The Time: 7:00 PM EDT

The Broadcast: TV - MSG+; Radio - 660 AM WFAN

The Game: The New Jersey Devils (31-19-3) vs. the St. Louis Blues (31-14-7)

The Last Devils Game: The Devils went into Madison Square Garden for the first time this season and left the World's Most Whatever Arena with their fifth straight win. The Devils started the game hot and went up 1-0 when David Clarkson blasted a one-timer past Henrik Lundqvist on their first power play of the night. The Rangers warmed up late in the first period, but it seemed to be a matter of too little, too late and the Devils mostly outplayed them. The same happened in the second period, only Clarkson didn't score a goal (though he came really close). The third period was a nightmare, however, as the Rangers started the period with a lot of offensive pressure and continued to apply it throughout except for a few minutes late in the game. They put 15 shots on net and it was in the third that Martin Brodeur truly earned his team's result. The Rangers only got one past the legendary goaltender after Marian Gaborik ran into Brodeur in his crease with less than 5 seconds in the game. But the referees made the right call in ruling that there was no goal and put Gaborik in the box for interference. Despite a terrible third period and because of a fantastic performance by Martin Brodeur, the Devils won 1-0. My recap of that game is here.

The Last Blues Game: While the Devils were in NYC, the St. Louis Blues were up in Kanata, Ontario to play the Ottawa Senators. This game wasn't as dramatic as the Blues made their mark quickly. Chris Porter tipped in a shot by Roman Polak 1:37 into the game's first period to make it 1-0. A little over two minutes later, David Perron beat Craig Anderson with a wrist shot that put the Blues up 2-0 and sent Anderson to the bench. The Senators cut the lead in half less than a minute into the second period with a power play goal by Daniel Alfredsson. However, the Blues regained the two goal lead when Perron scored his second of the game 6:35 into the second period. The Senators attempted to get back into it, but Brian Elliot stopped everything after Alfredsson's goal. St. Louis won on the road 3-1. Over at St. Louis Game Time, gallagher recapped the game by stating they beat a team they're supposed to beat.

The Goal: For the love of the good and the beautiful, don't sell out the offense in the third period. I'll take a closer look at third periods later this week, but the Devils have had many third periods where they just get wrecked. Just within in the last seven days alone, the Devils played two games where the opposition simply dominated them in the third period and they were fortunate to escape with a victory. They got out-shot 24-1 by the Flyers in the third and saw a 6-0 lead turn into 6-4 in a harrowing experience. On Tuesday, the Rangers went up 15-1 in shots and Martin Brodeur had to play out of his mind to keep the game at 1-0. The Devils simply gave up on keeping the opposition honest with shooting attempts, much less shots on net, and tried to defend the game to the end. That's a terrible gameplan in general and St. Louis would certainly put the Devils away if New Jersey somehow gets lead after the second period and tried to do the same thing. Should the Devils want to win and secure a result, they cannot give up attacking entirely, they cannot just dump-and-change for the game's final 20 minutes, and they cannot respond with very little when the other team just marches into New Jersey's end of the rink over and over. There must be some level of offense by Devils in all three periods.

I have many more thoughts on tonight's game after the jump. For the opposition's take, please check out St. Louis Game Time.

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The Time: 7:00 PM EDT

The Broadcast: TV - MSG+2; Radio - 660 AM WFAN

The Game: The New Jersey Devils (30-19-3) at the New York Rangers (33-12-5)

The Last Devils Game: The Devils hosted Pittsburgh on the second half of a back-to-back set this weekend. It was Super Bowl Sunday but the afternoon was Delightfully Devilish. The first period featured two of the prettiest goals the Devils have scored this season. The first was a tic-tac-toe play created by Zach Parise's forecheck and finished by Ilya Kovalchuk. The second was a give-and-go off the rush between Kovalchuk and Anton Volchenkov (!) to make it 2-0. The Penguins eventually woke up and bombed away on net in the final 5 minutes or so of the first period. In the second period, the Devils scored their thirteenth shorthanded goal of the season when Dainius Zubrus jammed in a rebound created by Kovalchuk, who made Paul Martin look like Johnny Oduya on the rush. Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled at 3-0. Matt Niskanen responded to convert the power play 24 seconds later; but the Devils played well with a lead, keeping the Pens honest. With Brent Johnson in net, Zach Parise scored a similar goal to Zubrus with a jam play at the right post. While Pittsburgh had their chances, Martin Brodeur held true and the Devils didn't get too loose. While Evgeni Malkin scored a power play goal in the third period to give the Pens some life, the Devils clamped down and sealed the win when Martin Brodeur lofted an alley-oop pass to David Clarkson down the ice. Clarkson put it in the empty net to make it a 5-2 win, the team's fourth in a row. Matt Ventolo recapped the game right here.

The Last Rangers Game: While the Devils were beating on Pittsburgh, the Rangers were hosting Philadelphia. If the Flyers looked past the Devils on Saturday to the Rangers, then they probably should have focused more. In a physical game, the Rangers came out winners. Artem Anisimov opened the scoring, a little over a minute into the game. Brayden Schenn would equalize past halfway through the second, but the Rangers entered the second intermission up 2-1 when Marian Gaborik beat Ilya Bryzgalov with a wrap-around with 6 seconds left - one of his 8 shots on net in the game. The Flyers would answer back quickly in the third when Wayne Simmonds banged in a power play goal; but any hopes of a Flyer turnaround were dashed when Michael Del Zotto scored less than a minute later. Brandon Dubinsky added to the lead later in the third period and Ruslan Fedotenko iced the game with an empty net goal. The Rangers won 5-2 and took a commanding lead in the Atlantic. Bryan Winters had this recap of the win over at Blueshirt Banter.

The Last Devils-Rangers Game: In their first game after the All Star break, the Devils hosted the Rangers a week ago. It proved to be a rivalry game with frenetic action, a fast pace, quite a bit of mostly clean physical play, and a whole lot of dramatic moments. The Devils defense was inconsistent, as evidenced by the lack of rebound clean-up as Anton Stralman put a short one home to make it 1-0 Rangers and when Brian Boyle was found all alone in front to make it 2-1 Rangers early in the third. But the Devils fought back. Zach Parise put in his own rebound at a sharp angle above Martin Biron in the second period and a power play rush created by a Ryan Callahan turnover ended with Ilya Kovalchuk freezing Biron with a power play goal. The good feelings after Kovalchuk's strike were quickly erased as the Rangers broke out, Gaborik found Del Zotto open, and after all of the big saves, Brodeur just got beat on Del Zotto's open shot. With just under 4 minutes left, the Rangers were up 3-2. The Devils pulled the goalie late and Andy Greene's dump-in took a wonderfully lucky bounce off a glass support right into the slot. Clarkson was right there for the shot and he beat Biron 5-hole to tie it up. An overtime period featured both teams nearly scoring but to no avail. A shootout was necessary, were Kovalchuk torched Biron and Brodeur stopped both shots on net (the first shooter, Derek Stepan, missed the net) to make it a 4-3 Devils win. The Devils were both lucky and good, and my recap of the game explained what that meant. Over at Blueshirt Banter, Bryan Winters had this recap.

The Goal: Clean up loose pucks around the goaltender and clamp down around the crease. The Devils got beaten twice in the last Devils-Rangers game due to poor defending in front of their net along with several shots on net. In the Montreal-Devils game, the same occurred for two goals. In the Flyers-Devils game, Philly's 3 out of their 4 goals in their comeback effort came from loose pucks in front of the net. While they won those games, their defending in that part of the rink has been spotty at times and served to make the games more difficult than necessary. The Devils did their best job around their crease and in the slot against Pittsburgh on Sunday, so perhaps they'll be better tonight. They'll have to be in order to stretch this four game winning streak into five games.

I have a few more things to say about this game after the jump. For an opposition point of view, please check out Blueshirt Banter.

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The Time: 1:00 PM EDT

The Broadcast: TV - MSG+; Radio - 660 AM WFAN

The Game: The New Jersey Devils (29-19-3) vs. the Pittsburgh Penguis (30-18-4)

The Last Devils Game: It was a tale of two games. The first game was a superb 40 minute effort where everything went the Devils' way. A shorthanded goal by Ilya Kovalchuk, production from their third line, a classic Zach Parise drive to the net and great saves by Johan Hedberg led the Devils to a 6-0 lead after two periods over the Philadelphia Flyers. The second game was a 20 minute debacle where the Devils gave 4 goals back, the officiating crew let the game get out of hand and the Philadelphia goon squad ended up taking shots at Devils players. Luckily the Devils were able to escape the most overrated city in America with a 6-4 victory.

The only good part of the second game was when Ilya Kovalchuk beat the living daylights out of Brayden Schenn. It was a right cross to remember. Memo to Schenn: As you ice your cheek this morning remember that you got hit because you were defending trashbag Zac Rinaldo. If you haven't seen Kovalchuk drop Schenn, feel free to view it here. John's recap of the game is here, and you can get the Flyer perspective from Broad Street Hockey.

The Last Penguins Game: Pittsburgh, facing back-to-back road afternoon games after a tough loss to Toronto, bounced back with a solid, physical effort against the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins. Their play with a physical edge (injuring at various times Dennis Seidenberg, Brad Marchand, Joe Corvo) and a timely goal by Evegeni Malkin in the last seconds of the first period which helped a 28 save effort by Marc-Andre Fleury, gave the Penguins a 2-1 victory over the Bruins. Pensburgh has their recap of the game here.

The Last Devils-Penguins Game: It was less than a month ago when the Devils went to Pittsburgh and were led by terrific games from Martin Brodeur (41 saves) and Ilya Kovalchuk (GWG, 8 shots, assist) to take a 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The game started a four game road trip for the Devils (the remaining three games in Western Canada) off on the right foot and Brodeur and the Devils fought off a great effort by the Penguins trio of Evgeni Malkin, Chris Kunitz and James Neal, who dominated the Devils in puck possession. (Corsi stats for that game here.) John's recap of that game is here.

The Goal: Status Quo. When the Devils returned from the All Star Break, I was concerned that five games in the course of one week could be problematic. They were playing two games against the Rangers, and one each against Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Montreal. Out of those five games I thought, at best, a 3-2 record or six points would be a good record for the mini-stretch. With six points in the first three games, the Devils have outperformed my expectations. There are still two tough opponents left in this stretch of eastern conference opponents, but so far so good. During this three game winning streak the Devils have matched their opponents' physicality, played sharp special teams and have received good goaltending. To continue to beat teams like Pittsburgh and the Rangers they will need to keep playing this way.

After the jump I will go over a few more items that I think will affect the outcome of this game. Head over to Pensburgh.com for the Penguins fan perspective.

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The Time: 1:00 PM EDT

The Broadcast: TV - MSG+; Radio - 660 AM WFAN

The Game: The New Jersey Devils (28-19-3) at the Philadelphia Flyers (30-14-6)

The Last Devils Game: On Thursday, the Devils hosted what turned out to be a chippy, physical, and downright nasty at times hockey game. It started off very poorly for the Devils. Montreal bossed them around, got a shot in the net off a player in the crease and Andrei Kostitsyn was left literally all alone with Martin Brodeur in the slot. The Canadiens went up 2-0 and it looked bleak for the Devils. Carey Price gifted Zach Parise a goal by misplaying an easy shot to make the score close; but the performance on the ice showed Montreal was the better team. It got worse when Tomas Plekanec got a shorthanded breakaway largely thanks to Kurtis Foster and Mathieu Darche put in the rebound to make it 3-1. The Devils would fight back bit by bit. David Clarkson re-directed an Ilya Kovalchuk shot on their only effective power play situation of the evening to make it 3-2. In the third period, Dainius Zubrus tipped an Alexei Ponikarovsky shot past Carey Price to tie it up; Martin Brodeur came up big in the minutes afterward; and Zach Parise made the most of a shanked Kovalchuk shot to make it 4-3. The Devils tightened up against Montreal and Clarkson iced the game with an empty net goal to end it 5-3. The Devils took a lot of hits, but they wouldn't be knocked out. My late-due-to-technical-difficulties recap of that game is here.

The Last Flyers Game: While the Devils and Canadiens battled, the Flyers hosted Nashville. The Predators were hot, winning 9 out of their last 10 games and 5 in a row going into the game. Philadelphia, as is their wont, did not care. The home team just beat on the visitors for 60 minutes. Wayne Simmonds played out of his mind with a staggering 10 shots on net, scoring the team's first goal in the first period and a power play goal in the third period which then made it 3-1. Matt Read became the league's leader in rookie scoring after stealing a puck, faking a pass, and putting a shot through Andreas Lindback's legs. While Nashville did get one on the board before halfway through the third, the Flyers weren't fazed - especially not Ilya Bryzgalov, who stopped everything else. The Flyers won decisively 4-1. Travis Hughes has this recap of the game over at Broad Street Hockey.

The Last Devils-Flyers Game: It wasn't too long ago that these two played each other. Back on January 21, the Devils and Flyers met for an afternoon game at the Rock. The game itself wasn't the best of games to watch, with all kinds of passes and plays gone astray. The refs certainly had a lot to do as they called 19 different penalties between both teams. Needless to say, special teams were a feature of the game. Unfortunately for the Devils, the Flyers were absolutely on-point on special teams. Philly had no issues dealing with the Devils power play, which was just terrible. What made it stand out was their power play. They made the Devils' PK look pedestrian for a game, scoring twice to ultimately put the Devils away. Ponikarovsky did re-direct a shot past Bryzgalov for New Jersey after Philly's first PPG; but the Devils struggled to get rebounds or make life difficult for their goaltender in their 31 shots. The Devils lost 4-1; my recap of the loss is here.

The Goal: Play smart on special teams, or better yet, avoid getting into those situations in the first place. The last Devils-Flyers game was ultimately decided by who had the superior power play and penalty kill. Since that game, the Flyers have remained good on special teams. The Flyers can boast the league's fourth most successful power play at 20.9%. While they aren't shot machines in 5-on-4 situations with SF/60 of 49.3, no team has scored more than Philly's 43 goals in the standard man advantage. The Flyers have also been strong on the penalty kill. Their success rate of 82.9% is only around average in the league but they have the league's second best SA/60 rate in 4-on-5 situations at 39.9. Their PK would be better with better goaltending. The skaters, at the least, are quite good on special teams. Therefore, the Devils either need to be very good on their own special teams or avoid them as much as they can to keep the game at 5-on-5.

I have a few more thoughts on today's game after the jump. For an opposition point of view, please visit Broad Street Hockey.

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The Time: 7:00 PM EDT

The Broadcast: TV - MSG+; Radio - 660 AM WFAN

The Game: The New Jersey Devils (27-19-3) vs. the Montreal Canadiens (19-22-9)

The Last Devils Game: On Tuesday, the Devils returned to the ice to take on the New York Rangers. The Eastern Conference leaders and the Devils traded chances early on in a frantic first period. Anton Stralman put the visitors up one off a rebound late, forcing the Devils to play from behind. In the second period, Zach Parise tied it up by putting in his own rebound at an incredibly sharp angle. The third period seemed to resemble the last third period between these two teams when Brian Boyle was found all alone with Martin Brodeur at close range and made it 2-1 early on. However, the Devils would get a second equalizer as the power play created a rush off a Ryan Callahan turnover and Ilya Kovalchuk slammed it home. The Rangers were undeterred and immediately responded with a goal from Michael Del Zotto. In the final minute, an Andy Greene dump-in bounced right off a glass support and into the slot. David Clarkson got to the puck and had ice-water in his veins as he clinically put the puck in between Martin Biron's legs. The excitement in OT continued, but a shootout was needed to decide the winner. Kovalchuk and Brodeur sparkled and the Devils beat the Rangers 4-3. My recap of that game is right over here.

The Last Canadiens Game: While the Devils were battling the Rangers, the Canadiens were hosting Buffalo. The home team didn't come out so well in this one. No, the Sabres seemingly had answers for everything Montreal threw at them. Sure, the game started off well for Montreal as Max Pacioretty scored a little over four minutes into the game. This only steeled Buffalo's resolve as they started taking the game right at Montreal's defense and Carey Price. The Sabres put up 11 shots in the first period, 19 in the second, and 10 in the third. Ville Leino equalized four minutes into the second; Paul Gaustad gave Buffalo the lead a little over six minutes into the third; and an empty net goal sealed a 3-1 loss for Montreal. Yes, the Sabres put up 39 shots on Price and one has to wonder how bad it would have been if he wasn't playing so well. Needless to say, Kevin van Steendelaar summed it up well in his recap at Habs Eyes on the Prize: the team that wanted the win got it.

The Last Devils-Canadiens Game: Back on December 17, the Devils went up to Montreal after celebrating Scott Niedermayer Night the night prior. Unfortunately for Les Habs, the Devils weren't fatigued. The Devils came out strong and went up early thanks to Petr Sykora's shot hitting P.K. Subban's elbow and knocking the puck over Price and in. Montreal would respond to their tepid first period with a much stronger second period. Subban scored a more legitimate goal on a 5-on-3 situation early in the second. Patrik Elias scored a power play goal of his own minutes later; which was quickly responded by Chris Campoli firing one in from distance. Lars Eller made it 3-2 on a shot through a screen and Montreal was on their way to holding that lead in the second. They lost it when Adam Larsson hit David Clarkson perfectly on a long pass and Clarkson sweetly beat Price to tie it up. Elias made it a 4-3 game early in the third and became the franchise's all time leading goal scorer. The Devils also showed Montreal how to defend a lead - by getting an insurance goal from Dainius Zubrus on the power play. The Devils went on to win 5-3 and here is my recap of the game.

The Goal: Make smaller mistakes. That sounds strange as a goal but it's quickly becoming my belief about what the Devils need to do more on defense. Against the Rangers among other games, the Devils allowed a breakaway despite two defenders in the general vicinity of who broke away, at least four shifts where the skaters just chased the puck around to little avail, and required their goaltender Martin Brodeur to make several bail-out saves. The defensive effort was inconsistent, with horrible plays following a few good ones. Tonight's opponent is desperate for something - anything -good to happen. They've slid all the way down to the lower end of the East, and they looked second-rate against Buffalo (my impression from Mike Boone's recap at Hockey Inside/Out) despite most of their team resting through the All Star break. If they want to keep any playoff hopes alive, they need wins and fast. They need opportunities to shine. The Devils defense would be wise to learn from their errors against the game against New York among many others and seek to make fewer mistakes. That will allow for fewer opportunities for Montreal and lessen the pressure on Brodeur or the forwards to lead the way.

As usual , I have more to say about tonight's game after the jump. For an opposition perspective, please check out Habs Eyes on the Prize.

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The Time: 7:00 PM EDT

The Broadcast: TV - MSG+; Radio - 660 AM WFAN

The Game: The New Jersey Devils (26-19-3) vs. the New York Rangers (31-12-4)

The Last Devils Game: Last week, the Devils hosted Buffalo. The game wasn't exactly one for the ages. The Sabres went up first when Nathan Gerbe missed a shot. The puck banged off the end-boards and fell out in front for Jordan Leopold to hammer home. From the second period on, the Devils largely controlled the game. Patrik Elias scored a power play goal to equalize in the second period; however, that would be the limits of their scoring on Ryan Miller in the run of play. The Devils out-shot the Sabres by a two-to-one ratio and came agonizingly close to getting a second goal several times. It wasn't to be either in regulation or in overtime. A shootout was necessary. While the Devils went up early thanks to Ilya Kovalchuk, the Devils couldn't seal the win and Jason Pominville tied it up in the standard shootout. Sudden death was needed and it would be quick as Gerbe scored to make it a 2-1 loss for the Devils and earn Buffalo their first road win since December 3, 2011. Kevin's recap of the game is here.

The Last Rangers Game: While the Devils were playing Buffalo, the Rangers were hosting the Winnipeg Jets. This game was more decisive. Ryan Callahan put the home team up early into the game when he banged in a rebound created by Anton Stralman. The team doubled their lead in the second when John Mitchell wristed a puck past Ondrej Pavelec. Brad Richards tripled it in the third when he beat Pavelec short-side. The Jets tried their best to get on the board, but Henrik Lundqvist was just too good and lucky to beat. The Rangers won 3-0 and remain at the top of the Eastern Conference for the time being. Bryan Winters of Blueshirt Banter has this recap of the game.

The Last Devils-Rangers Game: Back on December 20, the New Jersey Devils hosted the New York Rangers for the first time this season. The game started well enough. The Devils controlled play for the first half of the game and even went up 1-0 late in the first period with a goal from Travis Zajac off a rebound. Alas, the Devils couldn't extend the lead and the Rangers slowly came alive. Late in the second period, Artem Anisimov equalized. The third period became the Devils' downfall as Marian Gaborik put the Rangers ahead; Carl Hagelin scored a shorthanded goal to really put the Devils in a hole; and the Rangers nearly matched the Devils shot-for-shot in the third despite leading on the score. Gaborik iced the game with an empty netter to make it a 4-1 loss. I wasn't at all happy with how the game went for the Devils; whereas Bryan Winters was far more pleased at Blueshirt Banter.

The Goal: Wake up early and get right to work. My biggest concern about a game like this is how the Devils will come out. Everyone was relaxing and resting up over the All Star Break. While Peter DeBoer wisely held a relatively long practice on Monday, there could be some cobwebs in the Devils' game. As much as a rivalry game at home will get their hearts pumping, they need to get their heads into the game right away. Once they obtain the necessary level of focus and awareness, they need to maintain it so they don't lose sight of what's going on. If they don't, it can and likely will spell disaster.

I have a few more thoughts on tonight's game after the jump.

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The Time: 7:00 PM EDT

The Broadcast: TV - MSG+; Radio - 660 AM WFAN

The Game: The New Jersey Devils (26-19-2) vs. the Buffalo Sabres (19-24-5)

The Last Devils Game: On Saturday, the Devils hosted their Second Rate Rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers in an afternoon game. From an aesthetic and flow standpoint, it was one ugly game. The Devils had the advantage at 5-on-5 but they didn't exactly make the most of their opportunities. As the game got feistier and grittier, penalties mounted and special teams became important. The Devils, as usual, were inconsistent and ultimately ineffective on their many power plays. In contrast, the Flyers took advantage of having an extra man on the ice and scored on two of their power plays. Those two power play goals eventually won them the game and gave them an insurance goal in the third period. The Devils couldn't answer them and Philly tacked on an empty net goal to make it a 4-1 loss. My recap of the game is here.

The Last Sabres Game: On Saturday night, the Sabres visited St. Louis in an attempt to actually get a result on the road. Unfortunately for Buffalo, they failed again. While the Sabres struck first with Mike Weber's first goal of the season in the first period; the Blues came out hard in the second period. They out-shot the Sabres 14-9 and out-scored them 2-0: B.J. Crombeen's first of the season tied up the game and David Perron gave the home team the lead. A little past halfway through the third, the Blues increased their lead further when David Backes scored on the power play. The Sabres got desperate late and seemingly got a lifeline when Tyler Myers hammered in a shot on the power play to make it 3-2. It wasn't to be when Backes iced the game with an empty net goal, his fourth point of the evening, and sent the Sabres packing with a 4-2 loss.

The Last Devils-Sabres Game: These two teams last met on December 28, 2011 in Newark. The home team Devils certainly put up a good effort that evening. Petr Sykora scored two goals: the first being a fluke and the second coming from one excellent shot. Zach Parise tipped a Mark Fayne shot past Ryan Miller to make it 3-0 and give the home faithful something to feel good about. At least, those who didn't remember or want to recall past third period meltdowns felt good. They right to feel that way on that evening. The Devils held strong in the third period thanks to the defense and Martin Brodeur. Only a Thomas Vanek PPG - a close rebound - cut into the lead. New Jersey won the game 3-1. My recap of the victory is here. For an opposition perspective, David Oleksy has this summary over at Die by the Blade.

The Goal: Stay out of the box; don't give away man advantages to the Sabres. After the jump, I'm going to provide more detail but to keep it short here, the Sabres are not a good 5-on-5 team. However, they are a pretty good power play team. They are about average when it comes to power play success as they are tied for fourteenth in the league with a 18.3% success rate. They are also fifteenth in the league in power play opportunities with 165. What hasn't been so average is their shot generation. In 5-on-4 situations, they are tied for eighth in the league in SF/60 with 52.5. That's a rate even higher than the Flyers. Moreover, Buffalo's top two scorers, Jason Pominville (6 PPGs) and Thomas Vanek (8 PPGs) have been prolific in these situations. The Devils' penalty kill has been a bit vulnerable in recent games and the Sabres could take full advantage like the Flyers did on Saturday. While I don't think the PK is suddenly a paper tiger, they can do themselves some favors by not going to the box so much. If they hand Buffalo many (4+) opportunities on the power play, then they are just making this game more difficult for themselves than it really needs to be.

I have more thoughts on tonight's game after the jump. For an opposition perspective, please check out Die by the Blade.

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The Time: 1:00 PM EDT

The Broadcast: TV - MSG+; Radio - 660 AM WFAN

The Game: The New Jersey Devils (26-18-2) vs. the Philadelphia Flyers (27-14-4)

The Last Devils Game: On Thursday night, the Devils hosted the Boston Bruins. The last time the Bruins came to Newark, it wasn't pretty at all as the Devils got whipped 6-1. Witnessing the Devils out-shooting and even out-playing the Bruins for first two periods in this game certainly was great with that in mind. However, the Devils could only beat Tim Thomas once and the B's found their "On" switch in the second intermission. The Bruins just overwhelmed the Devils for the first 9-10 minutes of the third; holding the Devils shot-less (save for one post), putting up rubber on Martin Brodeur, and making the Devils skaters look vulnerable in their own end. The Bruins tied the game up, converted their lone power play of the evening, and then tacked a third goal on the board as the Elias line plus Kurtis Foster & Anton Volchenkov managed to have one of the worst shifts I've seen in a while. Yep, the Bruins stormed back and held a commanding 3-1 lead not even ten minutes into the third period. The Devils had no answer, weren't able to get back into the game, and an empty-net goal made it a 4-1 loss. My recap of that experience is right here.

The Last Flyers Game: While the Devils were either looking good or looking bad against Boston (depends on the time), the Philadelphia Flyers were in Long Island taking on New York's other-other team, the Islanders. Devils fans may feel bad about a 4-goal third period that lost the game; but Flyers fans definitely feel bad about their team not showing up against the Isles. The Islanders out-shot them in the first period 12-8 and Sergey Bobrovsky was the first, second, and third reason why the Isles didn't score then. While the Flyers realized they needed to shoot more, woke up, and proceeded to get a lot of rubber on Evgeni Nabokov (41 shots!); the Isles were too busy scoring goals. They struck first within the first minute of the second period, and got a shorty minutes later. The Isles upped their lead to three with a power play blast from Mark Streit. Matt Read gave the Flyers some life with a goal with a little under 10 minutes to play; but it turned out to be consolation. The Isles got an empty net goal to send the Flyers packing 4-1. Kreider of KreiderDesigns recapped the game over at Broad Street Hockey and wondered where was the jam went.

The Last Devils-Flyers Game: The last time these two teams played each other was way back on November 3, 2011. The Devils were visiting Philadelphia and lost their last three games prior to that game. It wasn't easy, but the Devils were able to snap that streak. They out-shot the Flyers heavily; they owned them in Corsi; and they took advantage of their defense giving away the puck. Yet, the Devils had to answer two Flyers goals in the second period with two of their own - accomplished by Patrik Elias and Adam Henrique, scoring his first goal of the season. The Devils had to equalize again in the third period, responding to Max Talbot's penalty shot goal when David Clarkson was all alone with the goaltender. Overtime would prove fruitless, so the Devils took the win in the shootout, 4-3. My recap of that streak-busting win is right here, wherein I praised their performance. Travis Hughes has this recap of the loss over at Broad Street Hockey, lamenting their defense.

The Goal: The defensive effort must be on point, in the slot, and generally in position. While the Philadelphia Flyers aren't a great possession team (50.97% in close-score Fenwick is good, not great), they have been very good at getting pucks on net. They have the fifth best SF/60 rate at 5-on-5 in the NHL at 32.3, behind only Boston (you know them), Detroit, San Jose and Pittsburgh. In all situations, the Flyers average 32.5 shots per game, the fifth highest in the league. The Flyers have out-shot their opponents 30 times out of 45 this season and they have a record of 19-9-2 when they do so. The Flyers offense is to be respected at all times. Under normal circumstances, this would be a challenge for the Devils' defense, to say the least. Making matters worse is that Henrik Tallinder is out for today's game and the next 6 to 8 weeks. Missing a veteran defenseman who is used to playing guys like Claude Giroux and Danny Briere hurts and his presence will be missed today. If the rest of the defensemen don't up their game in Tallinder's absence and/or the forwards aren't effective in backchecking, then we could very well see another loss.

I have more thoughts on today's game after the jump. Please check out Broad Street Hockey for opinions about the Second Rate Rivals for this game.

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