In Lou We Trust

Items of note: In today's Tom Gulitti's article in the Bergen Record: Former Devil Joe Nieuwendyk has retired due to back injuries. Nieuwendyk was crucial at center in the Devils' 2003 Stanley Cup victory, and just as crucial in the Calgary Flames' only Stanley Cup in 1993 and Dallas Stars' Stanley Cup in 1999 (he was AMAZING in the 1999 playoffs). He's had a great career with 559 goals and 559 assists scored in 1,242 games; 61 goals and 50 assists in 158 playoff games. Sad to see him go Richard Matvichuk is still waiting to be cleared by team doctors and Martin Brodeur will start tonight despite skipping practice.

Patricia at 2 Man Advantage no longer hates Brad Lukowich with a passion. It's nice to see hatred thawed, though I suspect a little sarcasm (heh) . Regardless, she's right; Brad Lukowich did play very well against Montreal on Wednesday.

Last Saturday, the Flyers came out hungry and played an intense 65 minutes. The Devils eventually woke up, responded, and fought back enough to tie it up and win it in a shootout. The Flyers will need to replicate that energy to have a chance at stopping the Devils tonight. Their top scorers - Simon Gagne (14 G, 8 A) and Mike Knuble (10 G, 8 A) - will need to produce or at least be effective. While it was close, they didn't look too good on Saturday with the Flyers getting most of their offense from their fourth line. Antero Nittymaki will also need to play well for the Flyers to have a chance.

Martin Brodeur will start tonight for NJ and he just needs to be a bit more careful at handling pucks. He was great against Montreal aside from that one gaffe (which led to Montreal's only goal of the night). In general, NJ needs to come out sticks a-blazin' right from the start. In the past 3 games, while the Devils have won, they have started off the game (or the period against Philadelphia) slowly and with giving up goals early. That's extra work for the Devils to make up the difference early on and try and get the win. It's good that we know they are good enough to end it all with the W, but that means they are good enough to prevent that from happening. One player to keep your eye on is Zach Parise. You know he's good. I know he's good. But even the hockey hating (WARNING: It's a Larry Brooks article in the NY Post. Thanks to HFBoards for noting it) Four Letter Sports Network has die-hard Rangers fan Linda Cohn give some respect to the Devils and - you guessed it - Zach Parise. Parise has 10 goals and 10 assists so far this season, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets another tonight.

My projected lines are the same as I had it for the Montreal game. If you're going to tonight's game (and if you're reading this, you may want to leave soon), bring a new toy for Toys For Tots. Enjoy it on TV or Radio or whathaveyou, GO DEVILS!