BUFFALO – The coach cleared some air with the Devils’ biggest-ever free-agent acquisition, recovering from significant injury. Coach Brent Sutter liked what he saw afterward from Brian Rolston.
“That was Brian’s best game since he’s been with us, even before he was injured,” Sutter said after last night’s 5-3 victory over the Sabres. “He was moving and his battle level was high. There are still things he can get better at. But he’s taking strides.
“It’s always important that a coach has communication with his players. Sometimes it’s in a very supportive way, other times, it’s kind of a wake-up.”
Asked which this was, Sutter said, “A little bit of both.”
Rolston wasn’t even the biggest star of the victory, but he played more like what the Devils expect from the forward they’re paying $5 million for each of four years.
As if in response to the sit-down with Sutter, one night after his debatable slapshot was stopped to seal a shootout loss in Toronto, Rolston scored a regulation goal of the less majestic variety, his first since he suffered his Oct. 16 ankle sprain, which kept him out 18 games.
“It was just more for him to understand the way I thought he was playing and things he needed to do to get his game back in line, to get to starting point,” Sutter said of the talk. “The game isn’t just about skill. That was something I wanted to emphasize to him. He understood. It was a mild-mannered conversation.
“He responded well, whether from that, I don’t know. But I thought he had a good game tonight.”
Rolston put the finishing touch on a game that snapped the Devils’ two-game (0-1-1) losing streak, and gave them three points in a two-night road trip. The Devils remain perfect, 10-0, when they score three in regulation or overtime (twice), in the 19 games (11-7-1) since they lost Martin Brodeur.
Devils 5 Sabres 3