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Devils, Flyers ready to renew rivalryThe Sports NetworkFebruary 8, 2010 View Full Article and Article Options (Sports Network) - Ilya Kovalchuk will seek his first goal in a New Jersey Devils uniform when his new team visits the rival Philadelphia Flyers tonight at Wachovia Center for the opener of a home-and-home series between Atlantic Division foes. The Devils made a big trade last week to acquire Kovalchuk's services from Atlanta, but the Russian sniper has gone without a goal in his first two games with New Jersey. Kovalchuk had two assists in his Devils' debut Friday against Toronto, but was held without a point the following night against the New York Rangers. He has 31 goals on the season and has excellent career numbers against the Flyers, posting 18 goals and 14 assists in 30 games versus Philadelphia. The Devils have lost three of four and five out of seven, and with 74 points are just two ahead of Pittsburgh for first place in the Atlantic Division. New Jersey lost its fourth straight road game Saturday in New York, as the Rangers notched the 3-1 victory at Madison Square Garden behind 41 saves from Henrik Lundqvist. Dainius Zubrus lit the lamp for New Jersey and Martin Brodeur allowed three goals on 25 shots to take the loss. The lone bright spot for the Devils was left winger Patrik Elias, who returned to the lineup after missing 10 games with a concussion. He picked up the lone assist on Zubrus' tally. Despite losing seven of their last eight games on the road, New Jersey still has a strong 17-10-2 record as the host this year. The Devils will host the Flyers on Wednesday night. Philadelphia has dropped two straight and four of its last six, a cold stretch that has not helped the Flyers' push for the playoffs. Philly has 59 points and is currently tied with the Rangers for the eighth and final postseason berth in the East. The Flyers won the opener of a three-game road trip by beating Calgary last Monday, but were then dealt consecutive regulation losses in Edmonton and Minnesota, dropping both of those tests by one-goal margins. Philadelphia was dealt a 2-1 loss Saturday in Minnesota, as Anton Khudobin led the Wild to victory by stopping 38-of-39 shots in his first NHL start. "I liked the first period; we had lots of opportunities," said Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette. "In the second period, we took penalties. We got our legs going a little bit at the end, but [the shots] didn't drop. We need to count them." Daniel Carcillo notched the lone score for the Flyers, while Michael Leighton took the loss despite making 28 saves. Leighton was starting in place of Ray Emery, who is day-to-day with a hip injury. Emery, who is 5-3-2 in 10 career games against the Devils, is questionable for tonight. The Flyers made a minor trade on Saturday, dealing defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen and a fifth-round pick in the 2011 draft to Detroit for forward Ville Leino. It's not clear when Leino, who had four goals and three assists in 42 games with the Red Wings this season, will make his Flyers debut. Philadelphia has won seven of its last nine home games and is 16-11-2 as the host this season. The Flyers have taken two of three from New Jersey so far this season and own six wins in the last 10 encounters between these rivals. The Devils have lost two straight and four of their last five tests in the City of Brotherly Love. NJ Devils defenseman Mike Mottau puts in extra work at practiceThe Star LedgerFebruary 7, 2010 View Full Article and Article Options Wanted to work on one-timers after missed opportunity in loss to Rangers  Mike Mottau played just under 20 minutes against the Rangers Saturday night but still chose to take part in an optional practice Sunday.The practice was optional, and almost everybody else opted not to take part. Three players who didn’t play Saturday night skated, and three players who played chose to practice as well.Two of those were defenseman Mark Fraser, who had played little, and forward Andrew Peters, who had barely played at all. But Mike Mottau had played just under 20 minutes in the 3-1 loss to the Rangers, so why was he on the ice at the Devils’ practice rink Sunday afternoon, before the team boarded a bus to Philadelphia for Monday night’s game against the Flyers? “Because he wants to go,’’ Devils coach Jacques Lemaire said. “He wants to go on (and) shoot pucks. It’s his choice.’’ Mottau decided to skate, he said, because he wanted to work on his one-time shots. In Saturday’s game, Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made 41 saves and one of those was an almost-unbelievable glove grab of a shot by a wide-open Mottau who was steaming up the right wing with 12:55 left to play in the game. So, Mottau and Fraser took one end of the ice by themselves and worked on sending passes to each other from the left wing to the lower right circle for one-time shots. “A day like today you can work on stuff like that,’’ Mottau said. “You don’t have that opportunity sometimes (at practice). You can do it after practice, but the ice is a lot worse and it almost gets more frustrating if you don’t have success during that time, so Frase and I decided to get out there and work on it.’’ Like most of his teammates had on Saturday night, Mottau said there were many positives in the loss to the Rangers. But he also knows this is a results-oriented industry, and ultimately, wins are all that matter. “It’s difficult to take because you don’t see the results you want,’’ he said. “But you can definitely take positives out of it — we skated well, we made good decisions with the puck. We won on Friday night (scoring three times in the final 3:04 to beat Toronto, 4-3), but we didn’t play that well. It’s kind of a double-edged sword — you want to play your best hockey and not get into bad habits.’’ Lemaire agreed. But he also said it is imperative that the team quickly turns good hockey into wins. “You’ve got to win games,’’ the coach said. “You have to get goals. You have to make plays and get goals, so the positives stay. Negatives come in when you work hard and nothing’s happening and then you get discouraged. And then your intensity drops and then negative sets in.’’ NOTES Lemaire said Patrik Elias, who returned after missing 10 games with a concussion, played well and came out of the game fine. Lemaire said he liked the line of Elias, Dainius Zubrus and Ilya Kovalchuk. And Lemaire said he had “no problem’’ with Kovalchuk missing the final 2:16 of the game after fighting the Rangers’ Sean Avery. Colin Stephenson may be reached at cstephenson@starledger.com |
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