I have a little bit of confidence right now

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David Clarkson is finding confidence and the net
NEWARK – David Clarkson doesn't think he's doing anything different.
The puck, the Devils' right wing said, is just starting to go in for him now – finally.
Clarkson, like most of his teammates, struggled to score consistently in the first half of the season. But he has rediscovered his touch lately, notching four goals in his last five games. That's as many as he scored in [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] the first 39 games of the season.
"I have a little bit of confidence right now," Clarkson said Sunday before the Devils bussed to Long Island for this afternoon's game against the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum. "I think before I was getting chances and it wasn't going in, so, obviously, it doesn't seem like I'm doing as much when they're not going in. But I was getting the shots."
In 44 games, Clarkson is second on the team in shots on goal with 121 – one fewer than [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]. Last season, he had 106 shots for the season in just 46 games. He missed 32 contests with a fractured lower right leg.
So, if the shots are still coming at the same rate, why are they suddenly going in more often? Devils coach Jacques Lemaire believes it is a result of playing with linemates Rod Pelley and Tim Sestito.
"He's playing on the fourth line right now," Lemaire said. "He does his job and works with the other guys well. It turned out to be a pretty good line for us. He's getting some chances and he puts it in.
"And I have to say he works a little harder. Playing with them – Timmy and Rod work hard all the time – that probably brings [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] him to work a little harder himself."
As an example, Lemaire pointed to Clarkson's tying goal in the third period of Saturday's 3-2 overtime loss in Florida, which came on Clarkson's third whack at a left-post wraparound.
"He gets the puck behind the net, he works his way in and tries to stuff it and he skates a little more," Lemaire said. "If you're playing with passers and finesse players … it's not that 'I don't have to work,' but these [skilled] guys control the puck a lot and [you] just want to get in position to shoot instead of you've got to work."
Clarkson does appear to have found some good chemistry on what he calls "a hard-working line" with Pelley and [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] Sestito, but denies that has allowed him to think less about scoring.
"I'm never someone that thinks about scoring,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]," he said. "I play the same no matter who I play with."
BRIEFS: D Anton Volchenkov practiced Sunday and said he is "ready to go" today after missing the last three games to attend the funeral of his father, Alexei, in Russia. Volchenkov said his father had been il [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]l and his death was "expected, but not expected now, this day." … Lemaire said D Matt Corrente, who did not practice Sunday after sitting out Saturday's game, is "a little bit" banged up after his fight with Tampa Bay's Steve Downie on Friday and won't play today.