Toronto Maple Leafs Face Newly Acquired Ilya Kovalchuk and New Jersey Devils

The Leafs with their newly acquired stud defenseman Dion Phaneuf, goal tender J.S. Giguere and defensive forward Fredrik Sjostrom, hosted the Martin Brodeur-less Devils on Tuesday handing them a 3-0 loss a the ACC.

Tonight in New Jersey: Brodeur will be between the pipes and the newest addition to the Devils, Ilya Kovachuk will be skating down the right side. Travis Zajac will centre the line and on the left side will be Zach Parise.

This figure’s to be a dangerous scoring line and one with the fire power the Devils have been without for quite sometime.

The game previous to the Jann Danis back-stopped 3-0 loss in Toronto was another Friday night game in New Jersey on January 29.

Toronto scored the opening goal though fell quickly behind 2-1 in the first, and then played catch up the rest of the game though coming up with a couple late goals only to lose 5-4 in OT.

Parise scored two first period goals and was all over the ice but couldn’t seal the deal for the hat-trick.

Tonight a new weapon is let loose for the Devils and Kovalchuk will give every team including the Leafs tonight more than something to think about and a line to game plan around.

The other lines for the Devils including the second line centered by Dana Zubrus flanked by Patrick Elias and Brian Rolston may have a little less of other team’s attention.

If they, and the third line of Jay Pandolfo, Rob Niedermayer and Jammie Langenbrunner, can add a meager amount of offense and the new top line clicks as expected, then the Devils become extremely dangerous.

These lines were used in practice and are not set in stone but may be explored.

No doubt the Leafs will have their hands full tonight in New Jersey, most teams do as the Devils are 18-9-0 at home. Toronto is an abysmal 8-16-6 on the road this season.

This game you thought would pit two Stanley Cup winning goal tenders against each other but yet again it will not as Toronto decided to go with Jonas Gustavsson.

It could quite easily come down to the play between the pipes of a Rookie with something to prove, Toronto’s Gustavsson, and veteran, one of the all time best New Jersey’s Brodeur.

In the first period at 6:51 D Phaneuf made his presence known on his new team, dropping the gloves with D Colin White and these two may renew their acquaintance tonight.

Both teams have momentum from an injection of new blood into their respective line ups in this series which stands dead locked at ones.

It has the makings of a great game, watched closely by both GM's over  their newly acquired players. With trade rumors surrounding Toronto, other GM's may be on the phone with Toronto's GM Brian Burke looking to deal during the game and media and fans alike will be paying close attention.