Devils prepare to hopefully finally solve the Bruins, Tallinder likely out for the year.

Tomorrow's game between the Devils and Bruins will feature two teams coming off being shutout in their previous games. The Devils are yet to beat the Bruins this season and have been outscored 14-5 and 10-2 at home. It will be their final meeting of the season between each other and one more chance for the Devils to finally be able to solve them. Martin Brodeur will start tomorrow night, while Johan Hedberg will start Friday in Washington.

After three straight struggling offensive efforts, coach Peter DeBoer shook up his lines. He kept his top line of Parise, Henrique and Kovalchuk together, while putting Josefson on a line with Ponikarovsky and Clarkson. He moved Zubrus up to the Elias and Sykora line to get that line going. Steve Bernier is on the 4th line with Boulton and Carter.

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Devils Defenseman Henrik Tallinder was supposed to return to action in 2-3 weeks, but now it apparently looks like he will miss the rest of the regular season and early playoffs. In an interview with Rich Chere of the Newark Star Ledger, Tallinder said he feels good health wise, but it still feeling week in his lower left leg with the blood clot. He is yet to finish his mdeication cycle, so only then will he know whether he can play. The Devils might play it safe and shut him down for the rest of the year. However, his return this season is still a huge question mark.

Devils won't be aggressive at deadline, but might make a small move or two

The New Jersey Devils sit in 4th place currently in the very tight Eastern Conference race, but with the trade deadline a week away, the Devils might be sticking with their current roster. Lou Lamoriello is however looking to improve his team, a position he was not in last season. The Devils are currently battling a number of injuries, which could affect theor decision on which trades to make. Henrik Tallinder and Travis Zajac are battling long-term injuries and are not expected back until late-March at the earliest. Tallinder has a left leg blot clot and Zajac is recovering from a sore-Achilles which resulted from playing after suffering a torn-Achilles tendon in the summer.

Adam Larsson is still out with a lower back bruise and Ryan Carter has a fractured hand. Both are expected back shortly and it could result in the Devils trading a few players like a Eric Boulton, Nick Palmieri or even a Steve Zalewski up front. Jacob Josefson or Mattias Tedenby could also be involved in trade discussions. But Lamoriello might be looking for a puck moving defenseman and that could force Taormina, Foster or Salvador into trade discussion with Tallinder expected back this season. Word leaked out last week that Wild defenseman Marek Zidlicky was on his way to the Devils, but that trade was made by Zidlicky himself, not Wild CM Chuck Fletcher.

With all that said, the trade dilemma will be huge for Devils, but one thing is certain, the Devils will not be in on Rick Nash or Jeff Carter or Ales Hemsky.

Devils fight off Flyers furious 3rd period rally for a 6-4 win.

Kurtis Foster had a redemption game for the Devils after two tough games this week scoring 2 power play goals to give the Devils a 6-4 win against the Flyers. The Devils led the Flyers 6-0 after 2 periods, but somehow an angry Philadelphia team scored 4 in the 3rd and out-shot the Devils 24-1 in that period. Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Dainius Zubrus had the other Devils goals. Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds, Jaromir Jagr and Jakub Voracek scored for the Flyers.

Johan Hedberg made 37 saves for the Devils and Serge Bobrovsky was relieved by Ilya Bryzgalov. It was the Devils 3rd straight win coming out of the All-Star Break and 2 of them against teams they are chasing in the standing. Their next two are no different against Pittsburgh and the same NY Ranger team they beat this past Tuesday. Kovalchuk had a Gordie Howe Hat-Trick today, a goal, assist and a fight against Flyers forward Brayden Schenn.

Devils unlikely to be fully healthy this season even if everyone returns

The Devils have been battling key injuries all year long and are likely to continue to do so for the remainder of the season including playoffs if they make it. It started when Travis Zajac went down in the summer with a torn Achilles tendon and then briefly returned before being shut down again. Jacob Josefson missed 3 months with a broken clavicle which required surgery. Now, the Devils injuries include Henrik Tallinder (Blood Clot in left leg), Adam Henrique (Minor groin pull), and Travis Zajac (Complications from Torn Achilles). Adam Larsson, Bryce Salvador, and Ryan Carter are battling minor bumps and bruises as well as ailments, which could be played through.

While all players are expected back this season, they all will have to play through the pain. Zajac and Tallinder seem like they are long-term injuries. Travis Zajac is week-to-week, but is yet to receive medical clearance to do on ice activities and will likely have to be a 3rd or 4th line center when he returns, which is likely to happen by end of February or early-March. Henrik Tallinder is out 6-8 weeks, but that prognosis was given 2 weeks ago from today, so he will return in 4-6 weeks from now assuming there are no setbacks in the clot. Adam Henrique is expected back sometime next week.

Zajac has said repeatedly, the Achilles is something he will have to deal with for the duration of the season. Tallinder will also have to be very careful in dealing with his clot, and Henrique will have to control his stretch. But, all Devils including Josefson will have to get their rhythm back very slowly.