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The New Jersey Devils may have 25 games remaining on the schedule, but their season is all but over.
After suffering another setback last time out, the Devils' only path to a playoff spot is an unrealistic one.
In all likelihood, it will take 94 points (or more) to lock down the final wild card spot. For the Devils to reach that total they'd need to go 16-5-4, or some combination that equates to 36 points, down the stretch.
Given the Devils can't score with any regularity, and they get outshot as well as out-chanced more often than not, going on a run like that is all but impossible.
Even if the Devils are able to sweep the streaking New York Islanders this weekend, which seems unlikely at best, they won't have much life.
That's why I think it's time to give the kids a little boost in minutes down the stretch and use this time to develop their games. Overplaying veterans won't do the team any good now or moving forward.
Here are the expected line combinations for New Jersey:
Taylor Hall - Travis Zajac - Kyle Palmieri
Beau Bennett - Adam Henrique - P.A. Parenteau
Pavel Zacha - Jacob Josefson - Stefan Noesen
Miles Wood - Joseph Blandisi - Devante Smith-Pelly
Andy Greene - Ben Lovejoy
John Moore - Damon Severson
Jon Merrill - Steve Santini
Cory Schneider
And the expected lines for the Islanders (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Anders Lee - John Tavares - Josh Bailey
Anthony Beauvillier - Brock Nelson - Ryan Strome
Andrew Ladd - Alan Quine - Jason Chimera
Shane Prince - Casey Cizikas - Nikolay Kulemin
Nick Leddy - Johnny Boychuk
Thomas Hickey - Scott Mayfield
Calvin de Haan - Dennis Seidenberg
Thomas Greiss
A few notes:
1) On paper, Tavares is New York's only forward who scares you. In reality, Anders Lee also fits into that group. The underrated winger has dominated the league over the last month and change, tallying 17 points in his last 15 games. He's a legitimate scoring threat and one the Devils will have to pay close attention to.
2) New Jersey is 27th in 5v5 goals over the last 10 games while the Islanders are 28th in 5v5 goals allowed. Which team gets back on track tonight?
3) Hall has 29 shots over his last six games yet just two goals to show for it. If he keeps getting chances the way he has been, he'll have a multi-goal/multi-point performance sooner than later.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 7:00 and can be seen on MSG and MSG+.
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