Five things to watch when the New Jersey Devils take on the Washington Capitals:
1. Limiting high-danger opportunities Believe it or not, the Devils have been pretty solid defensively this season – at least when Keith Kinkaid starts. At 5v5, they're conceding 9.46 high-danger looks per 60 minutes. That ranks them 4th in the league behind only Boston, Minnesota, and Vegas. Each of those teams is holding onto a playoff spot.
On the flip side, Washington has struggled to generate Grade A looks this season. They're averaging 9.86, which is good for 25th in the NHL. Injuries played a part, no doubt, but the Caps are pretty shallow up front – and rely heavily on their power play – so it's not exactly shocking they sit so low at 5v5.
If ~25 games of data is as any indication, don't expect the Devils to give up a ton of good looks tonight. The Capitals will need to be opportunistic.
2. Braden Holtby is back Remember when he was legitimately awful for the 2nd half of last season? Well, he recovered nicely in the playoffs and has carried that over into this season.
Among 38 eligible goaltenders (500+ 5v5 minutes), Holtby ranks 12th in save percentage (.931) and 9th in Goals Saved Above Average (+4.96). He's performing at a higher level than the likes of Sergei Bobrovsky, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Devan Dubnyk, and Marc-Andre Fleury, among many others.
He's very difficult to beat when he is on his game, which he is, so the Devils will need a lot of shot volume if they're going to snap their losing streak tonight.
3. Discipline is imperative Death, taxes, and the Capitals having a scary good power play. It feels like that's been the case for better than a decade and this season is no different. They rank 6th in power play markers, 4th in power play goals per 60, and don't need many opportunities to capitalize. The Devils have been undisciplined all season long – only five teams take more minors per 60 – and they'll almost certainly pay for it if that's the case tonight.
4. Kyle Palmieri In an effort to balance the scoring, and give the 2nd line a real finisher, John Hynes moved Palmieri to the 2nd line. Last game that completely took away from his involvement as he recorded just two shot contributions (one attempt, one assist) at 5v5. For perspective, Brett Seney (seven) and Miles Wood (six) did a lot more with worse linemates and less ice time. The Devils need Palmieri to contribute away from Taylor Hall and show why he is the team's 3rd highest paid forward.
5. An ice-cold power play You would think a PP featuring the likes of Hall, Palmieri and Nico Hischier would be good. Very good. Apparently not! The Devils have converted on just one power play over their last 11 games. One. That's hard to do. What's worse is on many nights they haven't looked dangerous. While the Capitals' underlyings are pretty good on the PK, only three teams have allowed more power play markers this season. Perhaps this is a Get Rightâ„¢ spot.
Here are the projected lineups.
New Jersey Devils
Taylor Hall - Nico Hischier - Jesper Bratt Marcus Johansson - Pavel Zacha - Kyle Palmieri Miles Wood - Travis Zajac - Blake Coleman Brian Boyle - Brett Seney - Michael McLeod
Andy Greene - Damon Severson Mirco Mueller - Sami Vatanen Will Butcher - Ben Lovejoy
Keith Kinkaid
Washington (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Alex Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom - Tom Wilson Jakub Vrana - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Brett Connolly Andre Burakovsky - Travis Boyd - Devante Smith-Pelly Chandler Stephenson - Nic Dowd - Dmitrij Jaskin
Michal Kempny - John Carlson Dmitry Orlov - Matt Niskanen Christian Djoos - Madison Bowey
Braden Holtby
Puck drop is just after 7:00 p.m. ET and can be seen on MSG+, NBCSWA+, NHLN (U.S.) and TVAS.
Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com and Corsica.Hockey
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