Coach Johnny Mac announced that the Devils will ice the same team that played the Caps tonight against the Flames. The Devils are trying to earn back-to-back victories for the first time this season after being unsuccessful the past four times.

Don't fix what is not broken, or "status quo", is the motto.

The Devil's notorious struggles this season is overshadowing another sub plot of the game tonight - The return of Coach Brent Sutter to The Rock after spending two seasons with the Devils.

His departure has been well documented but as the game nears Coach Sutter shed some more light on the situation citing that he and Uncle Lou had an understanding that he would take the job and evaluate year by year how he felt being away from his family. Some things are more important than hockey, was basically his comments. I fully back and understand that!
We will never know exactly what happened but I give him credit for staying true to his feelings. Enough said - He is now a Flame.

The big question is; Will Matt "The Spark Plug" Tedenby continue his strong play? Also known as "Teddy" in the locker room, he has brought a nice presence of speed to compliment Elias and Arnott on the line.

It looks like the Devils are rolling three #2 lines and one #3 line these days. They do not have a true #1 offensive threat at the moment. I think that will change when Parise is healthy and back on the ice.
If the Devils can get any consistency and chemistry from any one line then Parise can come back and play with Zajac and perhaps Kovalchuk again. I believe that could be a true #1 line.

Hedberg in net. Henrik Karlsson in net for the Flames.

Hedberg, who needed a good showing in a Devils uniform, shut out the potent Capitals with 30 saves. The most memorable one on Alex Semin's shot from the slot and a glove save.
"It felt very good,"... "We needed the win badly. The way we played tonight, we deserved it. We got the crucial first goal and from there on, we played really solid." - Said Hedberg. Spot on!

Basement dwelling is something Devils fans are not accustomed to. So, what gives?

Let's go Devils!

Truly yours,
The Devils Advocate

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