The Flyers Team A beat the Devils B Squad last night 3-2 in Trenton. The first period was filled with fights and Cam Janssen may have hurt his shoulder. The Flyers came out with speed and with something to prove. With many of the Devils starters sitting out, the Flyers took advantage early by taking a 2-0 lead. During the second period, it looked like the Flyers had control for most of the period, but when the third period came, the Devils were on the power play and Zach Parise and Andy Greene connected to tie the game up 2-2. But Scottie Upshall scored the go-ahead goal to give the Flyers the lead for good.
WOO Analysis: I know. It is only the first preseason game. But I noticed a big difference between Brent Sutter's style versus Claude Julien.
Brent Sutter likes his team to be aggressive on the forecheck and had his team doing that constantly throughout the game. Devils hockey was successful throughout the years by being aggressive and dictating the tempo of the game by shoving a chess match that only a Devils roster was built upon to win. Unlike last year, Julien's style seemed to be passive aggressive (oxymoron) where the Devils did not forecheck as much and waited for an opportunity to arise rather than fight for it. Last year's team seemed to rely offensively with the top two lines scoring, the checking line shutting down their opponent's top line, and the fourth line comes in whenever energy is needed. To me, it was too predictable. You need to have a team, whose best line is the line that is currently out on the ice. Meaning: It doesn’t matter what line a coach puts out. Every line is expected to forecheck, play physically, position themselves well defensively, and score goals going hard to the net. Some lines may do better than others but all is expected to the same. Moreover, Sutter will get more guys involved in the game and have his “team” will dictate the brand of hockey they will play. That is Sutter Hockey.
It is more than likely that RW Jamie Langenbrunner will need surgery. He rested his groin during the summer hoping that will heal. This will be a big loss to the Devils because of the time and nature of this kind of injury. Anyone that has played hockey knows that this injury is unpredictable and pushing off your skate to accelerate can be very painful. This may open up a spot for other young right wingers as Sergei Brylin is filling in for Langenbrunner. We will find out soon which option he takes.
Here are some pictures sent in from Agnes from the Devils training camp:
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