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The New Jersey Devils, losers in 12 of their last 13 games, are back in action tonight when they host the New York Rangers.
The Devils have dropped all three games against the Rangers this season by an aggregate score of 12-5. While the Devils are playing for nothing in terms of the standings, they should have no problem getting up for a rivalry game in their own building; especially when they've been fed lunch by their opposition all season long.
Obviously, wins have been few and far between for the Devils these days but they haven't played that poorly of late. In six of their last seven games, they have out-attempted their opponents at 5v5 and they have won the scoring chance battle in three of their last four. They have shown some fight and simply haven't had the results to show for it.
While most fans are pro-losing at this point -- getting the highest possible draft pick is all the team can salvage from this terrible season -- I think it's safe to say the majority would like a win vs the Rangers regardless of the cost in terms of draft positioning.
Let's see if they can come through.
Here are the expected line combinations for New Jersey:
Taylor Hall - Travis Zajac - Kyle Palmieri
Joseph Blandisi - Adam Henrique - Beau Bennett
John Quenneville - Pavel Zacha - Stefan Noesen
Miles Wood - Blake Coleman - Nick Lappin
John Moore - Damon Severson
Andy Greene - Ben Lovejoy
Jon Merrill - Steve Santini
Cory Schneider
And the expected lines for the Rangers (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Chris Kreider - Derek Stepan - Mats Zuccarello
J.T. Miller - Mika Zibanejad - Rick Nash
Michael Grabner - Kevin Hayes - Jesper Fast
Jimmy Vesey - Oscar Lindberg - Pavel Buchnevich
Marc Staal - Ryan McDonagh
Brendan Smith - Nick Holden
Brady Skjei - Adam Clendening
Antti Raanta
A few notes:
1) This season 106 defensemen have logged at least 1,000 minutes of ice at 5v5. The following have more 5v5 points than Skjei: Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson, and Dougie Hamilton. That's it.
Skjei can skate, he can move the puck, and he doesn't hesitate to jump into the play to add an extra layer of offense. The Devils will have to watch him closely.
2) The sample size is very small, but the Blandisi - Henrique - Bennett line has controlled ~60% of the shot attempts at 5v5 since being assembled.
3) Following a strong couple months, Schneider has gone cold allowing three goals or more in five straight starts and seven of his last eight. The Devils don't score a lot so he'll have to snap out of that funk for them to win tonight.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 7:00 and can be seen on MSG+ and MSG.
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