The Devils will use the same line-up tonight against the Calgary Flames as they did in their 5-0 win against Washington on Monday night. This means that Olivier Magnan will sit this one out again and Johan Hedberg will get the start in net. Henrik Karlsson will go for the Flames. Former Devils head coach Brent Sutter returns to Prudential Center tonight as coach of the Flames for the first time since the devastating 81 second collapse in Game 7 of the 1st round of the 2009 Playoffs against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Devils had a 3-2 lead lat in game 7 before Carolina scored two goals in the final two minutes of play to bounce the Devils out of the playoffs. That loss still haunts Sutter and probably some of the Devils have not yet recovered psychologically from it, which likely affected their performance against the Flyers in the 2010 playoffs.
Brent Sutter resigned as coach of the Devils in early June 2009, about two weeks before the draft to be closer to his family. Many thought he would take a year off from coaching to follow his daughter's athletic career, but a few days later he accepted his brothers offer to be the coach of the Flames surprising many Devils fans. Darryl Sutter is the GM Of the Flames. However, the Flames did the Devils good swapping first round picks, the Devils moved up to select Jacob Josefson in the 2009 draft.
Last season, Sutter's Flames beat the Devils 5-3 at the Saddledome in Calgary, so the Devils will look to avenge that loss. Sutter still talks to Lou Lamoriello as well as other Devils or former Devils. He also praised Lou for bringing in John MacLean as coach despite MacLean being on the hot seat. Finally, Sutter also acknowledged that he enjoyed his time with the Devils, but obviously he wanted to see his family more often and Calgary provides that flexibility.
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