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The New Jersey Devils are not going to the playoffs this year. That much we know.
The Carolina Hurricanes, however, still have a shot at getting to the dance. They have quietly gone 6-1-3 in their last 10 games and jumped back into the race as a result.
With a win tonight, and a little help around the league, the Hurricanes could be as few as three points out and still have a game (or two) in hand over the team they're chasing for the 2nd Wild Card spot, depending on how things play out. There is a lot on the line for the Hurricanes in this one.
The Devils may not have anything to play for in the way of standings but they have a plethora of kids trying to establish themselves as NHL regulars and a handful of guys trying to earn new contracts.
There is still plenty of reason for most of the players on the roster to be motivated and I expect that to show in the effort, as it has over the last few games (about the same time all the kids were given prominent roles).
Again, the Devils aren't going to the playoffs but they might as well take the Hurricanes down with them.
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 - Blake Pietila
John Moore - Damon Severson
Andy Greene - Ben Lovejoy
Jon Merrill - Steve Santini
Cory Schneider
And the expected lines for the Hurricanes (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Brock McGinn - Jordan Staal - Teuvo Teravainen
Sebastian Aho - Elias Lindholm - Phil Di Giuseppe
Jeff Skinner - Derek Ryan - Lee Stempniak
Joakim Nordstrom - Victor Rask - Patrick Brown
Noah Hanifin - Justin Faulk
Jaccob Slavin - Ryan Murphy
Klas Dahlbeck - Brett Pesce
Cam Ward
A few notes:
1) Slavin is quietly having a very strong season and has developed into one of the better young defensemen in the league. His relative possession numbers are excellent and he has more 5v5 points than the likes of Roman Josi, Duncan Keith, Zach Werenski, P.K. Subban, Drew Doughty and Shea Weber, among many others.
2) Zacha is riding a six-game point streak and playing his best hockey of the season. It'd be fun to see him keep it going against one of the teams that passed on him at the draft.
3) Carolina has the NHL's 2nd best penalty kill and they lead the league in 4v5 scoring chances and goals per 60 minutes. The Devils will have to be careful when up a man because the Hurricanes really like to press.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 7:00 and can be seen on FS-CR and MSG+2.
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