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Match-up - New Jersey Devils (8-9-2) @ Edmonton Oilers (6-11-2)
Road/Home records - 5-6-0 -------------- 4-6-1
TV - SNW, MSG+, MSG+2
Puck drop - 9:30 p.m. ET
Season series - 0-0
Last 10 - New Jersey: 4-6-0 ------- Edmonton: 2-7-1
Projected starting goalies - Cory Schneider vs Ben Scrivens
Projected lines for the Oilers via DailyFaceoff.com:
Benoit Pouliot - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle
Taylor Hall - Leon Draisaitl - Teddy Purcell
David Perron - Mark Arcobello - Nail Yakupov
Matt Hendricks - Boyd Gordon - Steve Pinizzotto
Andrew Ference - Jeff Petry
Nikita Nikitin - Mark Fayne
Justin Schultz - Keith Aulie
Projected lines for the Devils:
Mike Cammalleri - Travis Zajac - Jaromir Jagr
Adam Henrique - Patrik Elias - Martin Havlat
Tuomo Ruutu - Jacob Josefson - Michael Ryder
Dainius Zubrus - Stephen Gionta - Steve Bernier
Andy Greene - Damon Severson
Eric Gelinas - Marek Zidlicky
Seth Helgeson - Adam Larsson
Injured: Ryane Clowe, Jon Merrill, Bryce Salvador.
Game notes:
- Justin Schultz likes to jump into the play whenever he can and is thinking offense all the time, which leads to same bad pinches. He's not exactly steady in his own zone to begin with, either, and is a guy the Devils should be able to exploit down low. Just something to watch tonight...
- Eric Gelinas and Marek Zidlicky may not have seemed like the best pairing given they turn the puck over at times and are both offensive minded, but they've been very good together thus far. Not a huge sample size but the Devils are getting 54% of the shot attempts and 62.5% of the goals when they're on the ice together, so it may be a pairing worth sticking with for a while.
- The Devils PK has killed off around 20 consecutive penalties since Bryce Salvador went down and Adam Larsson became a mainstay on that unit. Usually the team that wins the special teams battle wins, so if the Devils can continue killing off their penalties they'll be in a good position to win.
- Edmonton has had poor goaltending all season long, and is something the Devils certainly should test. Keep it simple: throw pucks on net whenever possible, and make sure there is a body or two in front to screen and/or bang in rebounds.
- Jacob Josefson is back in the lineup and will center the 3rd line. I like the decision to put him back in as he's been very good this season, and will add some more speed/skill to the bottom-6.
- Cory Schneider will make his 20th consecutive start tonight. I'm assuming Scott Clemmensen will go tomorrow if Schneider isn't at his best tonight. That said, if Schneider's good I assume he'll start tomorrow vs Calgary and again Tuesday against the Canucks. His workload is really starting to build.
- Mark Fayne is a guy I always liked and I think he was more of a loss than most realize; especially on the penalty kill. It'll be fun to watch him play his former team tonight. I'm sure he's had this one circled since the day he signed with the Oilers.
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