njdtv MyDevils Account
DEVILS TV
Saturday, June 2, 2012
FINAL
OT
2 - 1
FINAL OT 1 2 3 OT T
Kings 1 0 0 1 2
Devils 0 0 1 0 1
In order to view this page you need JavaScript and Flash Player 9+ support!
GOAL SCORERS

LAK:   D. Doughty (07:49 - 1st) , J. Carter (13:42 - OT)
NJD:   R. Carter (02:59 - 3rd)
GOALIES

LAK: J. Quick (W)
 NJD: M. Brodeur (L)
Devils seek quick start in Game 2 vs. Kings
NHL.com

KINGS at DEVILS

(Los Angeles leads best-of-seven series, 1-0)

TV:
NBC, CBC, RDS  RADIO: WFAN 660 AM

Big Story: The Kings will go for their 10th straight road win in the playoffs and 12th in a row dating back to last season. If they get it, they will not only take a 2-0 lead in the series before it shifts back to Los Angeles next week, they will also tie the NHL record for most road wins in a single postseason. The Devils have to snap the Kings' impressive road winning streak in order to break even in the series after Anze Kopitar's overtime goal in Game 1 gave L.A. a 2-1 win.

Team Scope:

Kings:
They've been at their best in Game 2s this postseason, which of course bodes well for Saturday night at Prudential Center. The Kings are 3-0 in Game 2s (they are 13-2 in the playoffs) and they have their combined largest margin of victory in them at 13-4.

"It's not about what happened, who we played last time, anything like that," coach Darryl Sutter said. "I think we know our opponent is a lot tougher than anyone we played yet."

Kopitar's goal 8:13 into overtime gave the Kings the win in Game 1. To a man, the players and coaches all felt they were a bit sluggish to start the game and did not come close to playing their best. However, they were able to squeak out the win. Jonathan Quick needed to make only 17 saves and the Kings also got a first-period goal from Colin Fraser off a strong forecheck by Jordan Nolan.

In fact, L.A.'s fourth line of Fraser, Nolan and Brad Richardson provided some of their best five-on-five shifts in the game. Kings coach Darryl Sutter wasn't all that pleased with the way some of his top-end guys played, but he was still able to roll four lines and get strong games out of some of the bottom-six forwards.

"The first thing I could see (Wednesday) night, we did have some sluggish guys, and it was at the top end of our skill set in terms of players," Sutter said. "It doesn't bother me to play -- I don't call them our fourth line, I call it Colin Fraser and whoever is playing with him. So if they're on, they can play against anybody."

Devils: They're trying to look at the positives instead of the fact that they lost Game 1 and trail in the series. The Devils, much like the Kings, do not feel they played even close to their best game, but they still had a chance to win it in the third period and certainly in overtime.

They managed only 18 shots on goal, which they know is not enough to beat Quick, but some of their best chances came when the shot did not end up on net. For instance, David Clarkson misfired on several chances early in the game and Mark Fayne had a sure goal on his stick roughly 10 minutes into the third period, but the puck was bouncing and he muffed the shot wide right.

"For us, we felt that, yeah, we missed an opportunity because we were able to hang around against this team not playing our best game," center Travis Zajac said. "Still having a chance to win, that makes us feel pretty good that we can play better, be a little bit more successful."

To be successful in Game 2, the Devils know they have to move their feet better and be a lot quicker than they were in Game 1. They need to establish their forecheck early and avoid giving the puck away in the neutral zone, which they were guilty of more times than they would have liked in Game 1.

The Devils felt nerves were partially to blame for all that, but they should be gone now.

"I think as the game went on, we did get better," Zajac said. "We started to make some more plays. We started to play our aggressive style. So I think we take the positive out of that and we move on."

Who's Hot: Kopitar's OT winner was his second goal in as many games, third in the last four, and seventh of the playoffs. He has 12 points in the last nine games. … Clarkson has assists in back-to-back games.

Injury Report: Both teams are healthy and likely won't have any lineup changes from Game 1.

Stat Pack: A lot is being made of the Ilya Kovalchuk-Drew Doughty matchup from Game 1. Kovalchuk actually played only 49.4 percent of his even-strength shifts against Doughty and his defense partner Rob Scuderi. He played 41.1 percent against Willie Mitchell and Slava Voynov as well as 9.5 percent against Matt Greene and Alec Martinez. However, after playing only four of his first 11 even-strength shifts against Doughty and Scuderi, he played eight of his last 11.

Puck Drop: In answering a question about familiarity with the Devils, or lack thereof, Sutter had this gem of a line:

"Most of these guys watched Marty (Brodeur) when they were kids," he said.






SCHEDULE

HOME
AWAY
PROMOTIONAL

STANDINGS

EASTERN CONFERENCE
  TEAM GP W L OT GF GA PTS
1 z - PIT 48 36 12 0 165 119 72
2 y - MTL 48 29 14 5 149 126 63
3 y - WSH 48 27 18 3 149 130 57
4 x - BOS 48 28 14 6 131 109 62
5 x - TOR 48 26 17 5 145 133 57
6 x - NYR 48 26 18 4 130 112 56
7 x - OTT 48 25 17 6 116 104 56
8 x - NYI 48 24 17 7 139 139 55
9 WPG 48 24 21 3 128 144 51
10 PHI 48 23 22 3 133 141 49
11 NJD 48 19 19 10 112 129 48
12 BUF 48 21 21 6 125 143 48
13 CAR 48 19 25 4 128 160 42
14 TBL 48 18 26 4 148 150 40
15 FLA 48 15 27 6 112 171 36

STATS

2012-2013 REGULAR SEASON
SKATERS: GP G A +/- Pts
P. Elias 48 14 22 5 36
I. Kovalchuk 37 11 20 -6 31
D. Clarkson 48 15 9 -6 24
T. Zajac 48 7 13 -5 20
M. Zidlicky 48 4 15 -12 19
S. Sullivan 42 7 10 -12 17
A. Henrique 42 11 5 -3 16
A. Greene 48 4 12 12 16
S. Bernier 47 8 7 -7 15
R. Carter 44 6 9 -2 15
 
GOALIES: W L OT Sv% GAA
M. Brodeur 13 9 7 .901 2.22
J. Hedberg 6 10 3 .883 2.76
 
          
(c) New Jersey Devils 2013 - All Rights Reserved
newjerseydevils.com is the official web site of the New Jersey Devils, a member team of the National Hockey League ("NHL"). NHL, the NHL Shield, the word mark and image of the Stanley Cup and NHL Conference logos are registered trademarks of the National Hockey League. All NHL logos and marks and NHL team logos and marks as well as all other proprietary materials depicted herein are the property of the NHL and the respective NHL teams and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of NHL Enterprises, L.P. Copyright © 1999-2013 New Jersey Devils and the National Hockey League. All Rights Reserved.

Privacy Policy | AdChoices | Advertise With Us | Contact Us | Terms of UseEmploymentNHL.com Terms of Use |  Site Map