Matchup- Devils (12-12-1 - 25 points) @ Maple Leafs ( - points)
TV - MSG, SNET-O
Puck drop - 7:00 PM ET
Last 5: Devils 1-4-0 / Maple Leafs 3-2-0
Last 10: Devils 4-6-0 / Maple Leafs 5-4-1
Projected starting goalies - Martin Brodeur (NJ) vs. James Reimer (TOR)

Battle of the stats

Goals for/against per game

Toronto - 3.11 / 3.18
New Jersey - 2.28 / 2.84

Powerplay/Penalty Kill percentage

Toronto - 22.6% / 77.7%
New Jersey - 12.1% / 94.6%

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

Joffrey Lupul - Tyler Bozak - Phil Kessel
Clarke MacArthur - Tim Connolly - Matt Frattin
Nikolai Kulemin - Mikhail Grabovski - Joe Colborne
Joey Crabb - Dave Steckel - Philippe Dupuis

Dion Phaneuf - Carl Gunnarsson
John-Michael Liles - Cody Franson
Jake Gardiner - Luke Schenn

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

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

Andy Greene - Anton Volchenkov
Bryce Salvador - Adam Larsson
Henrik Tallinder - Mark Fayne

Notes: Mark Fraser and Rod Pelley will sit yet again...Martin Brodeur will start...The Devils have lost four consecutive games...Adam Henrique is on a five game point streak...Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise are on four game point streaks.

Maple Leafs to watch out for:

Joffrey Lupul - He had a hat trick against the Devils in their first meeting of the season.

Tyler Bozak - He has six points (4G, 2A) in his last six games.

Nikolai Kulemin - He has just 11 points in 27 games this season and zero in his last three games. He will breakout of this slump eventually.

Devils to watch out for:

Patrik Elias - After a fantastic start to the season Elias has just one point in the last five games. The Devils need more from him.

Mattias Tedenby - He's getting his first chance to play top-six minutes all year. If he performs well tonight he'll likely stay up there for a while.

Martin Brodeur - He has been really struggling as of late. If he doesn't perform well tonight I expect Johan Hedberg will start Thursday.

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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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