Match-up - New Jersey Devils (10-3-4) @ Washington Capitals (5-10-1)
Road/Home records - 4-2-2 -------------- 3-5-0
TV - MSG Plus, CSN-DC, NHLN-US
Puck drop - 12:00 PM ET
Season series - Devils lead 2-0
Last 10: Devils 7-2-1 / Capitals 4-6-0
Projected starting goalies - Johan Hedberg (NJ) vs. Braden Holtby (WSH)
Battle of the stats
Goals for/against per game
Washington - 2.69 / 3.38
New Jersey - 2.65 / 2.24
Power play/Penalty Kill percentage
Washington - 26.8% / 76.1%
New Jersey - 19.4% / 79%
Here are the projected lines (subject to change) for the Capitals:
Lines courtesy of DailyFaceoff.com.
Jason Chimera - Mike Ribeiro - Alex Ovechkin
Wojtek Wolski - Nicklas Backstrom - Troy Brouwer
Eric Fehr - Mathieu Perrault - Joel Ward
Matt Hendricks - Jay Beagle - Joey Crabb
Karl Alzner - Tomas Kundratek
John Erskine - John Carlson
Jeff Schultz - Tom Poti
Notes: Mike Green is questionable again...I'd guess there's a 50/50 chance he plays.
Here are the projected lines (subject to change) for the Devils:
Alexei Ponikarovsky - Travis Zajac - Ilya Kovalchuk
Patrik Elias - Adam Henrique - David Clarkson
Stefan Matteau - Stephen Gionta - Steve Bernier
Krys Barch - Andrei Loktionov - Bobby Butler
Bryce Salvador - Marek Zidlicky
Andy Greene - Adam Larsson
Mark Fayne - Anton Volchenkov
Notes: Johan Hedberg will start...Stefan Matteau will remain in the lineup in place of Ryan Carter...Carter suffered an upper-body injury against Ottawa and didn't make the trip to Washington...Henrik Tallinder is expected to sit in place of Mark Fayne...The Devils are 9-1-2 his season with Fayne in the lineup...They're 6-0-1 when Tallinder sits. Peter Harrold is the other healthy scratch...The Devils have beat the Capitals in five straight meetings.
Capitals to watch out for:
Alexander Ovechkin - He looked like the Ovechkin of old against the Devils Thursday as he had several Grade A chances and was very good throughout. If he keeps playing like he did Thursday he'll break through.
Nicklas Backstrom - After a slow start to the season Backstrom has picked it up of late as he has four points in his last four games.
John Carlson - Like Ovechkin, he's slowly starting to regain top form. Carlson has points in two of the last three games and played over 30 minutes against the Devils Thursday.
Devils to watch out for:
Ilya Kovalchuk - Kovalchuk has the game-winning-goal in both games against Washington this season.
Patrik Elias - He has been a Capitals killer throughout his career and has a goal and an assist in both meetings vs. Washington this season.
Johan Hedberg - The Moose is making his first start since last Saturday when he allowed five goals to the Islanders. Hedberg is typically pretty consistent and is good at rebounding from bad starts so I expect a good start from him today.
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