Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
The New Jersey Devils are in Montreal tonight looking to build on one of their best, and most complete, games of the season against Los Angeles.
Unfortunately, they'll attempt to do so while very shorthanded as Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri, and Marcus Johansson – the team's three most established offensive players – will all miss this game due to injury.
Missing your best offensive players is not ideal regardless of opponent but especially so against Carey Price and Montreal.
They've hit a bit of a rut having lost three in a row, but prior to that they won five straight and allowed only six goals during that spell.
For the most part, they've recovered well from their disastrous start and are back to playing at a level close to what many expected prior to the season.
The Devils are going to have their hands full in this one.
Here are the projected lineups:
New Jersey
Jesper Bratt - Nico Hischier - Drew Stafford
Blake Coleman - Travis Zajac - Brian Gibbons
Jimmy Hayes - Brian Boyle - Nick Lappin
Miles Wood - Pavel Zacha - Stefan Noesen
Andy Greene - Steven Santini
John Moore - Sami Vatanen
Will Butcher - Damon Severson
Cory Schneider
Montreal (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Max Pacioretty - Phillip Danault - Paul Byron
Alex Galchenyuk - Jonathan Drouin - Andrew Shaw
Charles Hudon - Tomas Plekanec - Brendan Gallagher
Nic Deslauriers - Byron Froese - Daniel Carr
Jordie Benn - Shea Weber
Karl Alzner - Jeff Petry
Joe Morrow - David Schlemko
Carey Price
What to watch for:
1) Schneider has been excellent of late posting a .917 save percentage or better in nine of his last 11 starts. He'll need to make it 10 for 12 otherwise the Devils won't have much of a chance – they're not going to score often with this lineup.
2) Drew Stafford, who is pointless in his last 12 games, is going from healthy scratch to top line duties. The Devils desperately need something from him because, again, there is almost no scoring pop in their lineup.
3) On the surface, the Hudon - Plekanec - Gallagher line isn't overly scary but the numbers they've put up – especially at home – are. At the Bell Centre, they're generating 80(!) shot attempts per 60 minutes and they own an expected goals for of nearly 60%. They're really, really good.
4) Montreal ranks 4th in the NHL averaging 9.1 expected goals per 60 minutes on the man advantage so they're not a unit to mess around with. If the Devils are undisciplined, they'll almost certainly pay for it.
5) Among Devils dressing tonight, Wood ranks 1st in 5v5 shots/60 and 2nd in 5v5 chances/60. If the offense struggles, as expected, I'd strongly suggest giving him more ice time. His speed is a huge threat and he's one of the only guys capable of generating offense by himself.
Puck drop is just after 7:30 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on MSG+2, TSN2 and RDS.
Recent Posts
Devils rebound with streak-snapping win over Kings
On Zajac, Schneider and Wood
Devils Q&A on Zacha, Zajac, Schneider, playoff chances, and more
Thoughts on the Sami Vatanen trade
New Jersey Devils Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»