Devils Change Lines Before Flyers Series NEWARK - Alexei Ponikarovsky, a 227-pound left wing who gives the Devils some heft, found a white mesh jersey, not a gray one, at his locker before practice Saturday. He has been in the N.H.L. long enough not to ask about the color of his jersey, just to put it on. A day before the Devils were to open their second-round playoff series against the Flyers in Philadelphia, Ponikarovsky had been promoted to the Devils" top forward line, replacing no less a player than Zach Parise, the team's first-year captain and a tenacious goal-scorer. "It doesn't change my game," said Ponikarovsky, a ferocious forechecker who likes to win battles around the net. I know what I have to do. While Ponikarovsky joined center Travis Zajac and Ilya Kovalchuk, Parise was teamed with center Patrik Elias and Dainius Zubrus. Petr Sykora replaced Ponikarovsky on the third line, which is centered by the rookie Adam Henrique and includes David Clarkson. Peter DeBoer, the Devils" first-year coach, said after practice that he was simply experimenting with his line combinations, adding, "I'm not really married to the lines right now." That he is experimenting before the Devils take on the Flyers - who scored 30 goals in six first-round games against Pittsburgh - indicates that the Devils need to get more from their top two lines, which DeBoer called "sporadic" in a series victory over Florida. To counteract the high-powered Philadelphia offense, DeBoer appears to be looking for tougher forechecking from his team, which scored 18 goals in seven games against the Panthers. Elias's line, which then included Zubrus and Sykora, had just one even-strength goal. "We weren't really producing much five-on-five in the first round," Elias said. Later, Elias said of the team: "I think we have a real good group of guys. We're interchangeable. Philadelphia also had eight power-play goals against the Penguins - the result of a careful strategy to play to the whistle and incite Pittsburgh into retaliating, which led to penalties. The Devils, who gave up six power-play goals to the Panthers, know they cannot be goaded into trouble. The Devils" best chance of beating the Flyers is to play five-on-five hockey and to at least equal Philadelphia's robust offense. Splitting Parise and Kovalchuk may diminish the top line, but the switch may make the second line more productive. "We need to get a lot of production to match their depth," Parise said. The only line that DeBoer has not tinkered with is the fourth line, which is centered by Stephen Gionta and includes the grinding wings Steve Bernier and Ryan Carter. That line was a surprise in the Florida series, with those players combining to score five goals. DeBoer thought it was time to try different combinations on his top two lines. Kovalchuk scored three goals against the Panthers, but two were on the power play. Parise had two goals, one on the power play. Zajac was the best player on the line, with three goals and three assists. When Kovalchuk was asked why he thought DeBoer fiddled with the lines, he said: "Why not? I think Pete knows better, and we've got to be ready for anything. DeBoer said, "Any kind of change is refreshing and gives different players around them a different jump and a different look." The addition of Ponikarovsky gives the Devils" top line a different look. The Devils acquired the 32-year-old Ponikarovsky, a 10-year N.H.L. veteran from Kiev, in a Jan. 20 trade with the Carolina Hurricanes, with whom he had been something of a disappointment. Ponikarovsky had seven goals and a minus-12 differential in 49 games with Carolina, but he had seven goals and a plus-9 differential in 33 games with the Devils. He had two assists and was a plus-2 in the series against the Panthers. Parise buzzes around the net, but Ponikarovsky is bigger and throws himself around to keep the puck in the Devils" zone to create more chances. Meanwhile, Parise joins Elias, the veteran playmaker, and Zubrus is that line's punishing forechecker. "The numbers I'm sure are not great from the first round - we're trying to create more five-on-five chances," Zubrus said. We needed to find more offense from the top six in five-on-five. We have to grind it out. We have to find ways to get the job done. The Devils won Game 7 against the Panthers in the second period of overtime at 12:17 a.m. Friday, then flew home and took the day off. When they arrived at the rink on a sleepy Saturday in Newark, the lines had been changed. And the Flyers have not played in a week. "It is the best team that's left in the playoffs, in my opinion," Elias said of the Flyers. But the Devils feel as if they have a chance. Twenty-two teams in the N.H.L. are done.