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It wasn't pretty, but the New Jersey Devils opened the preseason with a 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals.
Tonight, they'll look to build on that against their biggest rivals in the New York Rangers.
Puck drop is just after 7 p.m. Eastern Time and can be seen on MSG and MSG+.
Here are the projected lineups:
New Jersey
Miles Wood - Adam Henrique - Blake Speers
Brian Gibbons - Pavel Zacha - Drew Stafford
Blake Pietila - Michael McLeod - Jimmy Hayes
Ben Thomson - Austin Cangelosi- Nick Lappin
Andy Greene - Ben Lovejoy
Viktor Loov - Damon Severson
Tim Erixon - Yaroslav Dyblenko
Cory Schneider (1st half)
Mackenzie Blackwood (2nd half)
New York
Matt Puempel - Kevin Hayes - Mats Zuccarello
Chris Kreider - Lias Andersson - Ryan Gropp
Jimmy Vesey - Filip Chytil - Adam Tambellini
Daniel Catenacci - David Desharnais - Andrew Desjardins
Bradyk Skjei - Kevin Shattenkirk
Vince Pedrie - Brendan Smith
Marc Staal - John Gilmour
Henrik Lundqvist (1st half)
Alexander Georgiev (2nd half)
Five things to watch:
1) As a rookie, Miles Wood was very good at using his size and speed to get into dangerous areas and create scoring chances for himself. His play without the puck left a lot to be desired, though. If he wants a bigger role, his defensive game will have to be better so I'm interested to see if he can make any strides in that area.
2) Michael McLeod didn't really stand out at the Prospects Challenge but that tournament is to knock the rust off as much as it is to showcase yourself. The real competition for a spot begins now and he'll have to play well if he wants to get one.
3) The Rangers are dressing six players who a) scored 15+ goals last season and/or; b) recorded 35+ points last season while the Devils are dressing just one (Adam Henrique). The Rangers should be able to carry play so this will be a good test for Cory Schneider and Mackenzie Blackwood.
4) Pavel Zacha spent almost the entirety of his summer in New Jersey training for the upcoming season. He wants to be a lot better and he clearly put the work in. Tonight is the first opportunity for his efforts to pay off.
5) Yaroslav Dyblenko was very effective breaking the puck out in his preseason debut.
He was part of a strong New Jersey lineup facing an extremely watered down opponent, though. Tonight it'll be the other way around as the Devils are dressing a poor lineup while, as mentioned above, the Rangers have a handful of solid contributors in theirs. It'll be interesting to see if his success continues given tougher circumstances.
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