*stats based on playoffs.
Match-up - Devils (12-8) @ Kings (14-2)
Road/Home records*- 6-4 -------------- 4-2
TV - NBCSN (HD), CBC (HD), RDS (HD)
Puck drop - 8:00 PM ET
Series score - Kings lead 2-0
Projected starting goalies - Martin Brodeur (NJ) vs. Jonathan Quick (LA)
Battle of the stats
Goals for/against per game *
Los Angeles - 2.81 / 1.50
New Jersey - 2.65 / 2.30
Powerplay/Penalty Kill percentage *
Los Angeles - 7.8% / 92.1%
New Jersey - 16.7% / 75.4%
Here are the projected lines (subject to change) for the Kings:
Dustin Brown - Anze Kopitar - Justin Williams
Dustin Penner - Mike Richards - Jeff Carter
Dwight King - Jarret Stoll - Trever Lewis
Simon Gagne - Colin Fraser - Jordan Nolan
Rob Scuderi - Drew Doughty
Willie Mitchell - Slava Voynov
Alec Martinez - Matt Greene
Here are the projected lines (subject to change) for the Devils:
Zach Parise - Travis Zajac - Dainius Zubrus
Alexei Ponikarovsky - Adam Henrique - Ilya Kovalchuk
Patrik Elias - Jacob Josefson - David Clarkson
Ryan Carter - Stephen Gionta - Steve Bernier
Bryce Salvador- Marek Zidlicky
Andy Greene - Mark Fayne
Anton Volchenkov - Peter Harrold
Notes: Martin Brodeur will start...Cam Janssen, Eric Boulton, Tim Sestito, Adam Larsson, Henrik Tallinder and Petr Sykora are expected to sit as healthy scratches.
Kings to watch out for:
Jeff Carter - I said the Kings needed more from him before Game 2, and he stepped up and scored the game winner. What does he have for an encore?
Rob Scuderi - He doesn't get much credit, but he's done a great job of shutting down the Devils top forward in this series. If he wants the Kings to wrap it up in the next 2-3 games, he'll need to continue to do so.
Drew Doughty - He has been outstanding defensively and has recorded a point in both games in the series. In my opinion, next to Quick, he's been the best King.
Devils to watch out for:
Zach Parise - As the Devils Captain, it's his job to get the ball rolling. The Devils need a boost and they need some offense. Parise has to give them some.
Ilya Kovalchuk - Everybody knows he's injured, but if the Devils want to have success he'll need to start contributing. He needs to stop passing up Grade A chances and to convert on a couple of them. If he can do that, New Jersey will be fine.
Bryce Salvador - He is minus-2 and has zero points in his past three games. The Devils can live with him not producing offensively, but if not anything else he needs to step up defensively.
Keys to the game
Los Angeles - Be relentless
They've came out firing every game throughout the playoffs and because they have done so they've jumped out to a lot of early leads. If they can pounce on New Jersey early and get the crowd into it early, they'll be in great shape.
New Jersey - Start on good note
LA did a great job against New Jersey in terms of scoring a goal in the first 5-10 minutes to take the crowd out of it early. The Devils need to return the favor tonight.
Should you be so inclined, you can follow me on twitter or like my facebook page below.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow me on twitter @ToddCordell.
TheHockeyGuys.net
Email: [email protected]
New Jersey Devils Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»