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Next week, the West. The Mogilny Watch NEW JERSEY DEVILS 75GP, 42W, 25L, 5OTL, 8T, 97P Robby Ftorek gets fired, and Alexander Mogilny scores his first goal. Coincidence? Mogilny, who has coasted on his reputation for eight years, arrived in Jersey on trade-day, promising to shred the East with flashy skating and precision shooting. The establishment hockey press nodded approvingly, and agreed as one that Mogilny would right the slumping Devils. In his first three games, however, Mogilny registered just two assists and the Devils continued their late-season spiral (5-10-1 since Feb. 19). That was more than Jersey GM Lou Lamoriello could stand. Ftorek obviously had to go. He'd only guided the Devils to an 88-49-19 record in his two years behind the bench. Ftorek's out, Assistant Coach Larry Robinson's in. What a move! With Robinson calling the shots, Mogilny got on the board, scoring the eighth and final goal in Jersey's 8-2 whupping of the New York Islanders (Friday, 3/24). They All Count, Fellas PHILADELPHIA FLYERS 74GP, 39W, 23L, 3OTL, 12T, 93P The next time somebody says don't worry about early-seasons losses because there's a lot of games to play, you can be sure you are talking with someone who isn't very bright. The Flyers, for instance, started this season 0-5-1. If they had won just two of those games (say the shutout the Carolina Hurricanes hung on them and Montreal's 5-4 win) and beaten instead of tied Boston, guess what? The New Jersey Devils would be chasing the Black-and-Orange for the top spot in the East. All the other top seeds got off to pretty good season starts. Jersey, 4-1-1; Toronto, 4-2-0; and Washington, 2-3-1. In the West: St. Louis, 3-3-0; Colorado, 2-3-1; Los Angeles, 4-1-1; and Detroit, 4-1-1. The benefits of leaving your gloves on WASHINGTON CAPITALS 74GP, 40W, 23L, 1OTL, 11T, 92P The Caps continue to be the hottest team in the League and now look like the best candidate to overtake the New Jersey Devils for the top spot in the East. All the talk last week was about Olaf Kolzig (2.22GAA, 37W, 18L, 10T). Sure, it's nice to have a hot goalie going into the playoffs, but the real story in Washington is Chris Simon.
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