FanHouse BrianRolston

You might not have noticed while the Devils have made a case for themselves as legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, winning 16 of their last 19 games and residing squarely amongst the league's top-10 offenses, but the team has gone through a bit of crisis of identity with their offense lately.

Basically, the line of Travis Zajac, Zach Parise, and Jamie Langenbrunner had been carrying the team. Entering Saturday, that line had combined for four of the team's six goals in the team's last four games including two ugly shutouts by Florida and the Islanders. Coach Brent Sutter reshuffled his bottom three lines in the most recent contest against the Panthers. Judging by the box score of Saturday's 7-2 win, it seems to have worked.

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Last summer, the Minnesota Wild lost forward Brian Rolston, who went to New Jersey as a free agent. The Wild could have signed Rolston to a contract the previous off-season, but apparently didn't think the aging forward would attract a lot of suitors in what turned out to be a weak market.

This summer, the Minnesota Wild could prove that even highly-placed front office executives can fail to learn the simplest lessons. Goaltender Niklas Backstrom's two-year deal expires after the season, and he still hasn't been re-signed.

Devils 6, Sharks 5: In hindsight, NBC's decision to make the Rangers-Flyers game the national showcase on Sunday afternoon probably wasn't the best move the network could have made. Especially since the Sharks and Devils, the teams that were bumped, put on a goal-scoring clinic, including a three goal third period rally from New Jersey in its 6-5 win.

David Clarkson scored a pair of goals for the Devils, while Brian Gionta, Brian Rolston, Jamie Langenbrunner, and Patrick Elias also lit the lamp.

The Sharks have been mired in their worst slump of the season, losing six of their past seven games.

Brendan Shanahan made his season debut for the New Jersey Devils on Monday night, and it didn't take him long to make an impact. At the 1:38 mark of the second period, the 39-year-old forward beat Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne from right on top of the crease, giving the Devils a 1-0 lead on their way to a 3-1 win over the Predators.

Shanahan registered nearly 14-minutes of ice-time, while firing six shots on goal. His tally came on the power play, which is where he should make his biggest impact for a New Jersey team that entered play on Monday ranked 15th in the league with the man advantage.

Scott Clemmensen stopped 31 shots to pick up the win for the Devils, while Brian Rolston recorded a pair of assists.

The Florida Panthers scored three third period goals, including a game-tying score from Radek Dvorak with 1:38 to play, to force overtime at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Sunday afternoon. Defenseman Andrei Markov, one of four Montreal players voted to start in the All-Star game, scored the lone goal in a shootout helping lead the Canadiens to a 6-5 win.

The Panthers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period thanks to goals from Brett McLean and David Booth, only to have Montreal come out in the second period and take over the game, scoring four goals -- including a pair in the first two minutes of the period -- while outshooting the Panthers by a 19-5 margin.

Florida rebounded in the final frame with goals from Dvorak (two) and Jassen Cullimore, sending the game to overtime. .

As long as we're on the subject of the Panthers, Greg Wyshnyski over at Puck Daddy passes along the report (from George Richards of the Miami Herald) that Brett McLean thinks Sidney Crosby is a liar, and that no challenge was ever issued prior to the drop of the puck in Saturday's game. So, basically, it's all coming down to a bunch of he said, she said. Moving on ...

It's been said that hockey fans have an inferiority complex. If that's true, Devils fans are doubly tortured, as they and their team are the subject of abuse among league loyalists. We're blamed for the degradation of the NHL, the perception that hockey is boring, and indirectly causing not one, but two labor stoppages.

And yeah, maybe the Devils have leaned on defense a lot over the years, but they've also succeeded with offense (in 2000-2001 they led the league with 295 goals). When they hired coach Brent Sutter in 2007, it was supposed to be a new era for the Devils -- new arena, new emphasis on offense, yet the results were depressingly same-y -- 206 goals (2.51 per game).

But in Sutter's second year, the team is making those old knocks on the Devils irrelevant (unless you've got some attendance jokes, in which case the dead horse is over there in the corner).

Through 31 games, the Devils have 99 goals (3.2 per game), good enough for 10th in the league, though every team above them except the Blackhawks has played more games. That's a pace of 262 goals, 15 better than the "amazing" offense the Penguins put together last year. In December, the team is averaging 3.9 goals per. And they're doing it in flashy ways.

So, um, why? How?

Of all the big offseason moves over the summer, Boston's signing of Blake Wheeler is looking to be like quite a steal. Wheeler, if you'll recall, was a former first-round pick of the Phoenix Coyotes (fifth overall) and, well, it didn't exactly work out as he never signed with Phoenix, instead electing to become a free agent this summer. In early July, he inked a deal with the Bruins, made the roster out of camp, and thus far has been quite a contributor to the best team in the Eastern Conference.

The 22-year old forward scored a pair of goals in Sunday's 6-3 win in St. Louis, both of which came in the games first five minutes. Through Boston's first 32 games, the rookie has 11 goals and nine assists, placing him fifth among NHL rookies in points, five behind Columbus' Derick Brassard, who, by the way, could miss the remainder of the season due to a shoulder injury.

Anyway, back to the Bruins, they've now won five in a row, and 10 of their past 11, while scoring a boatload of goals in the process. During their current five-game winning streak, for example, the Bruins have lit the lamp 29 times. Granted, those games have been against Atlanta (twice) , Toronto and St. Louis, but, hey, 29 goals in five games is still 29 goals in five games.

After setting an NHL record for the best start through 30 games, the San Jose Sharks ran into a brick wall on Wednesday by the name of Steve Mason. The Columbus rookie netminder stopped 47 shots in a 2-1 overtime win for the Blue Jackets.

For the Sharks, the loss snaps a three-game winning streak, though, they still haven't lost a game in regulation since November 9, so they've gained at least a point in 15 straight games. The Blue Jackets have now won three of their past four, all of which have come with Mason in net, who seems to be cementing himself as the team's No. 1 goaltender. The 47-save performance against San Jose improves his save percentage on the season to an impressive .929, while his record goes to 9-5-1.

The game remained scoreless through the first two periods, until San Jose's Devin Setoguchi scored at the 3:41 mark of the third period. Later in the frame, Mike Peca picked up his second of the season, tying the game, ultimately sending it to overtime.

The Blue Jackets registered only one shot in the extra period, though, they made it count as R.J. Umberger scored his ninth goal of the season to give Columbus the win.

The inevitable is apparently a reality.

Superstar reporter Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune is reporting that the Wild have placed forward Marian Gaborik on the trade block. Gaborik is due to be a free agent at the end of the season, and multiple contract offers have been made without a signature from the All-Star.

Rather than take a chance that they'll lose Gaborik when he hits the open market next summer (ala Brian Rolston), Wild general manager Doug Risebrough appears prepared to move Gaborik now. Obviously, there's risk in this plan, as "conventional wisdom" would dictate his value in a trade isn't going to be as high when the whole world knows the Wild have to make a move.

However, the risk of not getting enough in exchange for Gaborik is not as great as the risk of losing him for nothing in the off-season.

It's believed Risebrough has had trade talks with Montreal Canadiens GM Bob Gainey and Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi. Risebrough will attend Thursday's GM meetings in Chicago, so talks could heat up with a number of teams.

The Canadiens, in their 100th season and a true Stanley Cup contender, might be the team that makes the most sense. The Canadiens have salary cap flexibility in future years and young talent.

Russo goes out of his way to make clear that Gaborik's current "lower body injury" is legitimate. He reports on his blog that the injury occurred during an off-day activity in South Florida.

I don't like being the bearer of bad news, but sometimes it just can't be stopped.

After all, I'm not smart enough to create the news. I just report it.

In this case, the news is not good for Minnesota Wild fans. Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune has an item up in his blog tonight that may be a harbinger of bad things to come for the Wild.

The Marian Gaborik negotiations have hit a stalemate, and GM Doug Risebrough told me today he won't be signed by the Oct. 11 opener.

"Not making any headway," said Risebrough, who last month said it would be prudent to sign Gaborik, the team's all-time leading scorer, to an extension by next Saturday's season opener.

"I was trying to do something before the season. It's not happening. ... It's not going to happen by the start of the season."

Asked if he'll react by putting Gaborik on the trading block, Risebrough said, "That, I'll have to determine."

Might as well start packing the bags, Marian.