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The New Jersey Devils are in Tampa Bay tonight looking to rebound from a disappointing effort on opening night.
While the Devils managed to pick up a point in Florida they certainly didn't deserve it. They played the Panthers somewhat even in the first 40 minutes before being dominated territorially for the final 20 minutes and change. As was the case many times last season, Cory Schneider was the only reason the Devils were able to stay in the game.
Tonight they'll be looking for a much better effort from players not named Schneider. In hopes of getting said effort head coach John Hynes has made several lineup changes.
Beau Bennett will draw in and skate on the 3rd line while P.A. Parenteau and Devante Smith-Pelly will swap spots on the 1st and 3rd lines respectively.
Here is a look at the lineup the Devils are expected to go with:
Taylor Hall - Adam Henrique - P.A. Parenteau
Mike Cammalleri - Travis Zajac - Kyle Palmieri
Beau Bennett - Pavel Zacha - Devante Smith-Pelly
Miles Wood - Vern Fiddler - Blake Speers
Andy Greene - Damon Severson
John Moore - Ben Lovejoy
Yohann Auvitu - Kyle Quincey
Cory Schneider
And who they'll go up against:
Ondrej Palat - Steven Stamkos - Jonathan Drouin
Alex Killorn - Tyler Johnson - Nikita Kucherov
Vladislav Namestnikov - Valtteri Filppula - Brayden Point
Cedric Paquette - Brian Boyle - J.T. Brown
Victor Hedman - Anton Stralman
Jason Garrison - Andrej Sustr
Braydon Coburn - Nikita Nesterov
Ben Bishop
A few notes:
1) The Lightning are loaded with skill players from top to bottom and can score with pretty much anyone. They'll certainly get their chances against a suspect Devils' defense so Schneider will need to be excellent once again for the Devils to have a chance.
2) It's nice to see Severson remains on the top pairing after a somewhat shaky debut in that spot. He has the highest ceiling of anyone on the Devils defense and the best way to help him reach it is to let him play through his mistakes and learn on the job. Adam Larsson was far from a finished product when he was given the opportunity to play with Greene on the top pairing and he turned out just fine.
3) The Moore - Lovejoy pairing was caved in at even-strength in the season opener. They're going to be handed tough assignments again tonight so they'll need to be much better.
Tonight's game is schedule for 7 pm eastern and can be seen on MSG+2 and Sun Sports.
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