A preview of the Devils.
When and where: 7:30 p.m., Mellon Arena.
TV: FSN Pittsburgh, MSG Plus 2, NHL Network (United States).
Record: 12-4-0, 24 points. The Devils are in second place in the Eastern Conference and first place in the Atlantic Division.
Leading Scorer: Zach Parise, 19 points (8 goals, 11 assists).
Last Game: 3-1 home win against the Ducks, last night. Parise and captain Jamie Langenbrunner each had a goal and an assist.
Last Game against the Penguins: 4-1 road win, Oct. 24. Parise, Niclas Bergfors and Travis Zajac each had a goal and an assist.
Devils Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Niklas Bergfors (above). We were pretty impressed with him when the Devils were in town Oct. 24.
Ex-Penguins on the Devils: Tommy Plasko, massage therapist.
Ex-Devils on the Penguins: Bill Guerin, RW; Mike Rupp, C.
Useless Devils Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: The last player to wear No. 44 for the Penguins prior to Brooks Orpik was former Devils forward Stephane Richer.
Best Devils YouTube Video We Could Find: Former Penguins forward, then with the Devils, blowing a slapper from the point through the glove of Stars goaltender Ed Belfour in Game 3 the 2000 Stanley Cup final:
Notes:
-Marc-Andre Fleury (10-5-0, 2.49 GAA, .906 SV%) is expected to start in net for the Penguins. The Devils have not officially annouced if Martin Brodeur (9-4-0, 2.35 GAA, .913 SV%) or Yann Danis (2-0-0, 1.00 GAA, .964 SV%) will start. It would probably be a minor miracle if Danis did start.
-For the Penguins, Tyler Kennedy (groin) and Evgeni Malkin (shoulder) are day-to-day. Brooks Orpik (undisclosed) is well... undisclosed. Kris Letang (shoulder) is out. Defenseman Sergei Gonchar (wrist) and Maxime Talbot (shoulder) are on injured reserve.
-For the Devils, forwards Patrik Elias (groin) and Brian Rolston (undisclosed) are probable. Rolston's ailment forced him to miss last night's game. Former Canadian Prime Minister and defensemen Paul Martin (forearm), Johnny Oduya ("lower body"), forwards Dean McAmmond (illness), Rob Niedermayer ('upper body") and Jay Pandolfo (shoulder) are on injured reserve. Martin and Pandolfo were each injured during the win at Mellon Arena, Oct. 24.
-Introducing Deryk Engelland.
-Ben Lovejoy was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
-0 for 23.
-The Devils moved ahead of the Penguins and into first place in the Atlantic Division last night.
-The Devils come to town with an 8-0-0 road record tonight. The NHL record of 10-0-0 to start a season was set by the 2006-07 Sabres.
-Overall, the Devils are on a six-game winning streak.
-Devils coach Jacques Lemaire called out forward David Clarkson (right) for taking three penalties last night. And that's despite Clarkson scoring a goal.
-New Jersey recalled forward Matthew Corrente from Lowell of the AHL.
-How shocking is that Martin Brodeur, arguably the greatest pucking-handling goaltender of all time, was disappointed the NHL's general managers didn't vote to do away with the "trapezoid rule?"
-Speaking of Brodeur, he still is sitting on 102 shutouts, one short of Terry Sawchuk's career record of 103. Brodeur gets his second chance to tie the record on Mellon Arena's ice.
-Television Heads-Up: Don't forget tonight's game is on NHL
Network in the United States. If you are a Center Ice or Game Center
Live customer or you are located outside of the Pittsburgh or Newark markets, please make sure you have NHL Network or make alternate plans
to watch it.
-Tickets were still available as of 5 a.m.
-We checked on tickets with Ticketmaster's Web site. When we got to the security check page that basically requires you to type in two supposedly random words in order to prevent spam, we got this uh... politically interesting... combination:
-The Penguins will hold the “Score Against Hunger” food drive before tonight's game.
-Our live blog begins at approximately 6:30 p.m. Please tune in.
(Photo: Bergfors-Jim McIsaac/Getty Images; Clarkson-Rich Schultz/Associated Press)
Posted
Nov 12 2009, 02:51 AM
by
Seth Rorabaugh