Yesterday in CBC's afternoon game the New Jersey Devils fell to the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 in New Jersey. Here are some notes on that game, as well as some other notes on the Devils and teams around the league.

- Travis Zajac has been practicing with the Devils for the last little while and he will travel with the team on this upcoming two-game road trip. Zajac will not play in any of those games, but he will practice with the team. It looks like he will return next week at some point which is great news for the Devils.

- New Jersey lost another big game yesterday. A win would have put them in a tie for 8th place in the Eastern Conference, but the Devils, as you all saw, didn't come through. The Devils seem to fall down in the standings between 10-12, then rise up to 7th or 8th, then lose games again. Hopefully when Zajac returns they can gain some consistency.

- Afternoon games are lame. In most cases they are just not very good games. I don't mind watching hockey in the afternoon but apparently the players don't like playing in them.

- Mattias Tedenby has been playing solid hockey as of late and it's finally showing. It's obviously nothing major but he's currently on a two-game point streak. Hopefully he can get himself some more ice-time.

- All three members of the Devils top line - Zach Parise, Adam Henrique and Ilya Kovalchuk - lost their point streaks yesterday. Hopefully for the Devils they can get back on track tomorrow against the Lightning in what will certainly be a huge game.

Around the League

- The Devils continue to shop around the league in hopes of adding a defenseman. The problem being not many are available and the prices are ridiculously high for the one's that are at this point in the season. The Devils will have to just wait until they're healthy and hope for the best.

- Ryan Suter's agent Neil Seehy told me earlier in the week that "Ryan likes it very much in Nashville" and that the two sides will continue to talk in hopes of getting an extension signed.

- With Niklas Backstrom currently making $6M per season and locked up for another year after this one, the Wild will likely not be able to retain Josh Harding. Harding has been playing some fantastic hockey this season and he will want to look elsewhere for a starting job. Perhaps New Jersey would express interest? The 27 year old net-minder would likely be a good fit.

- The Philadelphia Flyers lead the NHL in goals with 101. Not bad for a team that many suggested would have trouble scoring. With that said, their goals per game total will certainly decrease quite a bit if Claude Giroux misses an extended period of time. Let's hope he does not have a concussion and that his injury is not serious.

- Lastly, how about the Minnesota Wild? They have only score 79 goals, eight more than New Jersey in two more games, yet they are currently first in the NHL and the Devils are 12th in the Eastern Conference.

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