The Metro Division-leading New Jersey Devils are back in action tonight when they play host to a very disappointing Florida Panthers team.
The latter was adamant about righting the ship following a disastrous 2016-17 season but, to this point, things have gone even worse this year.
Florida has won just eight of their first 22 games and sit ahead of only Buffalo and Arizona, two truly horrible teams, as a result.
It's still heading downhill, too, as the Cats were already short on offensively gifted players and will be without Evgenii Dadonov and Radim Vrbata, their two best right-wingers, for the foreseeable future.
The Devils have been cruising along pretty nicely here but these are the kinds of games they need to win if they're going to surprise everyone and make the playoffs. They are hosting a struggling team in a vulnerable spot. They have to take advantage.
Here are the projected lineups:
New Jersey
Taylor Hall - Nico Hischier - Jesper Bratt Adam Henrique - Travis Zajac - Drew Stafford Pavel Zacha - Brian Boyle - Miles Wood Brian Gibbons - Blake Coleman - Stefan Noesen
Andy Greene - Steven Santini John Moore - Damon Severson Will Butcher - Ben Lovejoy
Cory Schneider
Florida (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Jonathan Huberdeau - Aleksander Barkov - Colton Sceviour Jamie McGinn - Vincent Trocheck - Nick Bjugstad Henrik Haapala - Jared McCann - Dryden Hunt Michael Haley - Derek MacKenzie - Connor Brickley
Keith Yandle - Aaron Ekblad Michael Matheson - Mark Pysyk Ian McCoshen - Mackenzie Weeger
Roberto Luongo
Five things to watch:
1) Dadonov's injury is a big blow, but Florida's top line should still be in good shape with Huberdeau and Barkov leading the charge. A season ago, the Panthers controlled 54.4% of the shot attempts and 59% of the goals with that duo on the ice at 5v5.
2) Hall has been a beast all season – he's 5th in the league in scoring chances and averages 4.2 per game – but has taken it up another notch of late. Over the last seven games, he's tallied 36 chances (5.14 per game) and registered eight points in that time. He's been absolutely spectacular so I'd expect another good showing against a struggling, beat up Florida team.
3) If the Devils use team speed to their advantage and can draw a few calls, they should have no problem making the Panthers pay. The latter ranks 30th in shot attempts against/60, 30th in goals against/60, and 31st in expected goals against/60 while down a man.
4) The Devils allowed 23 or more chances at 5v5 eight times in the first 17 games of the season. They've gone six straight games without doing so. The defense still isn't 'stingy', but it's slowly heading in the right direction.
5) Schneider has been very good of late posting a .917 save percentage or better in five of his last six outings. He's up to a .918 save percentage on the year, which is just below his career average of .922. Another good start tonight and he'll really be knocking at the door.
Puck drop is just after 7:00 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on MSG+ and FS-F.