RALEIGH – All along, the Devils acted as if they were getting along just fine without Brendan Morrison and Patrik Elias. Their 5-3-1-1 record while those two were unsigned wasn’t bad, but one of the areas where Morrison and Elias contribute most sputtered, at best.
The power play’s failure in three straight games was the big reason the two were activated so quickly, just three days after signing. The Devils had been blanked on the power play in six of their first nine games, and they squandered 10 chances in their past three games entering last night, when they opened the new arena here against the Hurricanes.
But they weren’t getting help from Morrison last night because he sat out what would have been his season debut with a bruised foot suffered in the morning skate. He may be available in Philadelphia tonight.
Their schedule comes in fits and spurts, back-to-back road games, followed by three days off in back-to-back weeks. And their play follows suit.
“Nobody has the feeling that the regular season has started because we don’t play,” Martin Brodeur said. “You can see there is a little lack of an edge.”
Starting another two-game, two-night road trip, the Devils were hoping to avoid duplicating the two-loss swing of last weekend, when they fell in Dallas and St. Louis, zipped on the power play each game.
In fact, the Devils were looking for their first road power-play goal of the season, missing all nine chances they had in their first four (1-2-1) away from home.
“Probably too much thinking,” was Robbie Ftorek’s diagnosis of his team’s recent power-play troubles. They scored at a 30-percent clip in their first six games, 6-on-20 chances, before hitting their three-game drought.
“The power play is not going right now,” Petr Sykora admitted. “We tried to make a lot of passes through people. When things are not going well, you have to get the puck to net and put the rebound in.”
Or get your quarterbacks out there. Scott Niedermayer was removed from the power play in Wednesday’s 2-1 victory over the Blues at the Meadowlands. Lyle Odelein worked with Brian Rolston, while Brian Rafalski was paired with Sheldon Souray. It was a curious move by Ftorek, given Niedermayer’s long tenure at the Devil point. He had two power-play points this season, second on the team to the four of rookie Scott Gomez.
Ftorek should be ready to give Morrison a shot at setting up goals. As a rookie, Morrison finished tied with Jason Arnott for third on the team with 20 power-play points, behind Sykora’s 26 and Niedermayer’s 21. Elias had another 13 power play points despite limited time.
Devils complete this road trip tonight in Philly. Then they’re off until Montreal visits Wednesday… Brad Bombardir (throat) and Jason Arnott (mouth) are on the injured reserve list.