If it feels like the New Jersey Devils haven't played in forever, it's because they haven't.
I mean, they traded arguably the biggest face of the franchise and the calendar flipped since their last game which, of course, was their Monday night dud against the Florida Panthers.
While the scoreboard suggested it was a close game, the Panthers caved the Devils in for much of the night and were certainly deserving of their win.
The Devils have chewed on that awful showing all week so they'll no doubt be eager to try and get back on track and, if things go their way in Colorado and elsewhere, reclaim top spot in the Metro Division.
They'll have quite the cast of reinforcements to help them do just that as newly acquired defenseman Sami Vatanen is expected to debut while Marcus Johansson, who has missed a month due to a concussion, will return to the lineup.
The Devils appear to be getting the Avalanche at the right time as they've dropped six of 10 and will be without their captain, Gabriel Landeskog, due to suspension as well as a couple solid depth forwards – Colin Wilson and promising youngster Vladislav Kamenev – due to injuries.
The Avs are not the pushovers they were a year ago – not even close – and they have been very successful at home (8-2-1) but this is still a game the Devils should win. Let's see if they can go out and take care of business.
Here are the projected lineups:
New Jersey
Taylor Hall - Nico Hischier - Jesper Bratt Marcus Johansson - Travis Zajac - Pavel Zacha Miles Wood - Brian Boyle - Stefan Noesen Brian Gibbons - Blake Coleman - Drew Stafford
Andy Greene - Steven Santini John Moore - Damon Severson Will Butcher - Sami Vatanen**
**unsure who Vatanen will play with, just slotted him in for Ben Lovejoy because he's the likely guy to sit
Cory Schneider
Colorado (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Sven Andrighetto - Nathan MacKinnon - Mikko Rantanen Tyson Jost - Alexander Kerfoot - J.T. Compher Matt Nieto - Carl Soderberg - Blake Comeau Gabriel Bourque - Dominic Toninato - Nail Yakupov
Samuel Girard - Erik Johnson Anton Lindholm - Tyson Barrie Nikita Zadorov - Mark Barberio
Semyon Varlamov
What to watch for:
1) Despite having practiced zero (0) times with the Devils, Vatanen is expected to see a steady dose of minutes at even-strength and on special teams. I'm curious to see how quickly he fits in on the power play because he's quietly been one of the most efficient defensemen in the league during that game state.
Vatanen ranks 15th among 78 eligible defensemen (300+ minutes) with 4.65 power play points/60 since the beginning of 2014-15. That's more than notables like Karlsson, Hamilton, and Doughty.
— Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell) November 30, 2017
2) With Henrique out of the picture, Zacha is first in line to see a steady dose of top-6 minutes. There's not a *ton* of defensive responsibility on the wing, and he's playing with the best defensive forward on the roster, so he should have freedom to try and create offense and, hopefully, shoot the puck with regularity. The Devils really need him to step up and start providing something, anything, on a consistent basis.
3) For years, we've been waiting for MacKinnon to explode offensively and develop into one of the better players in the league. We're finally seeing it. He is tied for 10th in scoring with 28 points in 23 games and has averaged more 5v5 points per 60 (2.62) than stars like Alex Ovechkin, Filip Forsberg, Jack Eichel, Mark Scheifele, and Tyler Seguin. He's been fantastic this season – especially at home, where Jared Bednar can control matchups – so the Devils are going to have their hands full in this one.
4) The Nieto - Soderberg - Comeau line has decent possession numbers but they've given up the better of the chances and have an Expected Goals For% of just above 43%. Bednar will be able to shelter them with softer matchups, but I still think the Devils may be able to take advantage of that unit.
5) The Devils defense has tightened up a lot of late. I wouldn't consider it stingy but, over the last 10 games, they're 12th in chance suppression at 5v5 – ahead of teams like Tampa Bay, Calgary, Nashville, Chicago and San Jose. I don't think they'll be bleeding chances like they did against Colorado in the opener.
Puck drop is just after 9:00 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on MSG+2 and ALT.
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