Top line for Devils seeking chemistry

NEWARK Pete DeBoer views his top line of Mike Cammalleri, Travis Zajac and Jaromir Jagr as still in the "dating stage."

The Devils coach isn't ready to commit to a marriage of Cammalleri, Zajac and Jagr for the regular season opener on Oct. 9 in Philadelphia, but is watching them with hopeful interest in exhibition games.

Cammalleri, Zajac and Jagr got their second chance of the preseason to form some in-game chemistry Sunday night in the Devils' 3-1 win over the Flyers at Prudential Center. The trio combined for 10 shots on goal, but didn't get on the score sheet in a contest in which the Devils outshot the Flyers, 41-16.

There was some progress from their first game together last Thursday in Philadelphia (a 4-0 loss), but there's still some work to do.

"In a perfect world, we have all our line combinations set from training camp the way I envision them and they'll all work and we won't make any changes, but that's not how it happens," DeBoer said. "So, we'll see. And chemistry takes some time sometimes. It's not instant."

Zajac and Jagr already are used to each other after playing together for much of last season when Jagr led the team with 67 points in 82 games. Using Cammalleri as the left wing on the line seemed like the obvious choice from the moment the Devils signed the 32-year-old unrestricted free agent to a five-year, $25 million contract on July 1.

Cammalleri scored 26 goals in 63 games last season with Calgary and has netted at least 25 in a season five times in his career. Jagr believes the line is "going to work, but you have to get the game [sharpness] and get in shape."

That is the 42-year-old future Hall of Famer's primary concern in these preseason games.

"If I know I'm going to be good enough, it's going to work because [Cammalleri is] a good goal scorer and I know if I'm going to play the best I can play I'm going to find him," Jagr said. "So, it's up to me. That's why I have to get in shape and work hard to get open and play on the boards, one-on-one, that's my game. And he's going to score from those chances more than anybody else."

While Cammalleri, Zajac and Jagr were working on their games, Scott Gomez scored a pair of power-play goals to boost his case for making the team as a training camp tryout. Gomez, a member of the Devils' 2000 and 2003 Stanley Cup teams, was booed at the start of the game by fans who remember him for leaving to sign with the rival Rangers in 2007. Most of those boos disappeared, however, following his second power-play goal 3:02 into the second period.

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Top line for Devils seeking chemistry