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After being on the receiving end of a New Year's Eve blowout, the New Jersey Devils will attempt to rebound tonight at home against the Boston Bruins.
While the Devils have been very good at home this season, the list of advantages for them ends there.
The Bruins are nine points clear of the Devils in the standings, are 29 goals better in terms of differential, and are also perhaps the best 5v5 team in the NHL.
Their 5v5 shooting percentage is among the worst in the league, but the Bruins are tops in Corsi For% and Scoring Chance For% on the year. In other words, they've been dominating teams and, despite owning a solid record, probably haven't been rewarded accordingly.
Meanwhile, at 5v5 the Devils are 27th in Corsi For% and Scoring Chance For%. They're trending downward in that regard, too, sitting 29th in both categories over the last 10 games.
They may also be without their best center, Travis Zajac, and shootout specialist, Jacob Josefson, due to illnesses.
This certainly has the makings of another long night, but it seems whenever the Devils have a really infavorable matchup they find a way to surprise. Let's see if they can do that this evening.
Here are the expected line combinations for New Jersey:
Mike Cammalleri - Adam Henrique - Kyle Palmieri
Taylor Hall - Sergey Kalinin - P.A. Parenteau
Miles Wood - Pavel Zacha - Nick Lappin
Beau Bennett - Devante Smith-Pelly - Luke Gazdic
Andy Greene - Ben Lovejoy
Damon Severson - Kyle Quincey
Jon Merrill - Steve Santini
Cory Schneider
And the expected lines for the Bruins (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Ryan Spooner - David Krejci - Frank Vatrano
Tim Schaller - Austin Cznarik - Riley Nash
Anton Blidh - Domonic Moore - Jimmy Hayes
Zdeno Charo - Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug - Adam McQuaid
Kevan Miller - Collin Miller
Tuukka Rask
A couple notes:
1) The Marchand - Bergeron - Pastrnak line has spent more than 300 minutes together at 5v5. In that span, the Bruins have controlled 63%(!) of the shot attempts with them on the ice. They are arguably the best line in hockey and will give the Devils' weak defense all they can handle.
2) Steve Santini has been recalled and will get a chance to play. You don't want to put too much pressure on a kid, or base too much off a couple games, but if he helps solidify the defense a little bit one would think he'll stick around. The opportunity is in front of him, he just has to take it.
3) Schneider has lost seven of his last eight starts and allowed four or more goals six times in that span. The defense hasn't been good, nobody doubts that, but at some point, Schneider needs to step up and steal a game. That's what he is paid to do.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 7:00 pm eastern and can be seen on SN, MSG+ and NESN.
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