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Match-up - New Jersey Devils (0-1-1) @ Edmonton Oilers (0-2-0)
Road/Home records - 0-1-0 -------------- 0-1-0
TV - MSG Plus, SNET-West
Puck drop - 9:30 PM ET
Season series - 0-0
Last 10: Devils 0-1-1 / Oilers 0-2-0
Projected starting goalies - Martin Brodeur (NJD) vs. Jason LaBarbera (EDM)
Goals for/against per game
Edmonton - 3/5.5
New Jersey - 1.5/3
Power play/Penalty Kill percentage
Edmonton - 25/80
New Jersey - 0/100
Here are the projected lines (subject to change) for the Oilers:
Taylor Hall - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle
David Perron - Boyd Gordon - Ales Hemsky
Ryan Hamilton - Mark Arcobello - Nail Yakupov
Luke Gazdic - Will Acton - Mike Brown
Justin Schultz - Andrew Ference
Ladislav Smid - Jeff Petry
Nick Schultz - Anton Belov
Notable injuries: Sam Gagner
Here are the projected lines (subject to change) for the Devils:
Adam Henrique - Travis Zajac - Michael Ryder
Ryane Clowe - Patrik Elias - Jaromir Jagr
Dainius Zubrus - Andrei Loktionov - Damien Brunner
Ryan Carter - Stephen Gionta - Steve Bernier
Bryce Salvador - Marek Zidlicky
Andy Greene - Adam Larsson
Anton Volchenkov - Peter Harrold
Some thoughts:
- Even with Nugent-Hopkins returning to the lineup and making his season debut, the Oilers are still extremely thin down the middle. Considering Nugent-Hopkins isn't exactly a faceoff specialist himself, the Devils should be able to win the battle at the dot tonight.
- For a team like New Jersey that's pretty slow on defence, the Oilers top line could cause a lot of problems. Hall, Nugent-Hopkins and Eberle are all extremely skilled and quick, obviously. The Devils will need to make sure they stick to their man, don't over commit and stay in position. If they get caught, the Oilers will make them pay.
- After a pretty solid season debut, Larsson came back with a very poor showing against the Islanders. He'll need to be much better if he wants to remain in the lineup playing in the top-4.
- Brodeur didn't start playing well until after he allowed three goals against New York. He'll need to be better tonight for the Devils to have a chance.
- The Henrique - Zajac - Ryder line cooked up the Islanders defence on Friday and were the best line on the ice, in my opinion. They only accounted for one goal but when they were out there the ice was tilted severely in New Jersey's favor. Against a pretty mediocre Oilers defence, they should fare well again tonight.
- The Oilers bottom-6 is quite bad so Pete DeBoer can deploy any line he wants and be in a favorable matchup. The Devils have much more forward depth and they need to prove that tonight if they want to pick up their first win of the season.
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Eastern Conference playoff predictions.
Western Conference playoff predictions.
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