They took away his “C,” but when Lou Lamoriello failed to land a No. 1 center, the Devils came back to Patrik Elias. As permanent as it gets with deck-shuffler Brent Sutter, the Devils will now depend on the converted star winger as their prime playmaking pivot, ironically the replacement for Scott Gomez.
Elias now wears an “A,” and puts them up, too. One example completed Tuesday’s slump-snapping victory in Toronto. Elias stickhandled up the right boards, cut across to the middle, then slipped an unmissable pass to the right side of the crease, around the goalie who expected Elias’ old, big shot. Zach Parise had an easy open-net tap-in.
Elias has been scoring at a point-per-game pace for the past 22, a pretty good trick on a Devils team that struggles offensively. In the past 12, however, a marked change has taken place. He has his 12 points in that dozen, 11 of them assists.
When the deadline had passed and all the potential deals for a middleman fell through, Elias seemed insulted at the suggestion that the Devils were in trouble because of that failure, feeling overlooked or underappreciated. Initially skeptical, he says he’s now pleased and comfortable at center.
The two-Cup winner as a left wing, who turns 32 next month, was moved to the middle Nov. 16, and the next night, the Devils launched their nine-game winning streak.
He denies, though, that Lamoriello’s inability to acquire a top center at the trade deadline is making him change his style to something more like that of Gomez, the center they never replaced.
“That’s the way it works out sometimes, I guess,” Elias said. “I’m in the middle, so I’m on the puck a little more.
“When teams pay more attention to you there, and can get to you more easily, you have to give it to the guys on the side. You go on streaks. I had more goals than assists for a while.”
Elias, who led the Devils with 48 assists last season, and shares this year’s lead with Parise at 30, was pointless in the Devils’ three-game winless (0-2-1) streak that ended Tuesday.
For New Jersey to take best advantage of Martin Brodeur’s prowess, it needs to score more than two in regulation per game, something it has achieved only little more than half the time, 35 of 67 games.
A former member of what still stands as perhaps the Devils’ best-ever attack, the “A Line” with Jason Arnott and Petr Sykora, there was always playmaking in Elias’ game, along with the shot.
He says part of the Devils’ offensive troubles are the result of tension.
“You need a kind of careless thinking, that when you get chances, that you [assume you’ll score]. Focused, but not a big deal that you’re going to put it in,” Elias said.
“We can’t rely on Marty every game. You need to score goals to win.”
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Despite stopping 41 in his 26th straight start, Brodeur dismissed the idea that he needs rest. “You’re not going to ask Elias or John Madden to take the day off in the middle of the season to be ready for the playoffs,” said Brodeur, who allowed too many rebounds for comfort. . . . Devils play host to Tampa tomorrow and return to visit Toronto Saturday, opening four-game road trip.