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The New Jersey Devils just concluded a four-game road trip in which they allowed 15 goals. Despite that, they picked up points in three of four contests and tallied a respectable four points in that span.
Their defense has been extremely leaky of late -- they have allowed at least three goals in nine(!) consecutive games -- but their offense has been able to pick them up reasonably well and they've stayed afloat in the playoff race as a result.
They'll be looking to get back on track on home soil, where they are 7-0-2 on the year, tonight against the Vancouver Canucks. This will be a good test for where New Jersey's defense is at. If there's a team they shouldn't allow 3+ goals against, it is probably the Canucks.
They rank 28th in the NHL in goals per game and 27th in 5v5 scoring chances per 60. They don't have a lot of skill up front, nor do they have skilled power forwards (Bo Horvat aside) that should cause the Devils problems around the paint.
This is a perfect opportunity for the Devils to tighten up and start feeling good about the defensive aspect of their game again.
Let's take a look at the line combinations.
Mike Cammalleri - Travis Zajac - Kyle Palmieri
Taylor Hall - Adam Henrique - P.A. Parenteau
Beau Bennett - Sergey Kalinin - Nick Lappin
Miles Wood - Vern Fiddler - Devante Smith-Pelly
Andy Greene - Damon Severson
Yohann Auvitu - Ben Lovejoy
John Moore - Kyle Quincey
Cory Schneider
And the expected lines for the Canucks (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Brandon Sutter
Markus Granlund - Michael Chaput - Loui Eriksson
Sven Baertschi - Bo Horvat - Alex Burrows
Jack Skille - Brendan Gaunce - Jayson Megna
Luca Sbisa - Troy Stecher
Ben Hutton - Erik Gudbranson
Nikita Tryamkin - Philip Larsen
Ryan Miller
A few notes:
1) Over the last 10 games, only Arizona and the New York Islanders have allowed more high-danger chances at 5v5 than the Devils. They're not bleeding goals because of poor goaltending; they're bleeding goals because they're putting out welcome mats in dangerous areas.
2) The Devils' offense has taken off in the last 10 as they're 12th in 5v5 goals per 60 and 14th in high-danger chances per 60 in that span. On the year the Canucks rank 27th in suppressing chances so the Devils should get plenty of good looks.
3) Palmieri has been quiet for much of the year but he has four points in his last five and eight shots in his last three. He is slowly starting to make an impact offensively and it feels like a breakout could happen sooner than later.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 7:00 pm eastern and can be seen on MSG+ and SN-Pacific.
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