After a respectable 1-1-1 road trip through Western Canada, the New Jersey Devils are back on home soil tonight when they play host to the St. Louis Blues.
Many -- myself included -- thought the Blues may take a step back this season but that certainly hasn't been the case thus far.
The Blues are off to a spectacular 11-3-1 start and sit atop the Western Conference as a result.
The numbers suggest it's no fluke, either, as they rank 5th in Expected Goals For% at 5v5 and 1st in Expected Goals Against/60, meaning they've been extremely stout defensively.
This will be another tough challenge for a Devils team without the services of three top forwards in Marcus Johansson, Kyle Palmieri, and Travis Zajac.
Here are the projected lineups:
New Jersey
*questionable
Taylor Hall - Nico Hischier - Jesper Bratt Miles Wood - Adam Henrique - Drew Stafford Brian Boyle - Pavel Zacha - Jimmy Hayes Brian Gibbons - Blake Coleman - Stefan Noesen
Andy Greene - Steven Santini* John Moore - Damon Severson Mirco Mueller - Will Butcher
Cory Schneider
St. Louis (via DailyFaceoff.com)
*questionable
Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn - Vladimir Tarasenko* Vladimir Sobotka - Paul Stastny - Alex Steen Dmitrij Jaskin - Oskar Sundqvist - Magnus Paajarvi Scottie Upshall - Kyle Brodziak - Chris Thorburn
Carl Gunnarsson - Alex Pietrangelo Joel Edmundson - Colton Parayko Vince Dunn - Robert Bortuzzo
Jake Allen
Five things to watch:
1) Tarasenko, Schwartz, and Schenn rank 1-2-3 on the Blues in 5v5 points and 5v5 scoring chances. They've been absolutely dominant together and will give the Devils all they can handle in this one.
2) Hall has been borderline unstoppable of late tallying 13 points and 34 chances over the last eight games, which is just insane production. Until he cools down, he'll be mentioned every day.
3) The Devils allowed 29 or more chances at 5v5 just once in their first 10 games. They've allowed 29+ in each of their last three. If their defense continues to bleed chances, it's only a matter of time before the losses start to pile up. They need to be much better.
4) If it feels like Wood has been more dangerous offensively of late, it's because he has been. At 5v5, he registered nine chances in his first seven games but has really picked it up with 13 chances in five games since. He'll be rewarded sooner than later if he continues to generate good looks.
5) The sample size is small, but the Boyle - Zacha - Hayes line has controlled just 33% of the shot attempts together and have an Expected Goals For% below 40.
Puck drop is just after 7:00 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on MSG+2 and FS-MW.
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