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PHILADELPHIA _ The Philadelphia Flyers' New Year began Monday with an hour of practice focusing on passing, rushing the net, and puck support.
Those elements will come into play Tuesday night when the Flyers meet the New Jersey Devils at the Meadowlands.
The Devils are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and have been getting steady goaltending from Martin Brodeur. Patrick Elias leads the club in goals with 16 and Alexander Mogilny is next with 15, more or less duplicating his first-half production last season when he was still a Vancouver Canuck.
What does it say about the Devils' depth when last season's Calder Trophy winner, Scott Gomez, is reduced to fourth-line status and trade rumors are swirling?
That's one of the intriguing aspects of New Jersey. Gomez is the center on a line with Jay Pandolfo and Turner Stevenson, and the chemistry hasn't been there.
Last May, he was the center for Sergei Brylin and Mogilny during the tense, seven-game Eastern Conference finals against the Flyers. This season, he has lost that spot to Sergei Nemchinov.
Coach Larry Robinson had hoped that by moving the struggling Pandolfo off John Madden's line to the Gomez line, he might get Pandolfo going. Instead, the entire line has settled into a role of taking a shift, rushing the puck, and not doing much with it.
Source: HighBeam Research, Flyers gird for Devils.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)