I have not been following the Devils this year. What happened to Adam Larsson?
His play has fallen off what it was in the early part of the season, and he was benched for the last few games of the season for Harrold. I expect him to get a chance in this series eventually though. He'll be hungry when he comes back, Devils fans view him as an "ace in the hole".
Last edited by PWJunior: 04-13-2012 at 05:56 PM.
Reason: Deleted crap
Getting ready to head down with a fellow HF'er for tonight's game. Other HF'ers have driven in from Texas for the weekend. We're all geeked out, excited for this one.
__________________ Gudbranson fanboy and defender for liiiiiife!
If my daily fact NHL calendar is correct (wikipedia disagrees with the date), it held a good omen for the Panthers today: 15 years ago to the day, current Coach Kevin Dineen scored the final goal in Harford franchise history. He also scored the first ever goal for the Carolina Hurricanes the following season. Numerology (or whatever) favours Florida!
If my daily fact NHL calendar is correct (wikipedia disagrees with the date), it held a good omen for the Panthers today: 15 years ago to the day, current Coach Kevin Dineen scored the final goal in Harford franchise history. He also scored the first ever goal for the Carolina Hurricanes the following season. Numerology (or whatever) favours Florida!
Florida:
- Get puck behind the goal line and cycle, New Jersey plays a pressure defense and can have numbers caught behind the goal line leaving options in front.
- Throw everything at Brodeur, his rebound control is abysmal and you will get secondary chances.
- Keep this game 5 on 5. New Jersey has the top special teams since the allstar game. Their PP is running over 20% and their PK is well over 90% with short handed goals. Florida has a good PP but a poor PK.
- Score the first goal, you really don't want to be playing from behind against an opportunistic Devils team.
Devils:
- Smart neutral zone plays, if they are sloppy in the neutral zone they may get behind early.
- Kovalchuk...If he comes to play I doubt Florida has too many answers for him.
- Shutdown the top line, if this line is shut down NJ will take their chances against secondary scoring.
- The biggest challenge is too keep track of Florida's blueline, they will jump into the rush and they will pinch in. Don't let their defensmen beat them.
Will be rootin for Florida mostly here, hoping for a great series either way. Gonna be tough for the Panthers. Devils have been playing good hockey near the end. I can't say I'm too thrilled about their goaltending, plus they do have Jovo on their defense.
Another important key for the Panthers. Throw the puck at Brodeur whenever you can. He tends to let up softies every now and then from pucks bring thrown at his feet when he's not expecting it....
I tend to agree on the Florida defenseman. I like them as they are a solid bunch with some nice skills respectively, but they do like to pinch and take some chances with the puck either in finding shooting lanes or pushing the puck into the zone itself.
Hopefully the Devils can force some opportunities from that and take advantage.
