With that in mind, veteran coach Jacques Lemaire shuffled the deck again Thursday night and found a winner, as he promoted Dainius Zubrus to the top line between Langenbrunner and Parise. It produced a pair of goals, including the game winner, in a 4-2 decision over the rival New York Rangers at MSG.
"You know what? I've been practicing with them quite a bit, but in games, we seem to switch a lot," Zubrus explained to ESPN.com on Thursday night. "We've used Nieds [Rob Niedermayer] in there, and obviously Travis. It seems like Jacques has been rotating centers with different lines quite a bit right now.
"I started the game with them tonight, then I played with [Brian] Rolston and [Nicklas] Bergfors for about a period. Then, I went back with [Langenbrunner and Parise]. There's quite a bit of switching, but at the end of the day, it's a big win for us."
That's vintage Lemaire, looking for matchups during games. No line is safe. With the Devils ranked 21st in the NHL in offense, he has to mix and match and maximize what he has. The kind-of promotion for Zubrus produced his first goal of the season, and he made it count with the game winner.
"It wasn't a highlight goal, obviously," Zubrus said. "The games against these guys are always intense, always a good pace. The fans are into it, the players are into it, they're always good games."
Much has been made of the Rangers' hot start to the season, and deservedly so. But, ahem, don't look now, but the ugly cousins from the across the Hudson River have won five of six games after dropping their opening two games. They lost Brian Gionta and John Madden, among others, via free agency in the offseason, but every year, GM Lou Lamoriello's Devils just seem to find a way. A warning to anyone who dares to pick them to miss the playoffs.
"Sure, we lost some players in the summertime, and they were good people and good players," Zubrus said. "But we've had young players come in and do a good job, Bergy [Bergfors] scored a big goal tonight. Niedermayer [six points in eight games] has also come in and done a good job. It's just the way the team is built -- it's not about one guy.
"It's nice to be part of an organization where everybody is always trying to be on the same page and where winning is everything."
Pierre LeBrun covers the NHL for ESPN.com, joining the Web site in September 2008 after spending 13 years with The Canadian Press as its national hockey columnist. LeBrun also was a contributor to Rogers Sportsnet and a regular guest on CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada." In 2005, he won Sports Media Canada's top sports writing award for his coverage of the 2004-05 NHL lockout. LeBrun is based in Toronto and continues to be a weekly guest on "Hockey Night."
Pierre won't mind our mentioning (we think) that he is a fantasy baseball and football nut and has a very unhealthy obsession with Def Leppard.
Pierre LeBrun
