New Jersey Devils at New York Islanders - Preseason Game #3 Preview

by Tom Stivali on Sep 24, 2011 9:48 AM EDT in Devils Game Previews

The Time: 7:00 PM EST

The Broadcast: TV – None. Radio- None. Internet Stream – The Islanders' Website

I will also be recapping the game tonight and will do my best to convey the action watching the live stream via the Islanders website. That said, we all know how inconsistent live internet streams can be so wish me luck.

The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (1-1-0) face the New York Islanders (0-1-0) at hopefully-soon-to-be-renovated Nassau Veterans Coliseum. The Devils are looking to bounce back from a 4-3 loss last night to the New York Rangers. John recapped last night’s game here. Tonight’s game will be the first of two pre-season games the Devils and the Islanders play. They will also play on September 30^th at the Rock. The Islanders played last night, losing 6-3 to the Boston Bruins. You can read the recap by Lighthouse Hockey here. For an Islanders centric point of view please check out Lighthouse Hockey throughout the day site for more information.

Arthur Staples of Newsday posted the projected Islanders lineup for tonight::

Forwards

Matt Moulson-John Tavares-Nino Niederreiter

Kyle Okposo-Frans Nielsen-Michael Grabner

Jay Pandolfo-Ryan Strome-Tim Wallace

Matt Martin-Josh Bailey-Trevor Gillies

Defensemen

Mark Streit-Steve Staios

Mark Eaton-Milan Jurcina

Aaron Ness-Travis Hamonic

Former Devil Jay Pandolfo, on a try-out with the Islanders will suit up tonight. Hoping Pando does well.

Oh great, Trevor Gillies is playing. Nothing like having an ECHL goon to worry about. How is he still allowed in the league again?

Who will the Devils be playing? Head coach Pete DeBoer has already said that Johan Hedberg will start and play the full game. I am not sure who will back him up, but I would guess it will be Jeff Frazee. Other than the goaltenders at this point you would have to think any player who played in both Wednesday and Friday’s games won’t be playing tonight. It’s also likely that some AHL bound players who did not play in the Albany-Connecticut game yesterday will get a chance to play in Long Island.

Possible Players for Tonight’s Game:

Forwards: Zach Parise, Patrik Elias, David Clarkson, Adam Henrique, Stephane Veilleux, Steve Bernier, Cam Janssen, Chad Wiseman, Matt Anderson, Stephen Gionta

Defense: Henrik Tallinder, Alexander Urbom, Mark Fraser, Matt Corrente, Matt Taormina,Peter Harrold, Anton Stralman

Goaltenders: Johan Hedberg, Jeff Frazee

I will provide any definitive roster lists in the GameThread that will go up at 5:30pm today.

The Goal: In the pre-season I think one of the main goals is: Don’t get hurt, especially when playing the first set of back-to-back games this season. The second goal? I think I would like to see some hunger from guys competing for bottom 6 forward spots. After the jump I will write a bit more about what I am looking to see from those players battling for roster spots.

In Friday night's game I think there was an opportunity for Brad Mills to really take a step forward and earn an energy role with the team. DeBoer seemed impressed with his effort in the first game and practices, but unfortunately the two interference penalties might-and I think should- have killed his chances to make the NHL team out of camp.

The Devils need secondary and tertiary scoring to compete this year and I hope that DeBoer gives looks to other players who might bring an energy and scoring touch to those bottom 6 forward spots. Two guys who I am not sure we need to see that much of in the pre-season is Tim Sestito and Rod Pelley. We know what they can and can't do. Let's see some smart, energetic players get a chance in these next few games so we can see who deserves to play. My preference is to see guys like Stephane Veilleux and Steve Bernier to get real looks to make the team.

One spot that might be going to a young player is the 3rd line center role. Adam Henrique showed last night that he really wants it. His likely competition for the that role, David Steckel, certainly didn't do himself any favors last night and seems to be marked for the 4th line.

As far as defense is concerned, I would like to see Anton Stralman get some power play time, as I think he can add something to the power play during the regular season. The Devils will need whoever plays alongside Kovalchuk to be a threat to shoot and Stralman can offer that. As long as he plays like he did Wednesday, I think he makes a strong case to be moved ahead of Harrold and a few others on the depth chart.

Things I am looking for in tonight's game:
1. Someone like Bernier, Vellieux, Gionta, or Wiseman to distinguish themselves as a fourth line/energy player and push veterans like Rod Pelley and tryout Petr Sykora for a spot on the team.

2. Adam Henrique to continue to bolt down a 3rd line role and start the season in New Jersey. Getting 2 games in 2 nights is a good, early opportunity to separate himself.

3. Anton Stralman to inch ahead of his competition for the 3rd pairing/extra defenseman role.
That said, it's the third pre-season game of the year and the third game in four nights for the Devils. Again, the first goal should be to make sure everyone leaves Nassau County in one piece. Beyond that I don't think any jobs will be won or lost tonight. But the grips on certain jobs might just become a bit tighter with good performances from players like Henrique or Stralman.

Anything you are looking for tonight? Thanks for reading and sound off below.

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Comments

I have been lingering on this site for a while, but just made an account. I really like it.

Anyways, I have to think Henrique should make this team. He looks great so far and I don’t see what sending him back to the AHL will accomplish. He scored 50 points as a rookie, he more than earned a shot to prove himself in the big leagues.

by JimLahey on Sep 24, 2011 11:59 AM EDT reply actions

great username

"Its the letter D"

by Rory B. Bellows on Sep 24, 2011 4:27 PM EDT up reply actions

I’ll be there tonight rocking my Parise jersey that I also wore at the Rock last night. Never been to the Coliseum before but it’ll be interesting to see how crappy it looks since I was at Prudential 24 hours before.

There’s been a ton of hype surrounding Larsson with some people already wanting to retire his number and others saying they saw nothing to be excited over.

Personally, I thought Larsson looked incredible last night in person. After hearing him be called “calm”, “poised”, and “mature” I now understand just how accurate these statements were. Yes he made a few mistakes as did everyone else, but the upside of his game last night was ridiculous.

Call me a sensationalist, call me a homer, but I have never seen anyone pass like Larsson did last night. He played give and go with Kovy like it was open hockey regardless of it was even strength or the PP. Larsson can receive anything sent near him and instantly become mobile with it while seemingly always looking to create a pass first before firing a “shoot and pray” shot from the blueline through traffic. Every time he looked around for the pass last night he was able to connect with it.

There were at least 5 solid times where he had to make a big play physically and did. Nearly every one of these times it seemed that the Rangers player on the other side of the contact was very surprised at how much strength Larsson had. He’s not a slouch on Defense either. He made some great positionally sound and defensive minded plays last night, and had an absolute gem of a poke check in the neutral zone against I think Dubinsky on Wednesday night.

On a side night, Rupp pissed me off last night. First he felt the need to get himself in the media the morning of the game with his comments stating that essentially “the Devils had too low of a ceiling for him”. In five years with the Devs he averaged 9 pts and then went on to get 17 and 19 pts in 2 years with the Penguins. Sorry but that is a negligible difference especially when he played more games per season for the Pens and that they’re also a more offensively minded team. I always liked Rupp but he’s about one team away from turning into as big of a joke in the this division as Arron Asham. He’ll hold a soft spot in our hearts for his one goal in the finals; but continuously taking runs and cheap shots at Josefson and Larsson, and also punching Josefson in the face as he’s getting off the ice, doesn’t do much to make me want to still be a fan.

Other misc notes from last night:
Steckel does look like he improved on his cardio/speed from last year so maybe that broken toe was really bothering him. He does still stink though and I agree with John in that I would love to see Henrique continue to push for the 3rd line spot. I also like Stralman a lot. I think if we were able to have squeeze both Larsson and Stralman into our lineup regularly, that the Devils would finally transition into a team capable of putting up scoring numbers like other successful clubs have throughout the past few years. In recent history a lot of offense has been generated by the Defenseman, and it’s time to stop dreaming that Andy Greene is going to be that guy. Greene will give his all and out hustle the opponent on every play, but he is our prototype shutdown, defensive minded defenseman. Let’s grow Larsson, Taormina, Stralman, and Fayne to be the Devils versions of Enstrom, Letang, etc.

Anyways sorry for the rant but those are just my thoughts and I can’t wait to see it live again tonight. Also I’m fully expecting no one to even read this :)

by NJallDay on Sep 24, 2011 12:02 PM EDT reply actions

I found Stralman's capabilities quite interesting too

Tallinder-Larsson + Volchenkov-Stralman would be well balanced lines imo… Nonetheless, tonight’s game will be a huge one for Stralman if he wants to make this happen.

"It's magic, it's tragic, it's a loss, it's a win"

by Elektrostal_Kid on Sep 24, 2011 5:17 PM EDT up reply actions