League-leaders, 3-0 against the Stanley Cup champions who visit Newark tonight, and still, the Devils are not impressed. Nearing the halfway point, they say they don’t expect special admiration yet.
“What’s the respect a first-place team should get in December? Is there a trophy for that?” captain Jamie Langenbrunner fairly spat.
“I don’t think it matters if we get respect or not,” Brian Rolston said. “It’s early in the season, and we’re happy with where we’re at, but . . .”
Expectations aside, the Devils can figure on being taken much more seriously now. This season, they swept their final three regular-season visits to the doomed dome of the Igloo, and the Penguins begin repaying those visits tonight.
“Yeah. We were 3-0 against Washington, too,” Martin Brodeur said, noting Saturday’s 4-1 road loss that ended that mastery over the Southeast-leading Caps.
Brodeur says the standings, and their .743 point percentage, have brought respect from their foes.
“I think people understand how hard it is to play against us,” Brodeur said. “With coaches talking about that, I think everyone listened a little.
“When you do that, you get a level of respect — maybe not like Chicago with their superstars and bigger names, but because of how effective we’ve been, we’ve opened some eyes and built it up through the first 35 games this year.
“I don’t think it was there, that high an opinion of us, at the start of the season.”
The Devils stand 10-2 in their last 12 overall and 13-2 in their last 15 in Newark. Brodeur set the NHL career shutout record with his 104th in Pittsburgh Dec. 21, and has allowed only goals to Alex Goligoski and Ruslan Fedotenko in their three meetings this season, with New Jersey outscoring the Pens 12-2 in the series thus far.
Opening their ninth set of back-to-backs, the Devils visit those Central-leading Blackhawks tomorrow. The Devils are 5-3 in the first games of consecutive nights, and a remarkable 8-0 in the second games.
“Two top teams. It seems like we’re always playing top teams,” Jacques Lemaire said. “Besides playing well and trying to win games, against the best teams, it builds up confidence. That’s what it is.”
They’ve measured up regularly this season, even while beset by injuries, as they are now. They’re making this a special season, and themselves one of the teams to beat.
*** Bryce Salvador is expected to sit out tonight with a “lower body” injury, incurred when he drew a hooking penalty in the second period of Monday’s 3-2 victory over Atlanta in Newark. Matt Corrente was recalled on an emergency basis, one day after being assigned to Lowell when David Clarkson was activated.
Curiously, the Devils placed Pierre-Luc Leblond on retroactive IR to Dec. 17. That could free a roster spot for a waiver claim on Mathieu Schneider, exposed by Vancouver.