On Thursday night, the New Jersey Devils snapped their seven-game losing streak in convincing fashion with a 4-0 shutout win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
After routinely giving up 30+ shots, and lots of quality chances, for months, the Devils held the high-powered Flyers to just 16 shots on target and the struggling Cory Schneider pitched a shutout as a result.
Tonight the Devils will be looking to build on last night's performance with another strong showing against a high-powered offensive team in the Penguins.
Like New Jersey, Pittsburgh was in action last night so they are on an even playing field in that regard.
That said, the Penguins were downright embarrassed by the Columbus Blue Jackets last night and will surely be looking for a much better effort tonight.
Factor in the Penguins have been dynamite at home (14-2-2) while the Devils have struggled mightily on the road (4-11-5) and this certainly isn't an ideal matchup for the Devils.
Let's see if they can surprise us again and head into the break on a positive note.
Here are the expected line combinations for New Jersey:
*started last night, not confirmed.
Taylor Hall - Travis Zajac - Mike Cammalleri Miles Wood - Adam Henrique - Kyle Palmieri Beau Bennett - Pavel Zacha - P.A. Parenteau Sergey Kalinin - Vern Fiddler - Luke Gazdic
Andy Greene - Ben Lovejoy John Moore - Damon Severson Jon Merrill - Seth Helgeson
Cory Schneider*
And the expected lines for the Penguins (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Conor Sheary - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust Chris Kunitz - Evgeni Malkin - Patric Hornqvist Carl Hagelin - Nick Bonino - Phil Kessel Scott Wilson - Matt Cullen - Eric Fehr
Ian Cole - Justin Schultz Derrick Pouliot - Steven Olesky Olli Maatta - Brian Dumoulin
Matt Murray*
A few notes:
1) The Devils allowed 15 chances or fewer at 5v5 just six times in their first 29 games. They have now allowed 15 chances or fewer in three of their last four contests. The defense is finally starting to tighten up.
2) Henrique started the season very slowly -- he tallied 11 points in his first 25 games -- but is really starting to heat up. He quietly has eight points in his last eight games.
3) With Kris Letang and Trevor Daley out of the lineup, the Pens have a few guys playing over their heads in terms of minutes. As a team, they also lost a lot of ability when it comes to breaking the puck out and moving it up ice. The Devils need to close quickly on the forecheck, work them down low and pressure them into making bad decisions with the puck.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 7:00 pm eastern and can be seen on MSG+2 and ROOT.