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The New Jersey Devils snapped their season-long six-game losing streak in fine fashion on Tuesday night as they picked up a convincing 4-1 win over the New York Islanders.
They'll be looking for a duplicate performance tonight when they play host to the Metro-leading Washington Capitals.
Despite losing *a lot* of depth in the off-season, the Capitals have managed to keep the train on the tracks. They enter this game with a remarkable 28-14-3 record, although their goal differential (+13) and underlying numbers suggest they're not as good as you'd think.
At 5v5, the Capitals rank 22nd in Corsi For% and 29th in Expected Goals For%, meaning they've largely been out-played at full-strength.
Having star power like Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom up front, and an elite goaltender like Braden Holtby between the pipes, helps when it comes to outperforming those numbers, but they have some glaring holes on their roster and I think it's only a matter of time before it gets them into trouble – at least more than it has thus far.
Here are the projected lineups:
New Jersey
*will likely sit if the Devils dress seven defensemen
Taylor Hall - Nico Hischier - Jesper Bratt
Marcus Johansson - Travis Zajac - Drew Stafford
Miles Wood - Pavel Zacha - Kyle Palmieri
Brian Gibbons - Brian Boyle - Stefan Noesen*
Andy Greene - Sami Vatanen
John Moore - Damon Severson
Will Butcher - Ben Lovejoy
Keith Kinkaid
Washington (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Alex Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom - Devante Smith-Pelly
Jakub Vrana - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Tom Wilson
Brett Connolly - Lars Eller - T.J. Oshie
Chandler Stephenson - Jay Beagle - Alex Chiasson
Christian Djoos - John Carlson
Dmitri Orlov - Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik - Madison Bowey
Braden Holtby
What to watch for:
1) The Capitals may not be as good as they've been in recent years, but Alex Ovechkin still is. He enters this game 3rd in goals and 5th in scoring chances at 5v5. I'd cheat towards him every time he's on the ice because he has more goals, at 5v5 and overall, than both his linemates combined. He's the shooter and the one they really want having the puck – act accordingly.
2) Only five teams have taken more penalties than Washington and only three have a worse penalty differential. Discipline is an issue for them, clearly, so the Devils should have no problem getting some calls if they are aggressive and put their team speed to use.
3) The Wood - Zacha - Palmieri line was absolutely dominant last time out. Against a Washington team that has struggled at 5v5, and has depth issues, I think this trio could have another strong night.
4) Kinkaid was solid on Tuesday holding the league's 2nd highest scoring team to just one tally on home ice (it was a schedule loss for the Islanders, but still). The Devils need another solid performance from him tonight because Holtby generally isn't one to get lit up.
5) The Orpik - Bowey pairing has been a train wreck for the Capitals. In almost 250 minutes together, they own a 45.8 Corsi For% and 42.3 Expected Goals For%. Regardless of the matchup, the Devils should be able to take advantage of that pairing.
Puck drop is just after 7:00 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on MSG+ and NBCSWA.
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