Tonight, the Devils will travel to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers in their fourth preseason game so far (they are 1-2 after three games). The game will be broadcast on Versus, which is picking up Philly’s CSN call; if you want to hear Matt Loughlin and Sherry Ross, the Devils’ website will be streaming this matchup as well. In addition to watching this game, be sure to follow @PucksPitchforks (our new Twitter account), where I will be livetweeting all of the action. I had a lot of fun doing so in last Wednesday’s game versus the Rangers, and hopefully there will be other opportunities for this once the season begins. As the preseason comes to a close, roster battles should further intensify, and you should see players tonight (and in the last two games as well) trying to make their move for a spot in the opening night lineup.
Courtesy of Tom Gulitti of Fire and Ice, tonight’s projected lineup is included in this post. It would be exciting to see the Parise-Elias line play with Petr Sykora tonight, who figures to have an excellent chance, at the moment, of making the roster come opening night. Sykora has basically become the story of camp thus far, as many Devils fans are probably rooting for his return to the club. And if he can light the lamp similarly to the way he has thus far, the 34-year-old could provide the team a huge boost on what should be one of their latter lines.
Also included in Gulitti’s post is an injury update on Matt Taormina, who appears to be missing tonight’s game despite not participating in today’s practice (usually, it’s one or the other). In our season preview a little over a week ago, I projected Taormina to claim the final blue line spot; if this injury is more serious than it might seem at the moment, look for the likes of Adam Larsson (who is in tonight’s lineup) and Mark Fraser to try and win that spot. Although he only has an outside chance, Anton Stralman will be playing tonight; I was impressed with what I saw in the first preseason game out of him (the only one I had an opportunity to watch), and he will surely be looking to stick out in this game as well.
While this is not his first game, it will be the first opportunity for me (and I’m sure varioius others) to see Bryce Salvador in action. If there are no lingering injury issues (he did suffer a minor one a couple weeks ago as well), Salvador should be sure to make the opening night lineup, where the Devils greatly missed his presence last season. Tonight, I will be looking to see how the defenseman is skating, as well as how he fares when play behind his own blue line becomes more physical; hopefully, he has not lost any consistency playing in his own zone.
Now, for some injury updates. Despite Dainius Zubrus’s claim that he could play in tonight’s game (he is currently dealing with a lower body injury), DeBoer is being careful in handling him. Zubrus is hoping to play in at least one of the final two preseason games (either Friday or Saturday), although his coach has not committed to this at the moment. Anton Volchenkov’s leg injury might be the more severe (if we can call it that) of the two; however, the defenseman participated in practice yesterday, and should be ready come opening night, if not earlier.
In goal tonight is Brodeur, who was not great in his first game last Friday versus the Rangers. However, this is still the preseason, and that should not be of concern to anyone. It would be nice, though, to see an improved performance out of Marty, as the days until the start of the Devils’ season have now reached single digits (who else is excited?).
Offensively, the likes of Brad Mills and Steve Bernier are fighting to make the opening night roster. Both are in the lineup tonight, and would love to make their impact felt on the scoresheet. I have been impressed with Mills in the past, and hope that he one day finds a spot on the Devils’ roster, whenever this would be. However, at the moment, his odds are incredibly small to make the lineup come October 8th. While he should at least be with the club when the season begins, Cam Janssen will be looking to impress tonight as well. Like I have said in the past, there is a chance the ‘Devs could carry 13 forwards this year, so Janssen may want to battle for starts and minutes in the remaining eight days before opening night.
Finally, Chris Pronger will make his preseason debut for the Flyers, in what will be his first game sporting the “C” for Philly. Expect the Wachovia Center crowd to embrace their new captain, who should take his increased leadership role very seriously this season. I am sure that if any forward is able to skate by Pronger tonight, it would be an eye-opener for the staff (however, let’s not think too large for now).
-Drew
P.S.: In case anyone had not heard, Scott Niedermayer Night at the Rock has been officially scheduled for December 16th, when the Devils take on the Dallas Stars. I’m lucky enough to already have tickets to this one (through the new Weekend Plan the Devils offer), and it should be a really special night in New Jersey.