New Jersey Devils coach Pete DeBoer confirmed his goalie rotation for the next two games. Martin Brodeur will start Monday against the Edmonton Oilers and Cory Schneider will face his former team, the Vancouver Canucks, on Tuesday.
"When we got Cory, and then I got the schedule, it became a no-brainer," DeBoer told reporters while the Devils took part in an optional skate in preparation for Monday's game in Edmonton. "I didn't have to spend a lot of time on it. With the back-to-back situation the plan was to split them on back-to-backs, especially early in the season anyway. It just made sense that those would be how we would rotate them in the two games.
"You talk to any player. They want to play against their old team. There is a comfort level there with the personnel on the other side, with the arena, with the environment. And there is obviously motivation there anytime you leave a team, regardless of the circumstances, to go back and play against them. He's no different than any other player."
Defenseman Mark Fayne and forwards Jacob Josesfon, Rostislav Olesz and Mattias Tedenby (injured non-roster list) are the Devils' scratches. DeBoer is also keeping Jaromir Jagr and Patrik Elias together despite the duo being held scoreless in New Jersey's first two games.
"We're going to move some people around. I'm not married to anything. We have Elias back with Jagr [on Monday] I'm hoping those two can get some chemistry. They should be able to have some," DeBoer said.
For the Oilers (0-2-0), Ryan Smyth will be a healthy scratch and Jason LaBarbera will make his first start in goal.