Stephen Gionta.

The New Jersey Devils will be taking the ice at Bell Centre this evening, hopeful to expand their winning streak to four straight games. The odds are pretty good – the Devils have won their last eight bouts against the Habs, with the last Montreal victory in 2008.

Pre-game notes:

* No morning skate for either team today.

* Cool fact: Ever sturdy Patrik Elias is 3 points away from hitting 900 career points.

* An excellent read about Martin Brodeur’s father, Denis Brodeur, who has fought through two recent and difficult surgeries. He will be watching the game from home.

* Something to watch for: Stefan Matteau. In the last practice, Matteau was moved up to the top line with Travis Zajac and Ilya Kovachuk, with Mattias Tedenby dropping to the fourth. Peter DeBoer has been impressed with Matteau over the past three games, but a decision soon needs to be made about the rookie’s development. Matteau is closer to the top of the roster in SOG; a place on the first line may very well help him earn his first NHL goal.

* Sibling rivalry: Brothers Stephen and Brian Gionta face off today. Stephen Gionta netted the Devils’ first goal in their victory over the Capitals on Friday.

“I hear they’ve got a pretty good kid in there as their third line centre, no. 11,” Brian said about his younger brother. “I think he’s pretty much been carrying the load for [Zach] Parise.”

* Brodeur will start in net. Carey Price will be in the cage for the Canadiens.

The puck drops at 6PM! Tune in on MSG Plus/RDS.

Adam Henrique. (Source: leehaes/Tumblr.)

The Capitals have had a rough start to their season. With a new head coach in Adam Oates (straight off the Devils coaching bench), a brand new system to get used to, and almost getting blanked last night at home by the Montreal Canadiens, the Caps are struggling. Facing up against a solid looking Devils team tonight, they’re going to have a difficult time.

Notes for the Devils roster:

* The two top lines have been adjusted. New lines are: Tedenby-Zajac-Kovalchuk and Zubrus-Elias-Clarkson. Barch is in for Janssen on the fourth line. D lines are the same.

* A reminder that a decision has to be made for Stefan Matteau soon enough. Tonight will be his third game on the big stage out of the allowed five before the first year of his entry-year contract is burned up, and Lamoriello and DeBoer need to decide if he’s worth keeping on the roster. So far, Matteau has impressed as a kid thrown rather suddenly on to NHL ice. After getting cut from the National Juniors team, Matteau has something to prove.

* Adam Henrique skated with the team this morning and is nearing a return from his thumb injury. He could be back by the Jan 31st homestead against the Islanders.

* Sorry for the lack of recap for the last game against the Flyers, but let me mention again that Martin Brodeur decidedly earned his 120th career shutout win.

* Brodeur will be in goal for the Devils tonight. Michal Neuvirth is in for the Caps.

A quick update before the puck drops. The Devils will be facing the Flyers several more times this season, but tonight is the first meeting of 2013 — of course, to the Devils and the Flyers, that’s all old hat. After the Devils knocked them out of the playoff race last season, and now that they’re two games down and behind, the Flyers will be out for blood at the Rock tonight.

Offensive lines remain the same, according to Fire and Ice:

Zubrus-Zajac-Kovalchuk
Tedenby-Elias-Clarkson
Carter-Gionta-Bernier
Matteau-Josefson-Janssen

Barch is a healthy scratch, with Darche still skating with the team as both camps contemplate a contract. Defensive lines weren’t confirmed this morning, but Larsson is a healthy scratch yet again. The young defenseman says he “doesn’t mind, as long as the team wins.” Henrique seems to be about 7-10 days away from returning from his thumb injury.

Home opener at the Rock means the raising of the Eastern Conference Championship banner. Looks like it’s already up, though, and the Devils will have an exultant but quick ceremony of playoff dominance before the puck drops.

Have some stats courtesy of Tom Gulitti: In 76 career games versus Philadelphia, Patrik Elias has 33 goals and 75 points. Ilya Kovalchuk has 22 goals and 43 points in 45 career games. We’re in for a fun time.

Get ready to watch on NBCSN, and bundle up if you’re heading to the game!

Travis Zajac and Evgeni Nabokov.

The Devils had a good start to the season tonight with a 2-1 win over the Islanders. Sure, not everything was perfect, but for a team abruptly entering a shortened season the Devils did not look rusty at all. Standouts for the Devils in the win include Martin Brodeur, Mattias Tedenby, and Stefan Matteau, who enjoyed a healthy amount of ice time in his NHL debut.

The first opened with a quick penalty called on Devils captain Salvador for interference, sending the Devils to the penalty kill. The Islanders sustained no shots on goal for a solid half of the period, while the Devils led with 4-0 SOG. What kept them off the board? Islanders goalie, Evgeni Nabokov, had a stellar game overall. Matteau entered the game three minutes in and wasn’t shy about sending the puck to the net. The rookie put up a good show in five shifts for the fans and his family, who were watching from the stands. The 1st ended with 9-3 SOG, Devils.

The beginning of the second sent the Devils on their first PP at 4:33 on a Boyes holding penalty. The power play, the first under Shaw’s system, was almost painfully sloppy, resulting in no SOG. Back-to-back play continued with both Nabokov and Brodeur looking sharp in net.

Travis Zajac got New Jersey on the board at 14:01 of the 2nd off a beautiful pass from Ilya Kovalchuk, resulting in a 1-0 game. Secondary assist to Henrik Tallinder. The period ended with 21-11 SOG, Devils, and Kovalchuk leading in TOI.

After the relatively sedate 2nd, the 3rd period started to heat up. Brodeur made a huge stop on Mikael Grabner off the top of the 3rd, and another Devils PP resulted in another two minutes with no SOG. The Islanders managed to tie the game 1-1 at 7:12 with a power play goal on a Tallinder penalty for hooking, with Travis Hamonic sending a shot high over Brodeur’s glove. The Devils definitely had a defensive breakdown there – imagine all the players on the ice bunched into one corner for the PK, leaving a lane to the net completely open.

The Devils sped up their pace and David Clarkson soon put the Devils back up one yet again, shooting a beautiful goal through the five-hole of Nabokov at 8:17. Assists to Patrik Elias and Tedenby. Nabokov was screened, but Clarkson was masterful there. Hopefully it’s a sign that he’ll be repeating the excellence of his past season.

The remainder of the game showed the Devils protecting their lead, but they didn’t slow down on offense. Kovalchuk was called for interference at 13:47 of the 3rd, and Brodeur had to make an impressive glove save on Hamonic. Not too shabby for a 40 year old.

Final game stats: goals by Zajac and Clarkson (GWG). Kovalchuk led in TOI (24:37), with Salvador close behind (21:37). Brodeur made 18 saves. Three stars as chosen by the media: (3) Nabokov, (2) Brodeur, (1) Zajac.

***

My personal thoughts? Not bad. The power play is definitely something to work on, but you can’t expect it to be perfect right off the bat. Defense was particularly good tonight with the exception of Volchenkov, who was a step or two back on more than a couple of plays. Tedenby shows promise if he can keep up tonight’s energy, and Clarkson looks like he may even surpass the success of last season. Parise who? The ZZChuk Line (Zubrus, Zajac, Kovalchuk) sustained good puck movement and should be a solid top line. We’ll probably see line changes from DeBoer soon enough, but tonight showed a solid enough performance to start with.

Devils Captain Bryce Salvador.

We’re about 30 minutes away from the Devils season opening game against the Islanders. (I know, I know, boo hiss.) This post will serve to combine a few quick updates before we’re ready to start the 2013 season.

* Defenseman Bryce Salvador has been announced as the new Captain of the New Jersey Devils! Congratulations, Captain Sal! Elias and Kovalchuk retain the As.

* In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve locked up a very important roster piece for a long time. Travis Zajac has re-signed with the Devils on a $46 million, 8-year deal.

* Stefan ‘Squirrel-cheeks’ Matteau, the Devils’ 1st round pick in the 2012 Entry Draft, is getting his chance to shine. He’s made the opening roster after a training camp that pleased Pete DeBoer and will play in front of his family (that’s including his father, former Ranger Stephane Matteau) tonight. A goal in his immediate future, perhaps? If he impresses, we’ll see him for more than five games.

* Oh, yeah. Kovalchuk is back too.

* Keep an eye out for Scott Stevens on the bench.

* Martin Brodeur will be starting in his 18th season opener for the Devils. That’s insane. Nabokov is in goal for the Islanders.

The lines for today:

F:

Zubrus-Zajac-Kovalchuk
Tedenby-Elias-Clarkson
Carter-Gionta-Bernier
Matteau-Josefson-Janssen

D:

Salvador-Zidlicky
Greene-Fayne
Tallinder-Volchenkov

Tune in at 7PM EST on MSGPlus/MSGPlus 2!

Ilya Kovalchuk, the man of ‘enigmatic Russian mystery.’

The lockout is over! Let us all rejoice. Of course, because nothing is simple in the treacherous landscape of the NHL, there are all kinds of problems associated with ratifying the new CBA, making new schedules, opening training camps, and dragging Russians back to their teams.

Wait. What?

Yes, this is actually a point of contention. Why does it pertain to us, my fellow Devils fans? Because our very-likely candidate for next captain Ilya Kovalchuk is still overseas and not heading back home on a plane immediately. Because Kovalchuk is still playing games for his KHL team, CKA St. Petersburg. Because Kovalchuk is showing reservation until the new deal is set in stone and freshly signed with ink.

And I don’t blame him.

There’s still almost a week before training camps open on Sunday. If he can play in one more game and stay in top form, all the better for us. If he needs to read the details of the new CBA, fine. Most players will be doing that in the few upcoming days in which they have to electronically vote to approve it. Nothing makes Kovalchuk’s decision to not immediately head to New Jersey different to anybody else’s. The only difference, of course, is the media attention and boundless rumors being floated around by said media.

In any case, Lou Lamoriello and the Devils have said that they have no reason to believe that Ilya Kovalchuk will not be showing up to camp on Sunday. We’ll go with that.

***

Elliotte Friedman’s 30 thoughts column is always an interesting read. In the most recent edition, Friedman floated an interesting idea: that Lou Lamoriello’s blunt labeling of the lockout as ‘embarrassing’ served as encouragement for others to do the same.

Friedman writes, “Don’t want to do a ton of lockout stuff, but thought it was telling to see how much the word “embarrassing” or “embarrassed” was seen after Lou Lamoriello used it in describing the shutdown to The Newark Star-Ledger. Heard it from both Eric Staal and Andy McDonald. Almost as if others felt more free to be honest after someone of Lamoriello’s stature did it.”

No surprise.

***

@abrodeur30 Got to skate w/ my dad for the first time in a while, and it was max’s first time skating!
Three generations of Brodeurs (L to R: Anthony, Maxine, and Martin).

Anthony Brodeur, Martin’s oldest son, has been enjoying success as of late. Brodeur plays for Shattuck St. Mary’s Prep and is currently a C-ranked goalie in the 2013 draft, which will be hosted — of course — in his father’s very own New Jersey.

Brodeur’s efforts carried Shattuck to a gold medal finish in the finals of the World Sport School Challenge in Calgary against the Czech Republic National U17 team. He shut out the Czechs with 27 saves for a 3-0 victory, giving the Czechs their first loss in the tournament.

He is 11-2-2 with a .916% save percentage and 2.67GAA. He has had two shutouts for Shattuck. Not bad for a Brodeur.

***

Adam Henrique, Devils miracle rookie, has earned himself the dubious honor of being selected to Cosmopolitan’s 2013 list of Hottest Hockey Players. I only say dubious because said list also includes Phil Kessel and Jaromir Jagr.

Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek. (Courtesy/NJ.com)

Big news for the New Jersey Devils today amidst ongoing lockout deliberations. The Devils have been in a precarious financial situation for the past season, with ongoing legal tiffs between Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek and the city of Newark.

Now, however, it seems the Devils franchise is heading towards a period of stability. Vanderbeek now owns the 47 percent share that previously belonged to Mike Gilfillan and Ray Chambers’ Brick City LLC, along with the six percent that had been owned by Peter Simon. With the help of the CIT group, Vanderbeek also refinanced the existing team debt of $78 million.

A team release to The Record stated, “The organization believes that its successful refinancing during a work stoppage demonstrates the strength of the Devils franchise and the Prudential Center, enabling it to continue to execute on its business plan.”

While much of the previous debt has been paid down, the remaining team debt has been combined with the debt from the Prudential Center in the refinancing plan. Vanderbeek is now the sole owner of the team, but additional partners may be brought in sometime in the future.

In a separate statement to the press, Vanderbeek said, “Today’s announcement is good news for Devils fans though I fully recognize fans’ frustration with the work stoppage. Our future is now secure and we can be confident of continued on-ice success. Our team has gone to the Stanley Cup Final five times in the last 17 years and following the most recent run to the Stanley Cup Final last year, we are excited about our future—for Jersey’s team and Prudential Center, home to the 2013 NHL Draft.

“I am grateful to Mike Gilfillan and Brick City Hockey for our former partnership. Together we shared a passion that led to the building of the Prudential Center – truly a shining jewel of a facility and in my view one of the best arenas in the entire world. The Rock is a great legacy for which we will always be proud.”

Good news for all. However, will it stop the crude Devils bankruptcy jokes? Probably not.

Devils General Manager, Lou Lamoriello.

Lou Lamoriello is embarrassed for the game. That’s in his own words, of course, although the Devils’ General Manager has been quiet for the duration of these lockout negotiations.

“I’m not involved the way I was in the past. I can’t answer why,” Lamoriello said.

There’s probably more than a few reasons for that. For example…

Lamoriello’s anger at the hypocrisy of many league executives may have been fueling his silence. Let’s think back to the commotion the Devils faced when they signed Kovalchuk to his long contract — and the sanctions. Not long after, other teams began signing their star players to equally lengthy, front-loaded deals. As any NHL fan can see from the state of negotiations, these teams never intended to pay their players the worth of these contracts. And they’ve not had to face sanctions like the Devils did, despite the issue being a large sticking point in the road to a new collective bargaining agreement.

“It’s coming down to the wire right now,” Lamoriello said. “We’ve just got to trust the people that are involved. I’m embarrassed we are where we’re at. That’s the best expression I can use.”

Lamoriello uses the word ‘trust,’ but trust has been in short supply.

***

Despite his silence on the lockout, Lamoriello has been out and about. Today, he visited the Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck to bring the Devils’ holiday spirit to the patients.

Courtesy of @NHLDevilsPR.

***

In case anyone is curious, this author recently started learning how to play net. In the spirit of Martin Brodeur and his scorpion save, here is the story of my incredible journey of incompetence so far.

Credit to b3rni3r/Tumblr.

David Clarkson has left EC Red Bull Salzberg. There was much speculation about Clarkson’s reasons for leaving. Some early rumors that circulated quickly on Twitter stated that the forward had a ‘disagreement’ with Salzburg’s head coach. Some speculated family reasons. Another idea was that Clarkson, foreseeing an incoming end to the lockout, was simply heading home.

Given the current state of lockout negotiations, I think we can safely say that one’s a no.

In any case, the man himself commented that the real reason was nothing of the sort. The Austrian Hockey League is currently on a 12-day break, and November 12 is the deadline by which each member team is required to set their final rosters.

“I came over here to get into shape and to train, but I didn’t come over here to take some guy’s job when he has two kids or three kids,” Clarkson said. “I’ve enjoyed playing for the organization.”

While Clarkson has yet to officially leave, given that the roster deadline is tomorrow he is likely to be heading home soon. Martin Brodeur will be happy to have his friend back. Or, at least, his punching bag in their ongoing, stealthy war (of pranks).

***

Recently, Cam Janssen has been a polarizing presence for Devils fans. He discomfited many with his usage of homophobic language while on a radio show. Shortly after, Patrick Burke’s excellent You Can Play campaign released a statement saying that, upon touching base with him, they believe Janssen will no longer return to old habits.

Janssen is also often-cited as an appreciated presence in the locker room. He is good friends with several players. During the past season, he was in a contest with Brodeur to see who could get more points prior to the playoffs. Brodeur won.

In response to Hurricane Sandy, Janssen is currently sponsoring the Hockey Helps Rebuild fundraiser. Janssen, Barret Jackman, Alex Pietrangelo, Brian Elliott, and others will skate in a charity game to raise money for first responders impacted by Sandy.

The event takes place on November 17th at the Hardees IcePlex in Chesterfield, Missouri and it’s a fantastic cause.

But Janssen should probably stay off any more radio shows in the future.

***

The Devils mascot has also been busy giving assistance to victims of Hurricane Sandy. NJ Devil has made his way through Toms River and Brick handing out blankets, t-shirts, and other donations.

Credit to New Jersey Devils/Twitter.

Good for him!

***

Krys Barch — now Twitter-infamous for going on slightly intoxicated rants related to the lockout — has done it again. Check to both parts: intoxicated and ranting.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s a good idea.

Ironic indeed. (Credit to Twitter/ckraks.)

For those desperately missing hockey and seeing Ilya Kovalchuk tear up the ice, fear not. MSG Network will be airing the KHL SKA St. Petersburg vs. Dinamo Riga game today at 1PM / 8PM EST. Be sure to tune in.

Here’s a full list of the KHL on MSG.

EDIT: The MSG will not be airing the KHL game today. A statement they released on Twitter states, “We’re sorry fans, due to outages caused by the storm, we’re unable to broadcast #KHLonMSG today. We are working diligently to restore games.”

 ***

Travis Zajac will be participating in a charity game on Saturday, November 17th. The Goals for Dreams Hockey Challenge, born out of a partnership between the Winnipeg Police Service Patrolmen Hockey Club and the NHLPA, will raise money for the Dreams Factory and Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Team rosters will be split between Team (Andrew) Ladd and Team (Mark) Stuart. The Jets’ captain Ladd, defenseman Stuart, and New Jersey Devils’ Zajac will be joined by participating NHL players Blake Wheeler, Dustin Byfuglien, Olli Jokinen and Jonathan Toews among others.

Extended details can be found here.

***

Speaking of Ilya Kovalchuk, he’s back to — yes, more posturing. Big surprise. Unfortunately for him, every time a Russian player opens his mouth to threaten the slow-moving (are they even moving anymore?) NHL and NHLPA, ‘a person close to the source’ is always there to quickly assure that unhappy Russian NHLers staying in the KHL is an empty threat.

Yeah, Kovalchuk’s numbers in the KHL are truly impressive. But at a base level, all they say is that he’s playing at far below his aptitude. The KHL is no place for an NHL superstar.

If canceling the Winter Classic, the league’s cash cow, isn’t enough to force a deal between the beleaguered league and the players’ union, empty threats from one player who’s not even in North America ain’t no big.

***

What’s a goalie to do without a net to guard? Play scrimmages and break fingers in them, apparently.

Late October had been Martin Brodeur’s soft deadline to look at options overseas, but that’s been pushed back by the goalie’s minor hand injury.

“If there was NHL, I’d probably play. But I’m not going to go skate with four guys with it. There’s nothing to it, though,” said Brodeur.

Tentatively, the date is now set for the middle of November depending on the status of labor talks. However, Brodeur isn’t entirely desperate to play. “I don’t want to force it,” he said. “I told Pat if he has younger goalies in his agency that need jobs, I don’t want to take a job from a younger goalie. I want to make it that if somebody needs me, I’ll go. We’ll see what that brings.”

Brodeur is disappointed by the state of the CBA negotiations, stating that he’d hoped the discussion would’ve gone easier this time around due to an already-existing salary cap. The goalie is also worried about the impact of the lockout on teams in smaller hockey markets, such as New Jersey.

“You know what I’m worried about? I don’t live in a hockey-driven town, New Jersey isn’t like Toronto or Montreal or Detroit. And people now that I see don’t even think about talking to me about hockey. The first few weeks, yes, but now no one does,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s because there’s not enough coverage in the U.S. about what’s going on, but I think it’s going to affect people tremendously, fans are going to move on and find a different source of entertainment. It’s going to take a long time for them to readjust and get back to hockey. Eventually I think people will because our sport is pretty special.”

Still, Brodeur is worried about losing the momentum of the Devils’ recent Cup run to the Finals.

“We brought a lot of attention to our sport and to our league in this area,” Brodeur said. “But slowly you just see how people start asking me less about hockey around here. […] I’m not talking about the hard-core hockey fans, but the general sports fans, those on the bubble who come to some hockey games. Those are the fans that help us fill things out on a Tuesday night. That’s who we might lose.”