Matchup- Devils (15-13-1 - 31 points) @ Panthers (16-9-5 - 37 points)
TV - MSG Plus, FS-F (HD)
Puck drop - 7:30 PM ET
Last 10: New Jersey 5-5-0 / Florida 5-3-2
Projected starting goalies - Martin Brodeur (NJ) vs. Jose Theodore (FLA)

Battle of the stats

Goals for/against per game

Florida - 2.70 / 2.47
New Jersey - 2.41 / 2.86

Powerplay/Penalty Kill percentage

Florida - 19.2% / 82.8%
New Jersey - 13.2% / 92.8%

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

Tomas Fleischmann - Stephen Weiss - Kris Versteeg
Marco Sturm -Tomas Kopecky - Mikael Samuelsson
Sean Bergenheim - Shawn Matthias - Jack Skille
Krys Barch - Mike Santorelli - Matt Bradley

Brian Campbell - Jason Garrison
Keaton Ellerby - Ed Jovanovski
Mike Weaver - Dmitry Kulikov

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

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

Matt Taormina - Adam Larsson
Bryce Salvador - Kurtis Foster
Henrik Tallinder - Mark Fayne

Notes: Kurtis Foster, who was acquired via trade yesterday, will play tonight. Alex Urbom will sit out...Cam Janssen will be in the lineup tonight for the first time since suffering a chest injury...Nick Palmieri will sit...Martin Brodeur will start...Adam Henrique and Zach Parise are coming off three point games...Depending on some other games, the Devils could be as high as 6th in the Eastern Conference if they win.

Panthers to watch out for:

Kris Versteeg - He has 31 points in 29 games this season and tallied three points (2G, 1A) in the only meeting between these two teams so far this season.

Dmitry Kulikov - He's really emerging as a star in this league. The 21-year old defenseman has 20 points (3G, 17A) in 29 games this season and five points in his last five games.

Jose Theodore - He has allowed more than two goals just once in his last six starts.

Devils to watch out for:

Adam Henrique - The 21-year old rookie has 12 points (3G, 9A) in his last nine games and has tallied points in eight out of the last nine.

Kurtis Foster - The Devils traded for Foster to help improve their terrible powerplay. He hasn't practiced with the team yet but it will be interesting to see how he does.

Martin Brodeur - Though Johan Hedberg wasn't spectacular yesterday, the Devils won. If Brodeur puts out a poor performance, or perhaps even loses, Hedberg will likely start the next game.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Follow me on twitter @ToddCordell.

TheHockeyGuys.net

Email: [email protected]