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The New Jersey Devils enter tonight's contest having lost three consecutive games in regulation.
As a result, their once fantastic 9-3-3 record is now a less impressive 9-6-3 and they currently sit outside of the playoffs.
There is a ton of season to go but the Devils need to put this losing streak behind them sooner than later. To me they aren't talented enough to put together lengthy winning streaks (six or seven+ games) that we see every year from high-end teams like San Jose, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, etc. so if they want to be a playoff team they're going to have to end losing skids before they get out of hand. Four consecutive regulation losses would definitely be pushing it.
Though the Toronto Maple Leafs sit below the Devils in the standings they are far from an easy win.
At 5 v 5 the Maple Leafs lead the league in shot attempts per 60 and are 2nd in both scoring chances/60 and goals for/60. Their offense is as potent as any and will definitely be a tough task for a defense unit that likes to score on its own net.
Here is a look at the lineup the Devils are expected to go with:
Mike Cammalleri - Travis Zajac - P.A. Parenteau
Reid Boucher - Adam Henrique - Devante Smith-Pelly
Pavel Zacha - Jacob Josefson - Beau Bennett
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 Maple Leafs:
*not confirmed due to back-to-back
Zach Hyman - Auston Matthews - William Nylander
James van Riemsdyk - Tyler Bozak - Mitch Marner
Leo Komarov - Nazem Kadri - Connor Brown
Matt Martin - Ben Smith - Nikita Soshnikov
Morgan Rielly - Nikita Zaitsev
Jake Gardiner - Connor Carrick
Matt Hunwick - Roman Polak
Frederik Andersen*
A few notes:
1) The Maple Leafs are the highest event team in the NHL as they average ~120 shot attempts for + against per 60 minutes at 5 v 5. The Devils are on of the lowest event teams averaging ~105 per 60 minutes played. The Devils need to find a way to keep that number down tonight because the more events there are, the more opportunity for the talent differential to shine through. And there's a big one.
2) The Devils have not scored on their last 29 power plays. Perhaps Cammalleri's return to the lineup will help them get out of this funk. He has always been a dangerous player on the man advantage.
3) Toronto is one of the best offensive teams in the league and the Devils have struggled to score of late. That will probably continue tonight - they're still without arguably their two best goal scorers - so Cory Schneider will need to be on his game.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 7:00 pm eastern and can be seen on MSG+, SN1, SN-E and SN-O.
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