SUNRISE, Fla. – By splitting the first two games against the Florida Panthers, the Devils gained the home ice advantage.



At least that's the way they chose to view their wasted opportunity to take control of the best-of-seven conference quarterfinal series.



"I think we would've taken a split coming down here," coach Pete DeBoer said. "There are no easy matchups in the NHL playoffs. I don't think anyone expected anyone ewas going to beat anybody in four. Now that we got a split we have to take care of business at home."



David Clarkson said he expects the Devils to bounce back in Game 3 tomorrow night at the Prudential Center.



"Our fans have been unbelievable all season," he said. "They've supported us through everything. That place is going to be rocking and we're going to have to come out right away and play the way we finished (Game 2)."

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DeBoer started the third period Sunday night with rookie Adam Henrique back between Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk. Travis Zajac was moved to the third line with Alexei Ponikarovsky and Clarkson.



The moves produced two quick goals that got the Devils back in the game, but DeBoer switched back before the game was over.



"We mixed things up and got a boost," DeBoer explained. "I don't have an answer why we went back."

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Stephen Weiss scored Florida's first two goals, both on power plays.



"He's a little bit of the identity of our team, a guy that has been here the longest and a little bit of the face of the franchise from a player's perspective," coach Kevin Dineen said of Weiss. "I think he wasn't happy with Game 1 with the way it went for him and instead of chirping about it he went out and did something about it."



Weiss said: "That's huge, especially after losing the first game. There was a lot of pressure on us to make sure we got that win and we were able to that and that's huge going into their building."

