Facing elimination the New Jersey Devils are making their first lineup change of the Stanley Cup Final. They will insert forward Petr Sykora and defenseman Henrik Tallinder into the lineup for Game 4 on Wednesday night. Tallinder will replace Peter Harrold along the blue line while Sykora is going in for Jacob Josefson.
Tallinder hasn't played since the middle of January due to a blood clot in his left leg, but Devils coach Pete DeBoer already mentioned last week that he would consider using him during the series if he was ready to go.
"I know he's kept himself in great shape," said DeBoer last week. "He looks good in practice. Before he went out he was a top-two defenseman for us."
And he was. During the regular season Tallinder (when he was in the lineup) played some of the tougher even-strength minutes for the Devils along the blue line and was consistently matched up against top lines and given a large number of defensive zone assignments. He didn't score a goal and only recorded six assists, but he helped push the play and was one of their top players defensively.
The player that could help a struggling offense is Sykora. A two-time Stanley Cup Champion (once with New Jersey) Sykora rejoined the Devils this summer when he went to camp on a tryout contract. He earned a spot on the roster and went on to score 21 goals during the regular season.
He hasn't played since Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final -- a 3-0 Devils loss -- against the New York Rangers.
The Devils have scored just two goals over the first three games of the series (with one bouncing in the net off of the body of a Kings player) and need somebody to step up offensively and find a way to solve Jonathan Quick.
"We haven't scored," said DeBoer on Tuesday. "He's a guy that doesn't need a lot of looks to stick one in the net. That's what he does best."
The last Stanley Cup Final goal that Sykora scored was back in 2008 as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins when he scored in a triple overtime of Game 5 to help his team stave off elimination for one more game.
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