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head coach: Jacques Lemaire

roster: C - Doug Gilmour, Bobby Holik, Bob Carpenter, Denis Pederson, Petr Sykora, Jason Arnott, Sergei Brylin, Brendan Morrison. LW - Dave Andreychuk, Brian Rolston, Patrik Elias, Jay Pandolfo. RW - Randy McKay, Steve Thomas, Krzysztof Oliwa. D - Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Lyle Odelein, Kevin Dean, Doug Bodger, Sheldon Souray, Brad Bombardir. G - Martin Brodeur, Mike Dunham.

injuries: None.

transactions: 4/8 - Signed defenseman Josh DeWolf (St. Cloud, WCHA) and assigned him to Albany (AHL). 4/16 - Recalled G Peter Sidorkiewicz from Albany (AHL). 4/17 - Assigned G Peter Sidorkiewicz to Albany (AHL).

standings:

Eastern Conference - Atlantic Division   
Team           GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
z-New Jersey   82  48  23  11   107  225  166  
x-Philadelphia 82  42  29  11    95  242  193
x-Washington   82  40  30  12    92  219  202  
NY Islanders   82  30  41  11    71  212  225  
NY Rangers     82  25  39  18    68  197  231  
Florida        82  24  43  15    63  203  256 
Tampa Bay      82  17  55  10    44  151  269  

x - Clinched playoff spot
z - Clinched conference

game results:

4/08 at Islanders  L 3-2
4/11 at Boston     W 3-2
4/12 Florida       T 5-5
4/15 Buffalo       W 5-4
4/16 at Chicago    T 1-1
4/18 Islanders     L 2-1

team news:

by Phil Aromando, New Jersey Correspondent

At a point in the season when a team with 107 points should be fine-tuning, the Devils seem to be re-tooling. The past two weeks have brought some of the least disciplined play of the year and concern that the rigors of their system has taken its toll. The team as a whole seems to be shrinking. Is this any time to slump?

Thankfully, Doug Gilmour and Randy McKay returned to the lineup. While they will be nowhere near peak form, their presence should go a long way in terms of team confidence. Bobby Holik will benefit most. He's only had one goal in the last 16 games mainly because he's been the primary focus of other teams' top checking lines. At least some of that pressure will be alleviated. If there's one thing the Devils are lacking lately, it's consistent goal-scoring.

And consistent lines. Lemaire has been juggling players in and out in the hopes of finding a sure-fire combination. Although none of that really has panned out and he's fallen back on two steady lines (Rolston-Carpenter-Thomas; Oliwa-Pederson-Daniels) with a mixture of forwards in the other two, the emergence of Brendan Morrison over the past few weeks may have convinced him that he can contribute, playoff experience or not. Especially if Jason Arnott's hip is acting up. There was talk that Arnott wouldn't even suit up for the first game of the Ottawa series.

The team is in need of a breakout performance from someone and Morrison could be the one. Wouldn't it be nice to be pleasantly surprised by a player - much like we all were when Brodeur proved himself back in the '94 playoffs? So far Morrison has shown signs of excellence. Hopefully, he'll get a chance to crack the lineup even if Arnott dresses.

Although the team has been in a form of exhibition mode, and Brodeur was technically being rested for the most important part of the season, it's hard to say he's at the top of his game. In his last eight starts, (in pursuit of a record he dearly wanted) he went an un-Brodeur-like 1-5-1 and even managed to get pulled after the first period of the Buffalo game. The normally unflappable Brodeur even managed to mix it up with Dino Ciccarelli against Florida. Lemaire seemed to think it was a matter of fatigue but it may have also been a bit of frustration at the teams inability to play in any kind of focused or interested manner in front of him.

Twice last week the Devils coughed up leads they normally make stand. Sure, they had little to play for but that doesn't go a long way to convincing fans that they will be magically transformed as soon as the playoffs begin. As simple as the Devils system is, it takes a lot of patience to execute well. After such a well managed regular season, they may simply be burning out. It's hard to mask boredom.

Even though Lemaire tried to combat that feeling by stressing the importance of the President's Trophy and the Jennings Trophy as a means of bringing importance to the final games, it was hard to say everyone bought into that. Unfortunately, there is a sense that this team has forgotten how difficult the playoffs can be. As much as they dismiss the notion that they are overconfident locks for advancing to the next round, there has been little evidence to suggest that they actually feel otherwise. A playoff round is usually over before a team realizes what they had to do. Hopefully, the fog will lift in time to save an accomplished season from becoming a footnote.

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