The Devils ride the win of an emotional win against the Carolin Hurricanes into Toronto tonight to face the Maple Leafs. This, like most of the 28 games remaining is an important game for NJ because they are trailing the Maple Leafs in the standings. Currently, Toronto sits 7 points ahead of NJ for 12th overall in the Eastern Conference. I think it is safe to say at this point that the remaining 28 games for NJ would appear to most as Game 7 situations.
TV: MSG(HD), TSN(HD) in Canada – Radio: 660 AM WFAN
Probable Lines:
Illya Kovalchuk, Travis Zajac, Nick Palmieri
Dainius Zubrus, Patrik Elias, Brian Rolston
Tim Sestito, Rod Pelley, David Clarkson
Vladimir Zharkov, Jason Arnott, Mattias Tedenby
Colin White, Mark Fraser (in for Suspended Volchenkov)
Mark Fayne, Henrik Tallinder
Andy Greene, Anssi Salmela
Johan Hedberg
Mike McKenna
Martin Brodeur (sprained RT knee) didn’t make the trip to Toronto and Lemaire pretty much acknowledged he won’t play tomorrow night vs. Sharks either but Hedberg did well in Montreal and at home against Carolina so I expect him to do well tonight.
The Last Devils Game: Lemaire wasn’t happy with the Devils after their OT win against Carolina. I agreed with him 100% that the Devils could have played better despite the win. When playing teams where points are crtitical, the Devils can’t afford to allow those teams to get to the OT period. We will see how the Devils respond to Lemaire’s critism from Tuesday’s game.
Game Notes:
– Third meeting of the season and the Maple Leafs have owned NJ this season, outscoring them 7-2 so far this season. These two teams last met on Dec 26th when the Maple Leafs ran the Devils off the ice.
– Kovalchuk has 3 goals and 3 assists during a five-game points streak for the Devils.
– Arnott had an assist the other night against Carolina and rang one off the pipe late in third. With the trade deadline looming, Arnott’s name keeps coming up a lot and it would be nice to see him get hot here to boost his value for said deadline.
– Toronto has won four of its last five, with rookie goalie James Reimer leading the way. Reimer will be in between the pipes tonight for Toronto.
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