Here are five things to watch when the New Jersey Devils take on the Nashville Predators:
1. Fast-paced hockey The Devils are not a good team. For better or for worse, they’re now at least an *eventful* team. You can tune into their games and know it’s not going to be 60 minutes of nothing, which is all we can ask for at this point.
It’s crazy how drastic the change has been under Alain Nasreddine, though. The Devils went from playing at a snail’s pace to legitimately playing as fast as anyone in the league. No team’s games have featured more shot attempts per 60 over the last 10.
Surprisingly, the John Hynes-led Predators have also been playing fast. They’re just a hair outside the top-10 in shot attempt pace during the same period of time.
Nashville is in the latter half of a road back-to-back, which could slow them down a bit, but we should be in for another eventful night of hockey.
2. Bad goaltending I think most would agree, on paper, Pekka Rinne and Juuse Saros is one of the better goaltending tandems in the league. On the ice, it’s a much different story this season.
Defense isn’t much of a concern for the Predators – only four teams have given up fewer scoring chances this season.
Despite their ability to limit opportunities, keeping the puck out of the net has been a big issue. Only six teams have allowed more goals this season, and none of them are currently holding onto a playoff spot.
The biggest reason is bad goaltending. Rinne (.897 SV%) and Juuse Saros (.894 SV%) both rank bottom-8 in save percentage amongst 55 eligible goaltenders (800+ minutes). They’ve been terrible.
In theory Mackenzie Blackwood should give the Devils an edge in goal, which they’ll definitely need with the way they’re defending.
3. A shoot-first mentality When facing a struggling netminder, you want to test him every chance you get. I know that will be the case with Blake Coleman, Kyle Palmieri, and the usual suspects. I’m hoping it translates to the rest of the group.
In particular, I’ll be watching Jack Hughes closely. He shot anything and everything last time out and was determined to get to dangerous areas of the ice. I want to see more of that from him. Not just because he has the talent to capitalize, but because he probably can’t rely on his linemates (Pavel Zacha and Wayne Simmonds) to create a whole lot. He has to drive the bus.
4. The ultimate rover Roman Josi is a fantastic player. He’s more offensively inclined than defensively, though. That’s not a knock on him – it is just who he is. I’m not sure there’s a better ‘4th forward’ in the league.
At 5v5, he ranks 2nd to John Carlson in points. Only Brent Burns has attempted more shots, and Josi is 15 scoring chances clear of the next closest defender. He’ll jump into the rush every chance he gets. Heck, half the time he is the rush.
Devils forwards will need to account for him every second of every shift. If they get caught sleeping, he’ll make them pay.
5. The takeover continues Nico Hischier is playing at another level right now. He’s like a superhero who woke up one day, accidentally stumbled into his powers, and is now experimenting with all the ways he can put them to use. It’s probably more entertaining to watch and follow than anything going on with the Devils right now. The Predators are playing pretty fast, they’re fatigued, and Rinne is not playing up to his caliber. The environment is there for Nico to put together another fantastic game.
Here are the projected lineups:
New Jersey Jesper Bratt - Nico Hischier - Kyle Palmieri Blake Coleman - Travis Zajac - Nikita Gusev Pavel Zacha - Jack Hughes - Wayne Simmonds Miles Wood - Kevin Rooney - John Hayden
Andy Greene - Damon Severson Mirco Mueller - Sami Vatanen Will Butcher - Connor Carrick
Mackenzie Blackwood
Nashville (via DailyFaceoff.com) Matt Duchene - Ryan Johansen - Mikael Granlund Filip Forsberg - Kyle Turris - Viktor Arvidsson Rocco Grimaldi - Nick Bonino - Craig Smith Calle Jarnkrok - Colin Blackwell - Auston Watson
Roman Josi - Yannick Weber Mattias Ekholm - Dante Fabbro Dan Hamhuis - Matt Irwin
Pekka Rinne
Puck drop is just after 7:30 p.m. eastern on NBCSN and TVAS.
Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com Recent Posts Five New Jersey Devils questions for the stretch run