Watch It: MSG+2 or Listen To It: 660 AM WFAN

The Last 10 Games: Boston is 6-4-0 while NJ is 5-5-0

Know Your Enemy: Days of Yorr (one of the best blogs in the Bloguin family!!)

What We Think of the Bruins: I wasn’t really paying much attention to the Bruins early on in the season but a few weeks ago I glanced at the standings and to my surprise, the defending cup champs were dead last in the Eastern Conference. Talk about a cup hangover!! But things have changed and Julien shuffled some lines and by doing so, woke up his team.They’ve been surging recently and are playing the kind of hockey I was expecting the Bruins to be playing this season.

What To Expect Tonight: Sounds like Kovy might skate in the pre-game warm up but it sounds like he won’t be playing tonight. There’s a lot of confusion among the reporters who follow the Devils around as to what is going on with him so I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens tonight.

The Bruins are hot right now and the Devils, we’ll they haven’t been playing poorly either. The Devils have shown that they are a team that doesn’t give up when the opposition finds twine first. A year ago, I would be saying that’s all the Bruins need to do to win but DeBoer must be preaching something in the locker room because the Devils have had an ability to battle back and win games this season after getting down early. The Bruins might get on the board first because they are playing outstanding hockey at the moment, especially the Sequin/Marchant/Bergeron line. The one thing the Devils have to minimize tonight is the Bruins ability to find the back of the net quickly after scoring the initial goal. That’s been their thing recently and it really has proven to take their opponents out of the game.

Boston is great at blocking shots so the Devils can’t be picky tonight. If the puck ends up on your stick and you can see the goal, just rip it. Eventually something is going to get through and the more you throw at the net, the more chance of something sticking. Don’t be undisciplined because the Bruins PP unit has been playing above average over their 5 game winning streak.”

Like the other night in Washington, the Devils have a pretty big task waiting for them tonight. The Bruins proved last Spring how difficult winning in Boston can be for the opposition and while the beginning of the season was slow for the Bruins, I think they are starting to remember that.

Players To Watch:

Adam Henrique: While he had a quiet weekend in the home and home series against the Washington Capitals, he's still one of the better Devils over the last 5 games. He has 4 goals and 1 assist in those 5 games including 2 straight games where the GWG came from his stick. Even though he was held scoreless against the Caps, he had 28 shifts on Friday night and 29 shifts on Saturday and averaged close to 20 mins of ice time in the two games. Not bad for a rookie.

Tyler Sequin: He leads the Boston Bruins in Goals (11) and Points (20) and is second on their list when it comes to assists. What does this mean? He's having a pretty good start to the season and the Devils defense will have to do their best to keep this guy quiet. The Bruins have started slow this season but are starting to come alive and I have to believe that the play of Sequin is one of the reasons why.

Probable Line Combinations

Zach Parise - Adam Henrique - Nick Palmieri
Petr Sykora - Patrik Elias - Dainius Zubrus
Mattias Tedenby - Ryan Carter - David Clarkson
Vladimir Zharkov - Brad Mills - Cam Janssen

Andy Greene - Adam Larsson
Henrik Tallinder - Mark Fayne
Bryce Salvador - Anton Volchenkov

Enjoy the Game ... LET'S GO DEVILS!!

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The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (7-6-1) vs Washington Capitals (10-4-0)

TV/Radio: MSG +/660 AM WFAN

Know Your Enemy: Rock the Red

Season Series: This is the second meeting of the season and the second time this weekend we play the Caps. Washington knocked us off at home last night 3-1

What We Think of the Capitals: Not much has changed in our eyes since we discussed them yesterday. They are still an offensive power house and we don't me offensive like Ovie calling his coach a "fat f***" while on the bench.

Tonight’s Game: They didn't play a horrible game last night but once the Caps took the lead, the Devils looked defeated despite the time left to go in the game. Play the full 60 tonight, other than that, the same things I talked about yesterday need to be done. Control the puck, put pressure on their defense and minimize the amount of time the Capitals offense has with the puck.

I'm guessing we will see Hedberg tonight instead of Marty.

It's not going to be an easy game. I said I'd be happy with a split this weekend and I still feel that way, I just really thought we'd win at home and lose on the road. I believe they can find their game and find a way to win in what I consider a tough building to steal a win in.

Enjoy the game. GO DEVILS!!!

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The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (7-5-1) vs Washington Capitals (9-4-0)

TV/Radio: MSG +/660 AM WFAN

Know Your Enemy: Rock the Red

Season Series: This is the first meeting of the season between these two teams. Washington easily won the season series last season 3-1 and outscored NJ 15-8 in those 4 games. This is the beginning of a home and home against Washington.

What We Think of the Capitals: Always a dangerous team. Every time you look at the ice you can find a guy capable of making the goalie look bad. I’m amazed that they don’t score 5 goals every night. The Caps goaltending situation leaves a lot to be desired though. Both goalies are decent but every time I watch them, I expect them to be better. The biggest story in the Caps division has to be that the Caps are in 2nd place looking up at the Florida Panthers. Wait, what? That HAS to be a misprint right?

Tonight’s Game: The Devils are looking for their fourth straight win tonight. All eyes will surely be looking at Devils rookie Adam Henrique. If you don’t know, Henrique has two straight game-winning goals and has scored 4 goals in the last three games. His goal scoring will certainly be needed at Kovalchuk has been ruled out of both games against the Capitals.

The Caps are an offensive power house. Just take a look at their stats: they are ranked 2nd in goals per game, 3rd in PP success rate and 12th when it comes to shots per game. The Caps make the most out of their shooting opportunities.

If NJ wants the win, they have to do one thing tonight. Control the puck. If the Devils can control the puck and out shoot the Caps, then they just might stand a chance tonight. That’s what happened against the Flyers last week.

I’ll be interested to see how Marty does tonight. He had a great game the other night against the Hurricanes and hopefully he can build off of that for tonight.

Let’s be honest with ourselves for a minute. The Capitals are among the elite teams in this league and I’d be happy if we can come away from this weekend with a 1-1 record.

Enjoy the game. GO DEVILS!!!

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The Matchup: Carolina Hurricanes (5-6-3) vs. New Jersey Devils (6-5-1)

7:30 PM at The Rock

TV/Radio: VERSUS/660 AM WFAN

Know Your Enemy: Shutdown Line

What we Think of the Hurricanes: The Hurricanes are coming off of a 5-2 loss to Dallas and are actually in quite the slump…losing their last two games and six of their last eight. All-star goalie Cam Ward was pulled in their last game, and their power play is almost as atrocious as the Devils’. Rumor also has it that if the Hurricanes don’t start winning, coach Paul Maurice will be in the hot seat.

Tonight’s Game: The Devils enter tonight’s game having won two straight, defeating the Flyers in a shootout on Thursday and the Jets in overtime on Saturday. The Devils won their first and only meeting so far this season with the Hurricanes 4-2 on October 10th at the Rock. While the Hurricanes (well, actually, both teams) are horrendous on the PP, the Devils are third in the league on the penalty kill and are perfect on the PK at the Rock so far. (Knock on wood). Ilya Kovalchuk – still recovering from a pulled leg muscle - won’t play in tonight’s game. Andy Greene (lower body injury) is a game time decision. No offense to Kovy, but it didn’t appear as if his most recent linemates (Zach Parise and Adam Henrique) missed his presence in Saturday night’s game. Henrique had the first 2-goal game of his career (one of which was the OT game winner) with Zach getting the assists on both of them. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times…this Henrique kid is the real deal. On the defensive end of things, Johan Hedberg is 4-0-0 against the Hurricanes over the past two seasons.

FUN FACT:

The Hurricanes are 0-3-0 when trailing after the 1st period and 0-4-2 when trailing after two. Here’s hoping the Devils jump out to an early lead!

GO DEVILS!!!

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The Matchup: Winnipeg Jets (5-6-1) vs. New Jersey Devils (5-5-1)

7:00 PM at The Rock

TV/Radio: MSG+2/660 AM WFAN

Know Your Enemy: Thrashing the Blues (Claims to be an Atlanta Thrashers/St. Louis Blues blog. Since the Winnipeg Jets were formerly the Atlanta Thrashers, this blog is hopefully the right one.)

What we Think of the Jets: The Jets aren’t really doing that badly considering the entire team had to acclimate themselves to not only a new city and climate but also to an entirely different country…all within the past 6 months. Additionally, the Jets have remained a member of the Southeast Division and, as such, the majority of their games are against other Eastern Conference teams. This translates into a good amount of travel into another time zone. One could only assume that the traveling would take its toll on the players at some point but, so far, they’re not playing as if the excessive travelling is affecting them.

Tonight’s Game: The Devils enter tonight’s game fresh off their Thursday night shootout win in Philadelphia. You can read Darren’s recap of that game here. That same night, the Jets earned their first shutout of the season against the Islanders. The Devils are, unfortunately, riddled with injuries. Joining the usual suspects (Travis Zajac and Jacob Josefson) on the injured list are: Ilya Kovalchuk (pulled leg muscle), Andy Greene (lower body injury) and Johan Hedberg (pulled back muscle). All three of them are listed as day-to-day but will be sitting out tonight’s game. Eric Boulton could be ready to play tonight after sitting out five games due to a a sore hand. Marty Brodeur will get the start in net tonight. As we all know, his last appearance between the pipes (Wednesday’s 5-3 loss to Toronto) was less than stellar. Hopefully, he’s been able to practice a little more and shake off some of that rust he seems to have acquired while sitting out with his shoulder injury.

FUN FACT:

The Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg and became the Jets during this past off-season. For you youngsters and those with a very bad memory, there was once a Winnipeg Jets team that existed from 1972-1996. That team moved to Phoenix in 1996 and became the Coyotes. There are only two current Devils who have played against the original Winnipeg Jets team…Martin Brodeur and Petr Sykora.

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The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (4-5-1) at Philadelphia Flyers (7-4-1)

TV/Radio: MSG +/660 AM WFAN

Know Your Enemy: Flyers Goal Scored By…

Season Series: This is the second meeting between these two teams so far this season. The Devils opened the season at home against the Flyers on October 8th, losing 3-0.

What We Think of the Flyers: Yuck.

Tonight’s Game: The Devils enter tonight’s game after suffering defeat at the hands of the Maple Leafs last night. That loss gave the Devils an NHL losing record and was extremely frustrating to say the least. For a recap of last night’s debacle, you can read my post here. A very rusty Marty Brodeur returned to the lineup after sitting out with a shoulder injury for 3 weeks. Fortunately, the Devils decided to give him more time to rest and are going with Johan Hedberg in net tonight. The Devils aren’t the only ones with goaltending issues. The Flyers have had their fair share with Ilya Bryzgalov losing a horrendous game to the Winnipeg Jets a few games ago. Bryzgalov seems to have bounced back, though, beating the Buffalo Sabres last night by a score of 3-2. Regardless of what the Flyers do tonight, the Devils simply must find a way to win. This team is in serious need of an identity and chemistry among its players. Hopefully, they can get it together tonight.

FUN FACT:

Patrik Elias’s PP goal last night was the 93rd of his career breaking the team record previously held by John MacLean. Patrik wasn’t very proud of his achievement, stating that it meant nothing since the team lost.

 

Enjoy the game. GO DEVILS!!!

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The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (4-4-1) vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs (7-3-1)

Where To Watch/Listen: MSG+ or  660 AM WFAN

The Last 10 Games: Toronto is 6-3-1 and NJ is 4-4-1

Our NHL12 Simulation Results: Marty Brodeur almost had a shutout in this game but Phil Kessel put one past Marty with 12 seconds left in the game to get Toronto on the board. Elias and Parise scored for NJ giving the Devils the 2-1 victory.

A Quick West Coast Recap: The Devils looked fantastic against the LA Kings but couldn’t find that kind of performance or chemistry against the Phoenix Coyotes, where they lost 5-3. They finished the 4 game road trip in Dallas but didn’t skate away with a win there either so the Devils return to NJ after an unsuccessful road trip.

Tonight’s Game: Marty returns and in years past that was always a huge sigh of relief but really all that means tonight is that Johan Hedburg gets a much needed break.
Toronto is not the Toronto we have come to know over the past few seasons. The Leafs currently lead the Northeast Division by 1 point over the Ottawa Senators and sit in 3rd place overall in the East. Phil Kessel is  a huge part of the Leafs success this season as he lead Toronto in goals (10) and points (18) and is second on the team when it comes to assists (8). Oh, did I mention that Kessel is also the NHL scoring leader at the moment? Toronto is 4th in the league with 35 goals for which is a good thing because they are near the bottom of the league in goals against, also with 35. So what’s that mean? If you are a New Jersey Devil, SHOOT THE PUCK!! Make that goalie work for the win. If the Devils defense can clamp down on the Toronto Offense, then the Devils should skate away with a win tonight.

The Devils also need to stop taking penalties and do more with the opportunities they get, then beating this Toronto team should be pretty straight forward. NJ has had a number of days to practice and prepare for the leafs.

Projected Lines:
Zach Parise - Adam Henrique - Ilya Kovalchuk
Petr Sykora - Patrik Elias - Dainius Zubrus
Mattias Tedenby - Ryan Carter - David Clarkson
Cam Janssen - Brad Mills - Nick Palmieri

Henrik Tallinder - Adam Larsson
Andy Greene - Mark Fayne
Bryce Salvador - Anton Volchenkov

And Finally: We know firsthand that people in the state of New Jersey have been dealing with a lot of power issues over the last few days. Between Hurricanes and an October snow storm, this state has been through a lot in the last 2 months. We hope all our readers are safe and if you are still without power, we hope that power will be restored for you very soon. Stay safe and stay warm, those things are much more important than this little game we write about every day.

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TV: MSG PLUS (HD)  RADIO: WFAN 660 AM
 
Last 10 Games: Phoenix 3-3-2 / New Jersey 4-2-1
 
Know Your Enemy:  HipChecks

Our EA Sports NHL 12 Simulation Results: Doan and Whitney both scored for the Coyotes but it wasn’t enough as Elias, Parise, Kovalchuk, Green and Larsson all found the back of the net in a 5-2 stomping in the desert. (It was Larsson’s first of his NHL career..let’s hope that actually happens for the kid tonight!!)

What We Think of the Coyotes: For me, Phoenix is not a very deep team. Doan and Whitney are going to get most of their goals this season but should they lose either of those guys to injury this year, things could get ugly for Phoenix. I am basing this on looking at their roster because the Coyotes are a Western Conference team and I have to admit that I don’t watch any of their games. I do think they took a huge step back when they decided to trade away the negotiating rights for Ilya Bryzgalov after last season. I don’t want to take anything away from Mike Smith but there’s a long list of guys I would want before Mike Smith and that list includes Ilya Bryzgalov.

Tonight’s Game: The Devils are coming off of a game in which Peter DeBoer said was the Devils best 60 minutes of hockey yet this season. Now the trick is to not get too cocky about that performance and continue to work hard. Phoenix is not LA but that doesn’t mean the Devils can mail in the performance tonight.

I want to see continued improvement at rolling all 4 lines. I would really like to see a little something more from the Tedenby/Henrique/Clarkson line in terms of points. They’ve played well as a line but it hasn’t translated to the scoreboard, which is something that needs to happen.

I don’t believe we will see the newest Devils, Ryan Carter in action tonight but he is on his way and we should see him soon. Kovalchuk is certainly racking up the minutes spent on the ice but there is still something bothering me there. I’m not a 100% sure what that is but I watch him out there and I just feel a disconnect between him and the rest of the team. I hope that feeling goes away and I’ve said it before and will say it again, when you have a guy like Kovalchuk, I expect him to find  his way on to the score sheet, either in the G column or the A column every night. He’s come close to doing that every night but I still see a disconnect.

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TV: MSG PLUS (HD)  RADIO: WFAN 660 AM
 
Last 10 Games: Los Angeles 5-1-1 / New Jersey 3-2-1
 
Know Your Enemy:  The Royal Half

Our EA Sports NHL 12 Simulation Results: The Devils got goals from Elias and Sykora but it wasn’t enough as Mike Richards beat Johan Hedburg three times and Simone Gagne added an insurance goal late.

The Last Time These Two Met: On October 13th, these two teams met as LA made their way back from Europe where they began the season. Martin Brodeur made his second start of the season, but left the game after the first period and has yet to return for NJ. Ilya Kovalchuk and Zack Parise were able to bury goals in the shootout while Hedberg stopped all the goals he faced as the Devils beat the Kings 2-1 in the shootout.
Tonight’s Game: The Devils are coming off of a loss in Pittsburgh and while I don’t think that game was horrible, there are definitely changes that we need to see. The Devils defensively kept the Penguins within reach until the refs put the wrong man in the box, watched the man that should have been in the box tie the game while shorthanded. That whole scenario obviously angered the Penguins who just let loose and quickly found themselves in complete control of the game. Things like that cannot happen tonight.

For some reason, the one constant that follows the Devils from season to season is their inability to score goals at will. Some teams I watch have no problems scoring goals but the Devils never have the opposition fearing what they can bring offensively. Yes, there are games where it happens but you have to admit that those games are rare. With guys like Elias, Kovalchuk and Parise, they should be able to score more than 1 or 2 goals a game. The important thing is to keep shooting the puck. It can’t go IN the net if it’s not thrown AT the net. Crazy things can happen when you put the puck on net and sometimes I think the Devils forget this and try and get too cute, looking for that perfect shot.

Another constant over the last couple of seasons, at least early on is that the injury bug strikes. It’s no different this season as Marty is sitting, Zajac has been out all season and now Josefson is going to be sitting for a good 3-4 months as he recovers from a fractured right clavicle. Are the devastating injuries? No, but they are three useful guys that the Devils are without and absences that need to be overcome.
The Devils will need to be careful of familiar foe Simon Gagne.  Gagne has 3 goals and 7 points in 7 games and the Devils know all too well what he can do.

The Kings decided the other night that they were going to give Quick a rest and start Bernier against the Devils. It’s also been reported that their top D man, Drew Doughty will get the night off as well as he’s recovering from an injury. Of course we understand the Doughty is probably able to play but won’t. The Devils must make them pay for these decisions because what do these decisions tell us? They are telling me that the Kings look at us as a team not worthy of a full effort, that we can be beaten while resting some of our top players. It is surprising because if the Devils win that means the Kings gave up 2 points and sometimes, 2 points is everything at the end of the season.

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Know Your Enemy: The Pens Blog

What They Are Saying About The Penguins:

"God, this team is gonna be lethal when the injury sheet is blank."

What We Think of Pittsburgh: I don't want to take anything away from our team but Pitt or Philly are the heavy favorites to win this division (even if we don't like to admit it) so anytime we play either of them, we have to know what we are up against. However, the Pens are missing some key players which makes them beatable, very beatable.

Tonight's Game: Build off the good things from last night and learn to shoot the puck. I thought the Devils did well last night but they didn't take enough shots and allowed too many shots to be taken but in the end they had a chance to win the game.

Stay out of the box because when you give the Pittsburgh PP chances, they will make it hurt. Last night the Devils looked better on their own PP and hopefully we continue that trend.

Pittsburgh isn't unbeatable. I mean Paul Martin wears the A for them so that must mean that depth is kind of a problem in Pittsburgh. Being that we are playing Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh tonight, that means (even without Crosby) we'll be getting heavy doses of.....




Enjoy the game and Let's Go Devils!!!

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