The undefeated, yes undefeated, New Jersey Devils have been the NHL's biggest early-season surprise.
They own a 3-0-0 record, a plus-10 goal differential (good for second in the NHL), and an offense that looked scary bad a year ago looks scary good.
The percentages have gone their way a little bit, but they sit 2nd in Expected Goals For/60 at 5v5 and are on the right side of the ledger in Expected Plus/Minus -- meaning based on shots, shot location, etc, they should be getting the edge -- so it's not as if they are undeserving of their record.
Still, it's early and the Devils have a lot more work to do before they turn many, myself included, into believers.
They could take another step towards doing so tonight with a win over Washington, perennially one of the best teams in the NHL.
Here are the projected lineups:
New Jersey
Taylor Hall - Pavel Zacha - Kyle Palmieri Marcus Johansson - Nico Hischier - Jesper Bratt Miles Wood - Adam Henrique - Jimmy Hayes Brian Gibbons - Blake Coleman - Stefan Noesen
Andy Greene - Damon Severson John Moore - Will Butcher Dalton Prout - Steve Santini
Cory Schneider
Washington (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Alex Ovechkin - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Jakub Vrana Andre Burakovsky - Nicklas Backstrom - T.J. Oshie Brett Connolly - Lars Eller - Tom Wilson Alex Chiasson - Jay Beagle - Devante Smith-Pelly
Dmitri Orlov - Matt Niskanen Brooks Orpik - John Carlson Christian Djoos - Aaron Ness
Braden Holtby
Five things to watch:
1) Hischier leads the Devils with eight 5v5 scoring chances despite ranking 15th on the team in 5v5 ice thus far. He's getting good looks with regularity and, if that continues, is going to score his first goal sooner than later.
2) Through four games Ovechkin looks like the Ovechkin who once was arguably the most dominant player in the league. His inflated shooting percentage helps (he's shooting 32% right now) but it's not as if he's just getting lucky as he's tied for 4th in the NHL with 14 scoring chances at 5v5. He always gives the Devils fits and, with the way he's playing right now, that will likely be the case once again.
3) Per Corsica, the Devils have an Expected Goals For/60 of 3.60 at 5v5, which is 2nd only to the high-powered Toronto Maple Leafs. The sample size is small, obviously, but it's safe to say the new-look offense is a lot better than what we've seen in recent years.
4) As expected, New Jersey's defense has looked shaky at times and they'll face a very tough test tonight against one of the best top-6's in the NHL. Schneider will need to be on his game once again if the Devils are to remain undefeated.
5) Through three games, the Devils have been out-attempted by 24 and out-chanced by 12 with Mueller on the ice at full-strength. As a result of his poor play, the Devils are giving Dalton Prout a chance to play. He actually looked good in the preseason so it'll be interesting to see if that carries over now that he's not going up against watered-down lineups.
Puck drop is just after 7:00 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on MSG+ and NBCSWA.