Finally it’s time to talk about some real, meaningful hockey. I do love putting things together like league and team predictions but lets get to what this blog is really about, Devils Hockey!!
Recap of 2008/2009 Meetings: The Devils and Flyers split the series at 3 games a piece with the Flyers winning the final meeting last season.
Projected Lines:
Zach Parise-Travis Zajac-Jamie Langenbrunner
Brain Rolston-Danius Zubrus-Nic Bergfors
Jay Pandolfo-Rob Niedermayer-David Clarkson
Andrew Peters-Rod Pelley-Pierre-Luc Letourneau-LeBlond
Johnny Oduya-Paul Martin
Colin White-Mike Mottau
Bryce Salvador-Cory Murphy
Players to Watch: I thought Bergfors did enough in the pre-season to earn his spot on the roster for opening night. I am axious to see what he and Pelley bring to the table in this game. We’ve heard talk for the last two days about the reason Shanahan not being a Devil this season was because of the youth that NJ is going with instead, and now we get to see them in a meaningful game. Pandolfo who was on the fence about playing tonight appears to be playing and it appeared this morning that Matt Halischuk and Ilkka Pikkarainen were the extra forwards.
What To Expect: Pre-season meetings were a bit of a disappointment but this is the regular season where everything gets kicked up a notch. I do see a fight or two in this game and having Pronger on the other side of the ice worries me a little bit. I’ve never been a fan of his and I am always waiting for him to do something filthy and now he’s in Philadelphia (the perfect fit!!). The Flyers do have some offensive power as well as defense too shutting out Carolina 2-0 last night, so the Devils can not sit back on any kind of lead that they may get. The Flyers Penalty Kill got a significant upgrade with the Blair Betts signing (who by the way is the one guy I wanted Lou to sign this past summer). Should be an entertaining game.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
