Zubrus' former coach found dead

--C Dainius Zubrus, who assisted on the Devils' only goal Saturday, played the game after hearing that his former coach, Ivan Pravilov, being held on child molestation charges in Philadelphia, was found dead in his cell.

"Obviously, this is a very difficult time," Zubrus said in a statement issued by the team. "Ivan Pravilov played an important role in my life. Unfortunately, I have come to learn that in actuality, he may have been very different than the person I thought he was.

"Since learning of the terrible accusations against my former coach, all my thoughts and concerns have been for the children. I have reached out to the children, and assured them that I am, and will continue to be, there for them."

The Devils said Zubrus would have nothing further to say on the matter.

--The Devils settled for a 2-2 split of the season series with the Panthers when Florida scored its 3-1 victory in Newark on Saturday. Both teams won once in the other's building.

--Former Devil Scott Clemmenson is 4-0-0 in five starts against New Jersey lifetime. He made 27 saves Saturday.

"He made some good saves," said Devils captain Zach Parise. "He played well. He played very well. I think we could have done a much better job, though. I think he saw everything, and any goalie in this league is going to make a stop when they see it. We definitely didn't do enough against him to make it hard enough."

--New Jersey went on the power play only once Saturday, a sure sign the offense wasn't clicking. The Devils didn't score on that power play.

"I don't know what happened to the offense," right wing Ilya Kovalchuk said. "For some reason we stopped doing what Pete told us. One power play is unacceptable. We have to work harder to make them take penalties."

--After visiting Buffalo on Tuesday night, the Devils host the Ducks on Friday night, a relatively quiet schedule for a team that has already played six games between Feb. 2 and Feb. 11.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"It's disappointing. It's funny how we dominated early. I thought that was probably the worst thing. We thought it was going to be easy." -- G Martin Brodeur, after the Devils lost to the Panthers.

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