Devils hoping Kovalchuk provides postseason spark

Fifty weeks ago, Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello sat in his office at Prudential Center trying to comprehend what had gone wrong in what might have been the most devastating 80 seconds in franchise history.

In those final 1:20 of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, the Devils turned a 3-2 lead into a 4-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. So, instead of contemplating a second-round series against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, Lamoriello was searching for "reasons" why a team he thought was capable of making a run at the team's fourth Stanley Cup was eliminated in the first round for the second year in a row.

"No excuses," he said that day. "No looking left or right. Just look straight ahead and take a step back right now and reflect on everything."

As his team prepares to face the Flyers in this year's Eastern Conference quarterfinals - Game 1 is tomorrow night at Prudential Center - Lamoriello isn't interested in reflecting on last season anymore. He acknowledges that it's been a long wait to get back to this point, though.

"Because it's a long summer, it becomes a little longer season," he said yesterday. "The good part of it is it's in the past and we're in the part of the season that we want to be in."

Although 14 players on the current roster were in uniform for that Game 7 loss to Carolina, this is a different team. Unrestricted free agents John Madden, Brian Gionta and Mike Rupp left, as did head coach Brent Sutter, who stepped down to be closer to his family in Alberta and was quickly hired by Calgary.

Lamoriello did the obvious by bringing back Jacques Lemaire, who guided the Devils to their first Stanley Cup in 1995, to succeed Sutter.

The biggest difference, however, is the presence of Ilya Kovalchuk, the two-time 50-goal scorer whom Lamoriello acquired in a Feb. 4 trade with Atlanta. The addition of Kovalchuk, who scored 41 regular-season goals, has given the Devils a potent 1-2 punch with Zach Parise, who scored 38.

They also now have one of the game's most dynamic and talented players.

"He certainly brings a different dimension to a team and brings you someone capable of breaking a game open at any given time," Lamoriello said of Kovalchuk. "More importantly, how he's fit in with the team, how he's accepted the team, how the team has accepted him with the abilities that he brings, all of that is a factor going into the playoffs."

Kovalchuk, who was with Atlanta for eight seasons before coming to the Devils, has played in only four playoff games in his career. So, that is one of the question marks heading into tomorrow's game. Another is which Devils' team will show up?

Although they won their ninth Atlantic Division title and finished second in the Eastern Conference, it was a bit of a roller-coaster ride. After going 32-11-1 through their first 44 games, the Devils went only 16-16-6 in their final 38.

Lamoriello thinks a 6-2-3 mark in their final 11 games represents a well-timed surge heading into the playoffs. Of course, the Devils said something similar a year ago when they won four of their last five following a six-game losing streak.

"I never try to compare teams in any way, but I think we're playing better right now going into the playoffs," Lamoriello said. "In fact, I know we are. I certainly liked last year's team. This team appears to me to have something special."

Last season, the Devils set a team record with 51 wins, despite playing 50 games without goaltender Martin Brodeur. That special group could not get past the Hurricanes, though, leaving the Devils stuck on just two postseason series victories since their last Stanley Cup in 2003.

"We haven't had the top success that we had before," Lamoriello conceded. "We also went from 1995 to 2000 [winning only one playoff series]. What we want to do is put ourselves in a position where we have the ability and the chance to have success. Now, in our opinion, we have a good hockey team, we have an opportunity and we have to collectively do everything we can to have success and that's the objective."

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