the last meeting between the two teams, 6-4. Martin Brodeur will start tonight for New Jersey as he looks for career win number 650.

Keys to the Game: Strong defense will be the key in this game for both teams. Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise, and David Clarkson have been lighting up the goal lamps recently and Philadelphia will have to keep them in check. On the other side of the fense, Claude Giroux is Philadelphia's leading point-getter; New Jersey's strong defensive effort against the Islanders on Saturday evening will have to carry over into Sunday if the Devils want to win.

Score early and score first. In big rivalry games such as this, it is very important to get the first goal. By giving the puck to Kovalchuk, Parise, and Clarkson very often, the Devils will have a good chance at scoring first. This will take some pressure off of Martin Brodeur and the defense. Look for the Devils to break out early and possibly score in the first five minutes.

Stats:



Playoff Picture: The Devils currently sit in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with 83 points, just two behind Philadelphia. The two points at stake tonight are of great importance to New Jersey. Both teams look to have solidified a playoff spot and are now looking to better their position in the standings. Although it seems unlikely that either team will catch up to the New York Rangers, anything can happen.



Injuries: For New Jersey, Travis Zajac (Achilles) and Henrik Tallinder (blood clot) will sit out of tonight's game. For the Flyers, Kimmo Timonen and Andrej Meszaros will be out with lower-body injuries. James van Riemsdyk will also be out (foot surgery), and Jacob Voracek (head) is doubtful.

Season Series: The season series is currently tied at two. Philadelphia defeated the Devils on opening night by a score of 3-0. On November 3, the Devils defeated the Flyers by a score of 4-3 in a shootout. On January 21, 2012, the Flyers defeated New Jersey 4-1. And finally, the Devils defeated the Flyers on February 4, 2012, by a score of 6-4. Interestingly enough, both of the two teams' wins against one another has come on the road.

Prediction: I'll be at the game tonight... and I haven't seen the Devils win a game I've been to since January 17. However, the Devils have been playing better hockey recently, and I feel like they can pull out a 3-1 victory tonight. Scoring for the Devils will be Kovalchuk, Clarkson, and Henrique; for the Flyers, Scott Hartnell. If you'll be at the game this evening, I'll be in Section 111. Come say hello!

The Matchup

Let’s hope the Devils were so focused on this game that they completely overlooked their Sunday matchup against the Islanders. The first place overall (I can’t believe that) Rangers come to town tonight. This is the 5^th meeting between the two teams with each team winning 2 of the 4 meetings so far this season. The 6^th and final regular season matchup will be on March 19^th at MSG.

Keys To The Game

First and foremost, put in a better effort than we saw against the Islanders. The Devils played an incredible game from the moment the puck dropped to the moment the final buzzer sounded last Friday in Washington but then looked extremely fatigued and lethargic against the Islanders on Sunday afternoon. I tweeted it yesterday but back when I played, if we put a performance in like that, our next practice always started out by the coach yelling at us “no need for pucks today boys.” Hopefully DeBoer leaned into them a bit yesterday.

The Rangers LOVE to block shots and they are good at it. I mean anytime you stack 4 deep in your zone, who won’t succeed at blocking pucks? The Devils just need to keep shooting and not let the shot blocking frustrate them. Last week in the Garden, I thought the Devils were trying to get too cute with the puck and waiting for the perfect shot, which never came.  The Devils also need to try and get shots in from the point, something they failed to do a week ago in MSG. Point shots usually creat rebounds which create scoring oppurtunities. The Rangers are as good as they are because of the guy in between the pipes. The rest of the team is just average so if we can poke a hole in the best part of their game, no reason we can’t win. The Rangers are 30-1-3 when scoring the first goal of the game so we know what we have to do….

Players To Watch:

I’m going to have my eye on Clarkson tonight. A week ago, he had a terrible game against the Rangers because he couldn’t seem to stay out of the box in the second period. He’s been a huge asset this season for NJ, scoring goals at key moments (think bad bounce off the glass a few weeks ago) but the Rangers were able to unravel him and take him right out of the game.

Like I said, the Rangers success comes down to one player.  Lundqvist is 11-2-1 with a 1.55 goals-against average, .943 save percentage and four shutouts in his last 14 games. If the Rangers are going to lose, it’s going to be because someone figures out how to get the puck past is enormous pads.

The Matchup:

The Devils are coming off an impressive 5-0 win over the Washington Capitals. The Islanders are coming off of a 3-2 win at the expense of the Boston Bruins. This game marks the beginning of a 6 game span where the Devils face nothing but Atlantic Division teams and we see the Islanders 3 times in the next week. Just because the Islanders aren’t going to make the playoffs this season, don’t expect them to just roll over and die. There’s plenty of meaningful hockey to be played for the Islanders.

Keys To The Game:

I preached wanting a 60 minute effort from the team before the Capitals game and got an impressive 60 minutes from everyone. If the Devils played with that kind of determination every game, there is no reason to not believe they couldn’t make a run. Combine the aggressive play we saw the other night, the great goaltending we’ve been getting and the way that we’ve balanced out our scoring among a number of guys, this team can be deadly. These are the Islanders, not a great team, not a contender but do not take your foot of the gas. Take it to them.

The Devils did a good job at being disciplined the other night in Washington and I am going to be preaching that a lot this week. The reason, we play nothing but rivals and those game tend to bring out the emotions and undisciplined play.  I also mentioned the other day that if Parise wanted that contract, now was the time to shine and boy did he shine the other night. Keep it Zach!!

Players To Watch:

We’ll have to continue to watch Parise to see if he keeps his game at the level his game was at the other night in Washington. He had 3 goals on 3 shots before getting the butt end of Laich’s stick in the jaw and sat the rest of the guy, minus a power play opportunity in the 3^rd. If he continues to play like this, no reason not to throw every dollar we can at him.

It’s hard to find someone on the Islanders to be interested in. I’m sorry to any Islander fan reading this but I speak the truth from someone that isn’t a fan. The only positive I really pick out from this team is that Nabokov is 10-4-1 in his last 15 decisions after beating the Bruins.

Milestones:

Petr Sykora will play in his 1000^th NHL game today. That’s pretty impressive for a guy who only a couple of years ago found himself out of the NHL and was just hoping to have a shot at making this team this year. It’s even more impressive that he’s doing it as a Devil because the way he was shipped out of town for Jeff Friesen back in the summer of 2002, I never thought Lou would want him back. He’s played well this year and there is no reason to not want him to return next season.

Playoff Picutre:

There could be a whole bunch of movement today. The Devils sit in 6^th with 77 points, which is the same point value as 5^th place Philadelphia. The Flyers visit Washington today. The Devils are 1 point ahead of 7^th place Ottawa who visits Florida today. The Bruins sit only a few points ahead of Ottawa for the Northeast Division lead and the Bruins play at the Rangers today, where there is a good chance Boston won’t win  that game so expect Ottawa to come out gunning for the W tonight to try and close that gap.e

The Matchup: The Devils continue their tour of the biggest cities on the east coast. Monday it was New York, last night it was Boston and tonight it’s Washington D.C.  This will be the 4^th and final meeting of the regular season between these two.  The Devils lead the season series 2-1 but we haven’t seen the Caps since that game on December 23^rd where we blew a 3-0 third period lead only to win in 4-3 in OT.

Keys To The Game: If we learned anything from last night it’s that the defense needs to show up and play an entire 60 minutes (or 65 if that’s the case). Last night, the Devils D got off to a slow start, not that their offense was stellar  early either. If it weren’t for Marty Brodeur, last night’s game in Boston would have gotten out of reach quickly.  The defense will have to hope Hedburg is up to the task should they start slowly again tonight. Washington is currently in 9^th place and points are everything to them at the moment. The Devils need to secure these 2 points tonight because Washington and Winnipeg, while still a few points behind, could make it a tight race for the lower positions in the playoffs. 

The defense might have their hands full because ever since Mike Green has returned to the lineup for the Caps, Alex Ovechkin seems to have stepped up his game. That’s never a good thing for the defenseman of the NHL.

The Devils went 0/3 on the power play in Boston last night. I’m sure I am not alone in thinking that the reason we gave up so much for Marek Zidlicky was for his success on the power play.  Of his 60 career goals, 42 of them have come on the power play and since his arrival in NJ, he has 0 and is logging some big PP minutes. It is a little frustrating because when you get a guy at the trade deadline, you need him to produce immediately.  A successful power play would go a long way tonight.

Playoff Watch: Washington, NJ and Ottawa are in action tonight so there could be some juggling of playoff positions. We aren’t close to dropping to 8^th but moving up to 6^th would be nice.

And Finally...  

For you older Devils fans, there has never been any love lossed between these two teams. Occasionally we seem to have a game that is filled with fight after fight. Just last season we had one of those games where even Kovalchuk threw a few with Mike Green but I am going down memory lane today to get you pumped for tonight's game...

The Matchup: The Devils head to Boston tonight to face the defending Stanley Cup Champions in the midst of a three-game losing streak. This will be the 4^th and final meeting of the regular season between these two teams and Boston has easily had their way with NJ this season, having won all 3 previous meetings and outscoring NJ 14-5 in those three meetings. The glaring issue for NJ during this 3 game losing streak and against the Bruins this season is the inability to put pucks in the net. The most recent example was a 2-0 shutout loss to the rival NY Rangers.

Both teams have been struggling lately. Boston is falling further and further from the East leading NY Rangers who now lead Boston by 9 points. Ottawa is also catching up to Boston as they trail the Bruins by just 1 point for the Northeast Division, however, Boston has 4 games in hand. Meanwhile, the Devils who were sitting in 4^th place in the Eastern Conference, have now lost 3 straight and have slipped to 7^th place in the East.

If the playoffs were to start today, the Devils would face off against the Boston Bruins. Yikes!!

Keys To The Game: 13 shots is all the Devils managed against the Rangers the other night. 13 shots is NEVER going to get the job done. NJ was too concerned about trying to move the puck around the other night, which they did well with at times and not concerned about getting the puck on net.  The puck can’t go in the net if you don’t put it on net. I thought Marty did an excellent job against the Rangers the other night and will obviously need to bring that kind of effort to the rink tonight. Hopefully the Devils defense can help him out again tonight, as they did on Monday.

I was aggravated with Clarkson on Monday night against the Rangers. He took a dumb 10 minute misconduct penalty and then seemed to go right back into the box for an unsportsmanlike minor. Once he was out again, he left his feet on a check, which ended in a fight with Dubinsky and a charging call. Clarkson has been a big part of this team this season, scoring big goals at big moments and having him sit 19 minutes in the box isn’t going to help anyone but the opposition. He has to understand that teams see the year he is having and are going to try and get him to do dumb things in order to get him off the ice. Hopefully he understands he can’t do what he did Monday night. The Devils can’t give a leg up to other teams like that.

Players To Watch:

For me, Brad Marchand is the epitome of a Boston Bruin. He’s the type of player that won’t back down, will go that extra step to lay a smack on a player and has the tendency to run his mouth. Oh, and he knows how to put the puck in the net.

The trading deadline has come and gone and like we all suspected, Zach Parise is still a member of the NJ Devils. That’s not to say he will be come July 1^st but he is here now and if he wants a big pay day, well he needs to prove he deserves a big pay day. In a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately kind of league, he needs to start doing consistently. What better way to start that then by helping NJ beat the Bruins in Boston to snap a 3 game losing streak.

Playoff Watch: A win tonight could move the Devils from 7^th and into 5^th place as it would put them into a tie in points with idle Ottawa (who we would still have 2 games in hand against).  Of course for that scenario to happen, the Flyers would need to lose in regulation to the Islanders.  The Flyers are currently in 6^th place, 1 point ahead of us so you can figure out all the scenarios.

In all honesty, a win tonight in HUGE. It looks like the Devils might end up with the Bruins in the first round and if the Devils go into the first round not having beat the Bruins at all, that's a huge confidence killer. Even if the Devils don't play Boston in the first round, the road to the cup probably goes through Boston. HUGE HUGE game...