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Five things to watch when the New Jersey Devils take on the Los Angeles Kings
1. Hall vs Kopitar
Beyond Anze Kopitar, the Kings' top line doesn't appear overly scary but they've worked very well together and garnered some excellent on-ice results.
Despite playing stiff competition on a nightly basis, this line has managed to control more than 50% of the attempts and chances while out-scoring opponents 30-15 in a little less than 600 minutes of ice.
They'll certainly have their hands full trying to slow down a legitimate Hart Trophy candidate in Taylor Hall, who has consistently piled up chances whether he's found the scoresheet or not. This will be a fun matchup.
2. Tyler Toffoli
Alex Ovechkin. Rick Nash. Nathan MacKinnon. Viktor Arvidsson. Nik Ehlers. Those are the only five players who have generated 5v5 shots at a higher rate than Toffoli over the last 15 games.
With Jeff Carter back in the mix, the Kings have elected to shift Toffoli down in the lineup to give the team a high-end scoring threat on each of the top three lines.
He'll likely get favorable zone starts and steady ice against New Jersey's depth players. If that's the case, he's the kind of player who could really take advantage of that.
3. Can Keith Kinkaid stay hot?
Since February 15th, Kinkaid has won seven times in nine tries and posted a remarkable .933 save percentage. That's the good news.
The bad news? Despite this remarkable run, Kinkaid still owns a .906 save percentage on the year and a .910 save percentage for his career. Both of those totals are well below league average and help put into perspective just how much he's playing over his head right now.
He's due for some regression and I'd bet on it coming sooner than later. With the Devils in desperate need of points, they're hoping he can put it off a little longer.
4. Prone to penalties
The Kings are an excellent defensive team. They don't give up a ton in the way of chances and Jonathan Quick is usually there to bail the team out when they do. As such, it should be no surprise the Kings rank 3rd in the league in 5v5 goals against.
Luckily for their opponents, they are prone to taking penalties. They rank near the top of the league in penalties taken and only Anaheim and Edmonton have worse penalty differentials.
They clearly have a tendency to parade to the box. Should they do that tonight, it will certainly make life a lot easier on the Devils when it comes to generating offense.
5. The 2nd pairing needs to step up
John Moore and Damon Severson have been pretty good together for the vast majority of the season. Lately that hasn't been the case.
Their game has fallen off a cliff and it shows in the numbers. Over the last 10 games, the Devils have controlled less than 46% of the shot attempts with those two on the ice and Moore doesn't have a single point during that span.
They will be on the ice against one of Kopitar, Carter, or Toffoli for most, if not all, of the night so there's nowhere for them to hide. They need to be better.
Here are the projected lineups:
New Jersey
Taylor Hall - Nico Hischier - Kyle Palmieri
Michael Grabner - Travis Zajac - Jesper Bratt
Patrick Maroon - Blake Coleman - Stefan Noesen
Miles Wood - Brian Boyle - Brian Gibbons
Andy Greene - Sami Vatanen
John Moore - Damon Severson
Will Butcher - Ben Lovejoy
Keith Kinkaid
Los Angeles (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Alex Iaffalo - Anze Kopitar - Dustin Brown
Tobias Reider - Jeff Carter - Trevor Lewis
Tanner Pearson - Adrian Kempe - Tyler Toffoli
Kyle Clifford - Mike Amadio - Torrey Mitchell
Derek Forbort - Drew Doughty
Alec Martinez - Dion Phaneuf
Jake Muzzin - Paul LaDue
Jonathan Quick
Puck drop is just after 4:00 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on MSG+ and FS-MW.
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