Five things to watch when the New Jersey Devils take on the Florida Panthers:
1. Barkov vs Hall This is definitely the marquee matchup of tonight's game.
Taylor Hall is a legitimate candidate for the Hart Trophy and enters play riding a 70,000 game point streak.
On the other side of things, Sasha Barkov has tallied 14 points and 39 scoring chances over his last 10 and, at 22, is already one of the best shutdown centers in the league.
They'll undoubtedly see a lot of each other tonight – Barkov gets the tough assignments at home – so it'll be interesting to see which elite talent comes out on top.
2. New Jersey's PP vs Florida's PK The Devils have been pretty hit and miss on the man advantage this season and right now it's been more miss than hit (they've scored three times in the last 10 games).
The good news is they're running into a Florida team that ranks 29th in Corsi Against/60 and 31st in Expected Goals Against/60 while down a man.
This is as good of an opportunity as any for them to get back on track.
3. A Maroon debut Veteran winger Patrick Maroon missed the Pittsburgh game due to travel but he is expected to debut tonight in Florida.
I expect he'll get tried out in a couple different spots at evens. What I'm interested in seeing is if he takes Brian Boyle's spot as a net front presence on the power play.
Boyle has just two points in his last 25 despite steady ice on the man advantage. Maroon is a more skilled player and has a similar frame so I think it makes sense to give him some run there.
4. Schneider returns Though Keith Kinkaid has been much better of late, this season has not been kind to him. He owns a .903 save percentage on the year, which is well below league average, and ranks 40th among 41 eligible goaltenders (minimum 1,000 minutes) in 5v5 save percentage.
Even though Schneider has struggled at times this season, he is still a massive upgrade over Kinkaid. They're getting him back at the right time.
5. Late round steals This game features the only two current NHLers selected in the 5th round or later of the 2016 draft: Jesper Bratt and Maxim Mamin.
Bratt has slowed down a little bit of late but he's putting together an excellent rookie campaign having tallied 33 points in 62 games.
Mamin is just starting out with the big club – he has played in 10 games – and has already potted his 1st goal despite seeing limited ice at 5v5 and no power play time.
Here are the projected lineups:
New Jersey
Taylor Hall - Nico Hischier - Kyle Palmieri Miles Wood - Pavel Zacha - Jesper Bratt Michael Grabner - Travis Zajac - Stefan Noesen Patrick Maroon - Brian Boyle - Blake Coleman/Drew Stafford
Andy Greene - Sami Vatanen John Moore - Damon Severson Will Butcher - Ben Lovejoy
Keith Kinkaid
Florida (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Evgeny Dadonov - Aleksander Barkov - Nick Bjugstad Jonathan Huberdeau - Vincent Trocheck - Radim Vrbata Jamie McGinn - Jared McCann - Maxim Mamin Micheal Haley - Derek MacKenzie - Colton Sceviour
Keith Yandle - Aaron Ekblad Michael Matheson - Mark Pysyk Mackenzie Weegar - Alex Petrovic
Roberto Luongo
Puck drop is just after 7:30 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on MSG+ and FS-F.
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