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Devils again able to ice a full team

Friday, 10.15.2010 / 12:52 PM / NHL Insider

By Dan Rosen - NHL.com Senior Writer

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Devils again able to ice a full team
After skating two games shorthanded, the New Jersey Devils have been able to replenish their roster and will have four full forward lines available Friday against Colorado.
NEWARK, N.J. -- Zach Parise could look around the ice at Prudential Center and breathe a little sigh of relief.

The New Jersey Devils will have a full complement of skaters for Friday's game against Colorado, a welcome sign to Parise and his teammates after the team played shorthanded Monday against Pittsburgh and Wednesday in Buffalo due to salary-cap constraints and injuries.

The Devils dressed only 15 skaters against the Penguins and lost, 3-1. They had 16 against Buffalo and managed to outplay the Sabres in a 1-0 overtime victory. It was their first win after a pair of regulation losses and one in a shootout to start the season.

"We have to deal with (the salary-cap problems) and we can't do anything about it, but now that we will get some more forwards in there, it will be nice," Parise told NHL.com. "It gets pretty tiring, especially early in the game, so it'll be nice to have four lines and balance things out a little more."

 
With Brian Rolston going on injured reserve after having sports hernia surgery Thursday, the Devils are allowed to go roughly $5 million (Rolston's annual salary) over the cap until he returns. They called up centers Jacob Josefson and Tim Sestito and defenseman Matthew Corrente from Albany of the AHL.

All three will be in the lineup, giving the Devils 20 roster players, including goalies Martin Brodeur and Johan Hedberg, for Friday's game. Rolston isn't due back for at least a month.

Josefson was centering the third line, between Dainius Zubrus and David Clarkson. Sestito was on the fourth line with Rod Pelley and Adam Mair. Corrente was paired with fellow rookie Alexander Urbom.

"It's not like there are excuses about the situation we're in, but it's nice when you have a couple of guys coming back playing," Clarkson told NHL.com. "These are guys that had good camps and are getting an opportunity to be here. It helps us out with more lines, but at the end of the day I don't think that was the reason, or it had anything to do with what was going on."

Brodeur could tell the Devils got more comfortable against Buffalo because they knew what to expect and how to manage their shift lengths knowing there weren't too many players in reserve.

"We didn't attack as much early in the game against Pittsburgh probably not knowing what to expect," he told NHL.com. "Guys didn't want to give it all out on one shift knowing they had another 59 minutes to play. I think the second game around it went a lot better because everyone knew exactly what to expect."

As much as they are happy to have four forward lines, the Devils' defense remains depleted.

Anton Volchenkov (broken nose, stiff neck) will miss his third-straight game and Mark Fraser had surgery Thursday to repair a fractured right hand, which will sideline him 4-6 weeks. The Devils have not put Fraser on injured reserve as of yet, but if they do they could save another $500,000 until he returns. Bryce Salvador remains out with a concussion.

Urbom and Matt Taormina did not have any NHL experience before opening night this season. Corrente played in 12 games last season, but at times was asked to fill in at right wing.

"They're doing a good job," Parise said, speaking specifically of Urbom and Taormina, who have played in all four games this season. "We (as forwards) don't cheat often, but I thought the game in Buffalo was their best game. The gap was great, they moved the puck up quick. They didn't give Buffalo much of a chance to get anything offensively going, so it was good."

Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl

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