Match-up - Carolina Hurricanes (9-10-5) @ New Jersey Devils (9-10-5)
Road/Home records - 3-6-1 -------------- 4-3-2
TV - MSG Plus, FS-CAR
Puck drop - 7:00 PM ET
Season series - 0-0
Last 10: Hurricanes 5-3-2 / Devils 6-3-1
Projected starting goalies - Cam Ward vs Martin Brodeur

Goals for/against per game

Carolina - 2.00/2.67
New Jersey - 2.08/2.25

Power play/Penalty Kill

Carolina - 12.8%/82.3%
New Jersey - 18.7%/86.2%

Projected lines for the Hurricanes (courtesy of DailyFaceoff.com):

Nathan Gerbe - Eric Staal - Tuomo Ruutu
Jiri Tlusty - Jordan Staal - Pat Dwyer
Jeff Skinner - Riley Nash - Elias Lindholm
Drayson Bowman - Manny Malhotra - Radek Dvorak

Justin Faulk - Andrej Sekera
Brett Bellemore - Ron Hainsey
Ryan Murphy - Jay Harrison

Notable injuries: Alex Semin, Joni Pitkanen, Anton Khudobin.

Projected lines for the Devils:

Dainius Zubrus - Travis Zajac - Jaromir Jagr
Adam Henrique - Patrik Elias - Steve Bernier
Ryan Carter - Andrei Loktionov - Michael Ryder
Mattias Tedenby - Jacob Josefson - Cam Janssen

Andy Greene - Marek Zidlicky
Eric Gelinas - Mark Fayne
Jon Merrill - Pete Harrold

Notable injuries: Ryane Clowe, Stephen Gionta, Bryce Salvador, Anton Volchenkov, Adam Larsson.

Some notes:

- Martin Brodeur played during his last couple of starts despite the end results, however, I'm a little surprised he's getting the nod in goal again tonight. Cory Schneider has been equally as good this season so it makes sense to give him a start after Brodeur lost back-to-back games. Sure, Brodeur didn't get much goal support but Schneider has had the same issue all season long.

- I don't like the decision to play Cam Janssen and sit Damien Brunner. The Hurricanes are a somewhat soft team and they're not dressing a tough guy as Kevin Westgarth is currently suspended. With the Devils struggling to score, even though Brunner is part of the reason why, I think it'd be much more beneficial to play a guy with Brunner's talent than dressing CamJAM.

- Technically it was Jon Merrill's second NHL game, but I thought he played pretty well against Winnipeg in what I consider to be his NHL debut. His minutes were somewhat limited (15:17) and his ice was protected, but he handled himself quite well. He made some good outlet passes, showed off his impressive skating ability and posted good possession numbers. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do as he gets more comfortable at the NHL level.

- One thing the Devils have been getting a lot of as of late is offense from the backend. Marek Zidlicky has 13 points on the year and has been pretty impressive offensively. Gelinas has provided a big boost to the PP, Merrill showed some good things in his first full NHL game and Andy Greene has been chipping in a lot, too. Greene has recorded six points in his last nine games on top of logging huge minutes and playing sound defense.

- Eric Staal is coming off what some Hurricanes writers deem to be his best performance of the season. Travis Zajac will likely draw that macthup tonight. If he can shut Staal down, the Devils will have a good chance of winning the game.

- Jacob Josefson will play in his 100th career NHL game tonight. I've always liked his game, but don't feel he's been brought along properly and probably will never reach his full potential because of that. I still think he can be an effective bottom-6 player, though.

- Another milestone to watch: Steve Bernier is just two assists away from 100 for his career. After not panning out as a top-6 power forward, he's done a good job of adjusting his game and turning into a role player who can chip in and play a variety of roles.

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