With the New Jersey Devils down 3-0 in the Stanley Cup finals, Devils coach Pete Deboer decided to make a couple of roster changes. One of them was giving Henrik Tallinder a chance to prove himself after missing almost five months due to a blood cloth in his left leg.
“I felt pretty good,” Tallinder said. “I was a little bit nervous to start with a lot of emotions and all that. But, as the game went on, I felt better and better and I thought I played a pretty decent game.”
After his long stint on the sidelines, their was certainly the chance that he’d be rusty. However, he had a solid game and the Devils ended up leaning on him heavily by giving him 19:21 minutes of playing time over 29 shifts.
New Jersey went on to win 3-1 and live another day. It seems likely that Tallinder will stay in the lineup for Game 5 on Saturday.