Salvador, Greene struggle as Devils fall 4-3 to Flyers in first preseason game in a shootout

The Devils struggles in Philadelphia continued on Tuesday, granted it was only preseason as they fell 4-3 via a shootout, something that ignited the Flyers deep playoff run last season. It was a good effort though as the Devils scored three un-answered goals after falling behind 2-0 in the game with goals from Darrel Powe and Jeff Carter. Carter is becoming some sort of Devils nemesis ever since his gray area hit on Devils defenseman Anssi Salmela last season. The Devils got goals from tryout Adam Mair, Dainius Zubrus and Jamie Langenbrunner to take a 3-2 lead, but Danny Briere's blast late in the 3rd knotted the score up at three a piece.

In overtime the Flyers failed to score on the power play, thus the game was decided in a shootout. Claude Giroux and Mike Richards scored on Devils netminder Mike McKenna, while Jason Arnott scored the lone shootout goal for the Devils. New Coach John MacLean was pleased with the effort, but from watching the game myself, Bryce Salvador and Andy Greene struggled somewhat. Salvador has to have a huge camp for the Devils, since he is being mentioned as a possible salary cap casualty as a result of the Kovalchuk contract along with Zubrus, Rolston and White.

Jacob Josefson, Henrik Tallinder, Alexander Urbom and tryout Adam Mair impressed me during the game. Marcus Nilson looked a bit nervous, but had some chances late in the game. Some of the players that played Tuesday might also get in on Thursday at the Rangers. Its expected that Ilya Kovalchuk will suit up for the Devils against the Rangers as they will debut that new top line with Parise at left wing and Zajac at center. MacLean would not say if Brodeur will start, so it could still be Hedberg. Brodeur usually does not see much action in the preseason and usually gets into a game or two. Here is the Devils remaining preseason schedule:

Thu 9/23 at Rangers, 7PM, MSG Plus (Rangers Telecast)
Sat 9/25 vs Rangers, 7 PM, MSG Plus (Devils Telecast)
Tue 9/28 vs Flyers, 7 PM
Fri 10/1 vs Islanders, 7 PM
Sat 10/2 at Islanders, 7 PM

It is not known whether the Islander games will be televised.