New Jersey assigned?goaltender Scott Wedgewood, defensemen Brandon Burlon, Eric Gelinas and Jon Merrill and forwards Stefan Matteau, Rod Pelley, Tim Sestito and Mike Sislo to Albany.

The returned defenseman Damon Severson to the WHL.

We'll be doing a weekly mailbag article each week during the season, so if you have a question or comment, feel free to tweet us @SNYDevils or tweet Dave and Jeff directly @DevilsInsiders.

The IIHF World Championships are happening abroad-- in Finland and Sweden, in fact. There are two Devils apiece on Teams USA and Russia and one on Team Sweden.

Stephen Gionta recorded his first IIHF World Championship goal, helping Team USA beat Team Finland 4-1 on Wednesday in Helsinki.

The IIHF World Championships are happening abroad-- in Finland and Sweden, in fact. There are two Devils apiece on Teams USA and Russia.

Those squads happened to square off Tuesday, with Ilya Kovalchuk gaining a goal and an assist in Russia's 5-3 win over the Americans?at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki.

Via Rich Chere of The Star-Ledger:

Stephen Gionta and Ryan Carter will both play for Team USA in the world championships in Finland and Sweden.

Ilya Kovalchuk will play for Russia, in the same group as the U.S.

Here are some leftovers from the Devils' 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

For whatever reason, the arena seemed exceedingly quiet until Travis Zajac's second-period goal.

If you didn't watch the first 10 minutes of today's game, you'd think it was one of the Devils' best efforts all season. Despite that (very) sub-par start, the Devils once again managed to "turn it on" after Pete DeBoer's timeout and just dominated the Panthers for the next 50 minutes. Some thoughts...

Wake-up call: The Pete DeBoer First Period Timeout should be sold in pharmacies across the country. It's best wake-up call I think I've ever seen. Why the Devils continue to need it -- especially in the throes of a desperate playoff chase -- is beyond me, but it certainly is the magical elixir this roster covets. The Devils came out painfully slow and were lacking any sort of energy. The Panthers were skating circles around them, getting to every loose puck. Both of Florida's goals were a result of out-efforting New Jersey, but that changed as soon as DeBoer called his infamous timeout. You could see him rotating his hand, signaling the Devils needed to pick up the energy. This wasn't one of those "settle down" timeouts. This was the "well-time expletive" version and it worked. Boy did it work. It took a few minutes but before long New Jersey was all over Florida, like a train that takes time to build up speed and then all of sudden is barreling down the tracks at 80 miles per hour. I know I've spent some time cracking on the Devils for their slow starts this season and their reliance on the P.D.F.P.T. (we might need a better acronym), but at this point, a win is a win is a win.

Did the Devils play an A-plus game? No. I'd argue they played a couple better overall games during the 10-game winless streak. But the important thing is the streak is over and the Devils are back in the win column thanks to a few superlative efforts. It likely won't get the Devils back in the playoff chase, but a couple wins over the last 10 days would be important for their confidence heading into the offseason. Some thoughts...

It's over: Everyone can breathe a big sign of relief. The winless streak is finally over and it didn't even take Ilya Kovalchuk returning to finally stop it. Of course, like I said above, this wasn't a perfect game. They struggled to put pucks on net in the first and had difficulty finishing in the second before Ryan Carter snapped one of Ilya Bryzgalov's shoulder. But the important thing was the Devils kept working in two very important areas: the neutral zone and below the Flyers' goal line. The Devils did a good job in long stretches of stopping the Flyers at the blue line and both of the Devils even-strength goals came as a result of their work in the neutral zone. As for the forecheck, it was strong almost all night long. The Devils generated a ton of chances off their pressure below the goal line and it eventually wore down Philly's defense. While the Devils aren't talented enough to out-skill teams, they are dedicated and strong enough to out-work them. It's a long shot, but wins like this are the kind of victories that send a team to length winning streaks. The Devils worked their way past an inferior opponent to a streak-busting victory and were rewarded after several games in which they played well but didn't win.

Yet, they still blew a two-goal lead and lost a very important point.

New Jersey scored a shorthanded goal, on its power-play, an even-strength goal and even on a penalty shot. Still, the Devils lost 5-4 to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a shootout on Friday at Tampa Bay Times Forum.

There's two different ways you could look at tonight's game: Disappointing or gutsy. During their first contest without Ilya Kovalchuk, the Devils fought through in-game injuries to two game players and an awful to start to eek out a consolation point. They also played some good hockey in the second and third periods, although there were mistakes and they were clearly tired in overtime. Some thoughts...

One and one: One game without Kovalchuk, one point for the Devils. This is how it will have to be. Yes, they would've liked to have picked up the extra point and surely played like it in the third period, but any points are important given the state they're in right now. If you'd like to be concerned, the Devils' record in overtimes and shootouts is reason for worry. New Jersey has left a lot of points on the ice this season after excelling in extra hockey last season. Will it be the difference between eighth and ninth? Too early to tell, but for now the Devils simply have to do everything they can to stay stagnant (at worst) in the standings while Kovy is out. Tonight, the Devils managed to overcome a dreadful start and seemingly woke up after being undressed by Pete DeBoer during a first-period timeout. The gears didn't really begin to turn until the second when Travis Zajac and Adam Henrique had some impressive shifts as DeBoer mixed and matched forwards given his limited bench. Over the final two periods, the Devils looked like a good hockey team that couldn't finish -- which is what they've looked like for stretches this season. Except there's no Kovy coming in to seal the deal with a rocket from the point or a perfect pass across the ice. Make no mistake, this is what the Devils will look like for the next two weeks. They could play very inspired hockey game in and game out and it will still be a challenge to score goals.

It was almost a storybook return, but history turned out to be too good to be true for Martin Brodeur. Still, after weathering a hectic first 10 minutes, the Devils responded with an excellent overall effort and have ended their most recent losing streak in impressive fashion. Some thoughts...

Marty: It may not have been history, but it was an excellent return for Brodeur, who single-handedly kept the Devils in the game long enough for them to find their sea legs. Brodeur's performance during the first 10 minutes of the first period was the shining example of what we wrote earlier this week. While Johan Hedberg was good enough, he wasn't Brodeur. He didn't have that extra level. Moose was likely to be beaten on the fifth shot of a rapid-fire barrage. Brodeur, on the other hand, was calm, cool, collected and his usual reliable self. Of course, he was blatantly exhausted at the end of that stretch, but thankfully the rest of the team took over from there, shutting the Hurricanes down so well even Drake would've been impressed. But it wasn't just those saves -- or his goal (yes, his goal) -- that stood out for me. It was all the little things that Brodeur does that make him such an excellent netminder even at the age of 40. One of those examples came during the first period when there was a turnover and Alexander Semin came rushing up the gut toward the puck. Moose might've dove at the puck and he might have disrupted Semin enough to be successful. It's a risky proposition we've seen Hedberg both win and lose this season. Instead, Brodeur stayed calm, stayed upright and came out just far enough that he forced Semin to shoot at one of several tiny windows. Semin, of course, nearly scored, rocketing a shot off the post just over Brodeur's shoulder, but that's a nearly impossible shot to make and it's the only one Brodeur gave him. Marty also made at least two or three excellent decision with the puck on his stick, deftly moving the play away from the net and helping the Devils get out of the zone. Brodeur's return will likely be remembered for his incredibly bizarre goal and those frantic first minutes, but it was the things that went unnoticed, things not seen in the box score that impressed me the most.

There's not much more you can ask for in a game than what you got from the Devils tonight. The effort was there in all phases, the stars delivered and Johan Hedberg was strong for the third time in the last four games (coincidentally, all Devils wins). It certainly set up an interesting game Friday in the second half of this home-and-home series with Philly. Some thoughts...

Stars deliver: For the past two weeks, everyone's been asking for the Devils' key players to step up, including Pete DeBoer. Well, tonight everyone and DeBoer got their wish. Adam Henrique, Ilya Kovalchuk and Patrik Elias all lit the lamp, with a little extra help from a beautiful Andrei Loktionov toe drag. With all due respect to Loktionov, Ryan Carter and the supporting cast, the Devils need their top players to step up in order to make a serious run at and eventually through the playoffs. Kovy is going to be Kovy aka he's going to score, going to dazzle and apparently, going to score a lot of short-handed goals. Elias is leading the team in points and outside a brief stretch has been the Devils' most consistent player all season. The difference maker tonight was clearly Henrique, who has been an absentee figure (along with Travis Zajac) for large chunks of this season. It wasn't just than Henrique had two goals and an assist tonight. It was that he was all over the ice, particularly in the offensive end. He was constantly putting the puck on net and was a nightmare for the Flyers all night. With the way Loktionov is playing on the top line alongside Kovy, an energized and dangerous Henrique would make the Devils a dangerous two-line team that has the potential to play offensive hockey three lines deep once Zajac awakens from his slumber. Up until tonight, the Devils had been mostly playing one line deep or maybe two lines when the third line or CBGB line was rolling. Tonight you saw why New Jersey so desperately depends on their top players and what happens when those top players deliver.

Being that the Devils are at the half-way point of the season (OK, a couple games past it but cut us some slack), we decided to do some "grades" for this team. Originally, this was supposed to be one full post, but after compiling them, it seems better to break them up into different pieces today. First up, the forwards.

(Disclaimer: All "grades" articles are usually entirely too general and tend to omit more detail than normal, so apologies in advance if we left a player out.)

Wins don't get much bigger than that. The Devils desperately needed a "W" before tonight's game and it became even more crucial considering the sterling effort they got from Johan Hedberg. As bad as last night was, tonight was a strong, strong effort across the board. Some thoughts...

Moose call: Honestly, that game shouldn't have even gone to overtime. While the Evander Kane goal (Holy shit, what a shot) was unavoidable and basically unstoppable, the Mark Stuart score only happened because Andy Greene had brain fart and tried to play a bouncing puck about a foot in front of Hedberg. If you look on the replay, Hedberg was in perfect position to stop Stuart's shot and likely would have. Now, does that mean the Jets wouldn't have scored another time and forced OT regardless? No, but I use it to point out that Hedberg was about as iron-clad as goalies get, especially backup goalies. Moose had probably his second-best game since taking over the full-time gig and it couldn't have come at a better time. The Devils needed this game in every sense of the word and their goalie delivered. Hedberg doesn't need to play this well every night, but the Devils do need his play to be close to what they've gotten in two of the last three games. The most impressive thing I saw from Moose tonight was how he stayed calm and didn't get overwhelmed or downtrodden after the Stuart goal. We've seen him in past games (Saturday night in particular) give up goals in bunches after the defense lets him down or a bad bounce leads to a goal. Tonight, however, he bounced right back and got better as the game went on. He was the absolute reason the game didn't end before OT and he was the reason they won in a shootout. This was very much a goaltender duel and in the end, Hedberg made a couple more saves when it was necessary. Impressive, indeed. Necessary -- absolutely. Now, let's see if he can do it two games in a row.

Bounce after bounce after bounce didn't go the Devils' way for two-plus periods Thursday night ... until they did. A rebound ended up right back on Adam Henrique's stick, same with Patrik Elias and then Elias had what might have been the biggest goal of the season (albeit a shootout score). Finally, the streak is over, hopefully for the Devils the pressure is off and? they can get back to playing a complete hockey game. Hopefully. Some thoughts...

Best player on the ice: The Devils aren't anywhere close to being in position to win that game if not for Johan Hedberg. Moose has taken a lot of heat during this losing streak -- and deservedly so. But tonight he was everything the Devils needed him to be. Hedberg was calm in the face of pressure, excellent with his positioning and made a couple saves he probably had no right making. He also got a few breaks (and caught a few posts, particularly in OT), but you tend to get those breaks when you're playing well. One of the more impressive aspects of his game tonight was his puck movement. After a couple early snafus, including one that led to him committing a penalty in the first period, Hedberg settled down with the puck on his stick and directly set up at least two legitimate scoring chances for the Devils. It's a small thing that Martin Brodeur usually excels at and it helps the Devils' defensemen move the puck up the ice without asking guys like Bryce Salvador to carry it end to end. Pete DeBoer had no doubt that Hedberg would eventually settle down and reward his patience in the veteran and tonight, DeBoer's faith paid off. The question now is whether this is a blip in the radar against a team that's OK at best or whether it's a sign of things to come. The Devils need it to be the latter because it doesn't appear that Brodeur is coming back from his back injury anytime soon. Hedberg doesn't have to win games like he did tonight, but he has to play well enough and not give up bad goals so the Devils are at least in games and have a chance to win.

Maybe that's what makes the Devils' 4-2 loss -- their fifth consecutive defeat-- on Monday night at Air Canada

Images like this are becoming the norm for the New Jersey Devils during their five-game losing streak.

Who:? New Jersey Devils at Buffalo Sabres

When: 3:00 p.m. ET; Pregame show at 2:30 p.m. ET

But it looks as if Carter's on his way back.

https://twitter.com/TGfireandice/status/307546615454003200

He played roughly six minutes in total and took just one shift in the third period. But why the benching? Pete DeBoer wasn't talking.

https://twitter.com/TGfireandice/status/307342018340864000

Via Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice:

Carter skated hard after today?s optional morning skate with healthy scratches Anton Volchenkov, Peter Harrold and Krys Barch. Today was his third day of skating. He took part in Wednesday?s full practice in Winnipeg as well and skated on his own briefly Tuesday in New Jersey.

Carter, who has been sidelined by concussion-like symptoms, skated on the fourth line, rotating in and out with Stefan Matteau, Krys Barch, Bobby Butler and recent callup Tim Sestito. The rejiggered fourth line is part of Pete DeBoer's recent trend of trying new forward combos over the past week in an attempt to wake up the Devils' slumping offense.

Here are the other line pairings for the day:

Well, that got out of hand quickly. After a strong first period, the Devils seemed completely overwhelmed by the tempo of the game and just never got it going. All of the textbook problems were there and you have to wonder if Marty's late scratch may have played a factor. Some thoughts...

Funky: I delved into it briefly during the pregame post, but the Devils have been less than stellar over the past two weeks. During that stretch, they've failed to put together an overall game as strong and complete as some of their early season efforts. Is it the injuries and lack of depth catching up to them or is this the Devils team we should get used to seeing? I tend to think it's a bit of both. The Devils probably aren't as good as they showed in the first couple weeks, but they're certainly better than the team that lost 9-3 over the past two days. They're in a funk, which Pete DeBoer has been aware of for a few games now. DeBoer has tried to find a way to spark the Devils out of their funk, specifically using line changes to try to get players out of their comfort zones and force them back into doing some of the fundamentals of the Devils' gameplan. It's worked for some players (Travis Zajac's goal from Patrik Elias tonight), but for the most part the alterations have been unsuccessful in getting the Devils back to playing their basic game of forechecking, taking away the other team's best player and being responsible with the puck in their own zone. Is it time to panic? Not by a longshot, but the time to be concerned has definitely arrived.

There's two ways people might read this. One, Pete DeBoer wants forward flexibility and is tired of having to roll the same 12 forwards every game regardless of matchup or regardless of how they're playing. Two, the Devils don't really know how long Carter is going to be out and they can't afford to go game to game with him on the roster.

Realistically, it's a combination of both of those reads. DeBoer obviously needs roster flexibility because I can't imagine he's very happy throwing Krys Barch out every night. Also, can we just come out and call this a concussion? If it were the average "upper-body injury," then the Devils would have some sort of official timeline or timetable for recovery. Whether they'd give it to us is another matter, but they would still have known before today if Carter was going to need to be placed on IR. The good news is Carter is eligible to be activated immediately, so if he makes a sudden recovery this week the Devils would still have the option to put him back in the lineup immediately.

They Devils are so frighteningly shallow up front they're one injury away from struggling to ice 12 NHL forwards.

Don't believe me? It's true. With both Carter and Zubrus on the shelf, both Stefan Matteau and Krys Barch are in the lineup tonight and there is no extra forward. Seriously. Since the Devils continue to carry eight defensemen, Carter is the 13th forward. If any of the top 12 get hurt tonight, either Carter would have to go on injured reserve or one of the defensemen will have to go.

Via Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice:

Rookie Stefan Matteau is skating in Carter?s place on the third line with Stephen Gionta and Steve Bernier. Matteau, who will turn 19 on Saturday, has been a healthy scratch the last three games.

...

https://twitter.com/Ledger_NJDevils/status/304295760374149122

Not all that surprising a move considering head injuries normally take at least a week or so to heal up. The interesting part is that Stefan Matteau gets another shot in the lineup and will skate on the the third line, which we'll get into either later today or tomorrow. As for Carter, the next step is whether the Devils reveal he's had a concussion or not. If they decide to eventually call it a concussion, my guess is we won't be hearing from him for a little while as the Devils will likely take him out of the locker room and allow him to heal. Concussed players are often bothered by the bright lights of television cameras and are usually told to rest as much as possible. Also, given how many unknowns there are with concussions, it's more of a wait and see process than any other injury. There won't be much of a day-to-day update, meaning there's no real reason to subject Carter to the same questions over and over again. The next time we'll see Carter might not be until next week after he's cleared to do some skating on his own.

For Devils fans -- with Andrei Loktionov and Alex Ponikarovsky's acquisitions-- the trade word has already entered your lexicon. And though the trade deadline is still 45 days away, a blockbuster involving the Devils is not out of the question.

So here's the question: should the Devils get in on the Jarome Iginla sweepstakes.

https://twitter.com/TGfireandice/status/303905097535078400

As for whether he can play Thursday in Washington, D.C., Pete DeBoer was understandably uncertain.

That's a frustrating way for the win streak to come to an end, but not all that surprising in hindsight. The Devils have no-showed the first period a few games in a row now and it was only a matter of time before they got burnt for it. Some thoughts...

Swing period: While the slow first period wasn't ideal, it's something the Devils have survived the past few games. The difference tonight was the second period. Each of the last few games, the Devils have come out on fire to start the second stanza, but tonight was the complete opposite. The Devils were manhandled from the drop of the puck in the second and if not for Marty Brodeur, they would have been down much worse than 2-1. As I wrote on Twitter, the Canes' 20-14 shots advantage after two periods was deceptive in that it was not that close. It's one thing to start slow, but to get a break and a chance to regroup and come out worse off is unacceptable. In today's NHL, it's hard enough to survive one bad period, let alone two. There were multiple culprits, starting with the fact that the Canes beat the Devils at their own game. They aggressively pushed the play up ice, forced a lot of turnovers and forechecked like mad. Carolina was all over Jersey's zone for much of the first two periods. There also was a defined lack of energy from the Devils, which Pete DeBoer tried to counteract by switching up the forward lines at the end of the first period and for long stretches in the second. You got the sense that DeBoer knew he needed to find a way to spark his team early on, but unfortunately for the Devils, DeBoer didn't find that spark until sometime during the second intermission.

As per Bob McKenzie, The New Jersey Devils claim center Ryan Carter. Carter was placed on waivers earlier this week by the Florida Panthers. This move was definitely made to fill the spot left vacant due Jacob Josefson's injury. He will join the team in Phoenix and may play Thursday against the Coyotes.

Some stats on Carter: