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Despite controlling much of the game the New Jersey Devils had their five-game winning streak snapped last time out against the Anaheim Ducks.
This afternoon they're in Los Angeles looking to rebound and pick up their sixth win in seven games.
The Kings have been one of the NHL's best teams for years, and they're pretty good again this season, but the Devils are certainly catching them at the right time.
The Kings are dealing with serious injury problems at each position. They are missing their captain, Anze Kopitar, sniper Marian Gaborik, underrated blue liner Brayden McNabb and starting goaltender Jonathan Quick. Those are the key injuries but the list doesn't even end there.
The Devils have their own problems with Taylor Hall and Mike Cammalleri out of the lineup but even without those two the Devils are still a competitive team, as they've shown over the last couple games.
There is no better time to run into the Kings than now. Let's see if the Devils can take advantage of the opportunity at hand.
Here is a look at the lineup the Devils are expected to go with:
Beau Bennett - Travis Zajac - P.A. Parenteau
Pavel Zacha - Adam Henrique - Kyle Palmieri
Blake Pietila - Jacob Josefson - Devante Smith-Pelly
Sergey Kalinin - Vern Fiddler - Nick Lappin
Andy Greene - Damon Severson
Yohann Auvitu - Ben Lovejoy
John Moore - Kyle Quincey
Cory Schneider
And the expected lines for the Kings:
Tanner Pearson - Jeff Carter - Tyler Toffoli
Dustin Brown - Nic Dowd - Devin Setoguchi
Dwight King - Trevor Lewis - Jordan Nolan
Kyle Clifford - Nick Shore - Teddy Purcell
Derek Forbort - Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin - Alec Martinez
Krevin Gravel - Tom Gilbert
Peter Budaj
A few notes:
1) The Pearson - Carter - Toffoli line is Los Angeles' only legitimate scoring line. I'd expect Hynes to match Zajac's unit and the Greene - Severson pairing against them whenever possible, although that won't be as easy without last change.
2) The Devils' power play units are on an 0-24 run. Despite that they still rank top-11 in shots and scoring chances per 60 on the man advantage. They should start converting again sooner than later.
3) Both teams are in the top half of the league in suppressing scoring chances at 5 v 5. Don't expect a lot of action there, especially with Hall, Cammalleri, Kopitar and Gaborik out of the lineup.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 4:00 pm eastern and can be seen on FS-West and MSG+.
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