Matchup- Devils (12-10-1 - 25 points) @ Wild (15-7-3 - 33 points)
TV - RIS (HD), MSG, FS-W (HD), FS-N (HD)
Puck drop - 8:00 PM ET
Last 5: Devils 2-3-0 / Minnesota 3-2-0
Last 10: Devils 5-5-0 / Minnesota 7-3-0
Projected starting goalies - Martin Brodeur (NJ) vs. Niklas Backstrom (MIN)

Battle of the stats

Goals for/against per game

Minnesota - 2.24 / 2.16
New Jersey - 2.30 / 2.74

Powerplay/Penalty Kill percentage

Minnesota - 14.4% / 83.9%
New Jersey - 12.2% / 94.4%

Here are the projected lines (subject to change) for the Wild:

Devin Setoguchi - Mikko Koivu - Dany Heatley
PM Bouchard - Matt Cullen- Casey Wellman
Darroll Powe - Kyle Brodziak - Nick Johnson

Colton Gillies- David McIntyre- Brad Staubitz

Nick Schultz- Mike Lundin

Jared Spurgeon - Marco Scandella

Clayton Stoner - Greg Zanon

Here are the projected lines (subject to change) for the Devils:

Zach Parise - Adam Henrique - Ilya Kovalchuk
Petr Sykora - Patrik Elias - Dainius Zubrus
Mattias Tedenby - Ryan Carter - David Clarkson
Eric Boulton - Tim Sestito - Cam Janssen

Bryce Salvador - Adam Larsson
Henrik Tallinder - Mark Fayne
Mark Fraser - Anton Volchenkov

Notes: Andy Greene will return to the lineup tonight...Mark Fraser will sit...Martin Brodeur will make his third consecutive start...Rod Pelley will sit yet again...Johan Hedberg will start tomorrow in Winnipeg.

Wild to watch out for:

Dany Heatley - He has struggled so far this season as he has just 15 points (6G, 9A) in 25 games. The Wild need more from him.

Devin Setoguchi - Like with Heatley, Setoguchi hasn't lived up to expectations to this point. There is a reason the Wild only average 2.20 goals per game.

Niklas Backstrom - Josh Harding has been playing some exceptional hockey this year. If Backstrom has a bad game Harding will likely get the next start.

Devils to watch out for:

Zach Parise - As we all know he's struggling to score goals this year. Can he break out of his slump in his home town state?

David Clarkson - After a great start to the season he has really cooled down as of late. Clarkson has zero points in his last five games.

Patrik Elias - He's in his first slump of the year as he has zero points in his last three games. The Devils could use his scoring tonight, especially against a stingy Wild team.

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Note - Brendan Ross and I released our collaborated top 30 2012 draft rankings at TheHockeyGuys.net for December. Click here to check them out.

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