The Devils can't let the Florida Panthers dictate the pace when the two teams meet Tuesday night at the Prudential Center.

That's the word from Devils winger Ilya Kovalchuk.

"They want us to be passive. They want us to sit back. They want us to react to what they do," Kovalchuk said today. "We have to be aggressive.

"To be successful we have to play like we did in the first and third periods in those games. We have to dictate the game. We can't play like they want us to play."

As for scoring more goals, Kovalchuk said actually hitting the net was a problem in Game 2.

"We've had a lot of chances. We just can't hit the net," Kovalchuk said.

For more Devils coverage, follow Rich Chere on Twitter at twitter.com/Ledger_NJDevils

Rich Chere: rchere@starledger.com

