The New Jersey Devils currently have a four-point lead in the
Atlantic Division, and will host the second-place Philadelphia
Flyers Tuesday night, shortly after this issue's deadline.
Robbie Ftorek's boys are looking to avenge a 6-1 spanking the
Flyers handed to them in their last meeting. They may have to do
so without the services of defenseman Kevin Dean. After missing
three games with a groin injury, Dean re-aggravated the condition
in his first game back against the Montreal Canadiens last
Friday. He is listed as day-to-day.
Another ailing Devil is the team's third most productive
offensive player, Dave Andreychuk. The rugged left winger is
nursing a bruised sternum which he received two weeks ago in a
game against the Florida Panthers. The injury doesn't seem to
hurt his scoring touch very much - Andreychuk is third on the
team with 14 points, trailing only Bobby Holik and Petr Sykora;
and second in goal scoring (8), behind Sykora (9).
Yet another Devil who isn't quite 100% is center Jason Arnott.
After taking a vicious slash on the hand from Islander Claude
Lapointe, Arnott sat out the remainder of the game with
complaints of feeling nauseous.
Still Red Hot
The Devils continue to sit atop the Atlantic Division, going
4-1-1 in their last six games. They're winning games the old way,
the new way, they are winning every way. For the most part, the
more traditional, defense-first system has been working for the
Devils. That is until they traveled to New York to face the
Islanders. This game was the epitome of the "new" offensive style
Robbie Ftorek implemented this season. The Devils posted season
highs for goals in a game (7) and goals in a period (5 in the
second). Seven different Devils scored goals in this game.
More "D" Less "O"?
The Devils changed their gameplan from the "trap" of yesterday to
the "open style" of today. This being said, one would assume that
this would imply MORE goals being scored. Well, that is not the
case. The Devils of 1998 have scored 54 goals, which is 13 goals
LESS than what they scored at this point last year. This puts to
rest the old theory that the best offense is a good defense.
Record to Be Broken
Defenseman Ken Daneyko tied the team record last Saturday with
most games played by a Devil (934), held by beloved John MacLean.
Daneyko will own the record when the Devils play the Flyers this
Tuesday in the Meadowlands.
What About Bure?
Nada, nothing, zilch, zip, forget it... say it however you want,
he's not coming here. However, The Pavel Bure talks are really
heating up with the Islanders and Flyers, and let's not dismiss
the possibility of the Russian Rocket wearing a Ranger jersey,
either. Unlike these teams, the Devils don't have the money to
give. And even if they did have the cash, they wouldn't use it
on him anyway.
