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G21 New Jersey Devils vs Boston Bruins: Four things to watch

November 22, 2017, 11:23 AM ET [22 Comments]
Todd Cordell
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The New Jersey Devils didn't play their best game in Minnesota but they did enough to get back on track and pick up a much-needed overtime win.

They'll look to build on that this evening when they host the Boston Bruins in the last game before the mini Thanksgiving break.

The Bruins enter tonight's contest with just eight wins to their name, fewer than all but Florida and Buffalo in the East, and it's not hard to see why.

Their lineup has been completely depleted by injuries and they've been forced to play without several of their best players on a nightly basis.

As it stands, the likes of Brad Marchand, David Backes, Ryan Spooner, Anders Bjork, Torey Krug, and Adam McQuaid are sidelined with injuries.

On top of that, David Krejci just returned from injury and has missed all but eight games, while Patrice Bergeron also missed a handful.

They're going through the worst injury spell imaginable right now and are vulnerable as a result. The Devils need to take advantage of that.

Here are the projected lineups:

New Jersey

**Out, replacement TBD.

Taylor Hall - Travis Zajac - Jesper Bratt
Adam Henrique - Nico Hischier - Brian Gibbons
Miles Wood - Brian Boyle - Drew Stafford
Pavel Zacha - Blake Coleman - Jimmy Hayes

Andy Greene - Steven Santini
John Moore - Damon Severson
Will Butcher - Ben Lovejoy

Cory Schneider

Boston (via DailyFaceoff.com)

Danton Heinen - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk - David Krejci - Peter Cehlarik
Frank Vatrano - Riley Nash - Noel Acciari
Tim Schaller - Sean Kuraly - Jordan Schwarz

Zdeno Chara - Charlie McAvoy
Rob O'Gara - Brandon Carlo
Paul Postma - Kevin Miller

Anton Khudobin

Five things to watch:

1) We've given our good little buddy Jesper Bratt a free pass of late because of his strong start, but he's gone cold. Ice cold. Over the last 13 games, he's generated just five chances at 5v5 and zero in the last five. I know he's a rookie, and all young players go through rough patches, but he needs to take it up a notch.

2) Henrique went beast mode last time out scoring a goal, picking up a couple assists, getting involved physically, and making an impact in all aspects of the game. He won't be that good every night, obviously, but it'd be nice to see him string together some quality performances. The Devils pay, and play, him too much to go MIA for extended periods of time.

3) One low-key player to keep your eye on: Sean Kuraly. He quietly leads the Bruins in shots, chances, and high-danger chances at 5v5 despite ranking 11th on the team in 5v5 ice.

4) While on the power play, the Bruins allow more scoring chances (10.82 per 60) than any other team. Don't be surprised if the Devils are aggressive and create some offense while down a man.

Puck drop is just after 7:00 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on MSG+2 and NESN.

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