After 5 days off, the Devils are anxious to get back in the win column and start some sort of winning streak. They went through three grueling practices including a rough one on Monday when coach John MacLean used every profane word you can think of. MacLean also switched the lines up to get some sort of spark by putting Zubrus with Parise and Zajac and Elias with Josefson and Kovalchuk. He also put Pelley with Arnott and Langenbrunner. The fourth line will consist of Adam Mair, Tim Sestito and David Clarkson.
The Defense will also look different with no Alexander Urbom, but it will include Olivier Magnan-Grenier. He was recalled from Albany on Monday and will play with Andy Greene while White will continue to play with Taormina and Tallinder with Corrente. Not surprisingly, Brodeur will start in his hometown of Montreal. Its very likely that Hedberg will make his Devils debut on Saturday night at home against Buffalo with Marty starting against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night. After Saturday's home game, the Devils will visit the Rangers, Sharks, Ducks, Kings, Canucks and defending champion Blackhawks. Hopefully, the Devils can get their first home win on Saturday or else they will have to wait until they return on Friday November 5th against the Rangers to try again. A west coast trip could be a good bonding experience for the team.
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Defenseman Anton Volchenkov has started off ice workouts, so he will miss Thursday nights game in Montreal. Lou Lamoriello said his condition was "Status Quo." He has really been using that phrase a lot over the past few months, very typical of his relationship with media. It seems that Volchenkov will likely miss this weekends games as well against Buffalo and NY Rangers. The Devils usually prefer a player coming back from injury whether long or short term go through two complete full contact practices, so his status for any games out west is unknown though the fact that he started off ice workout might likely mean that a return could happen sometime next weekend against either Anaheim or LA Kings. So, we shall see.
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Its safe to say, the Devils are struggling to come together as a team early on this season. Marty is struggling to make the big saves and they are not showing signs of putting together a 60 minute effort, but they are continuing to work on it. The Devils have played well in Montreal in recent years, but the Canadiens or Habs have a lot of fire power and explosiveness that they portrayed during their playoff run last year. It will be a difficult atmosphere for the Devils, so hopefully they can feed of their success in Montreal and get a victory.
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