Five things to watch when the New Jersey Devils take on the Montreal Canadiens:
1. Jesper Bratt's return After a night off to watch from above and regroup, the struggling Bratt will be inserted back into the lineup and skate on the top line alongside Nico Hischier and Taylor Hall.
I'm on board with this for a couple reasons. First and foremost, Hall is scorching hot and everything he touches turns to gold. What better way to get one of your skill guys going than by putting him on Hall's line?
Also, the top line featuring Bratt has a 53.74 Expected Goals For% as opposed to a 48.23 xGF% with Palmieri. The latter is more likely to capitalize on his chances but the top line has controlled a larger portion when Bratt's been featured.
2. Taylor Hall's point streak Hall has picked up a point in every game since the beginning of time and he seems like a good bet to do so again tonight.
Over the last seven games, the Canadiens rank 30th in shot suppression at 5v5 and they have one legitimate top-4 blue liner (Jeff Petry) dressing tonight.
They're also expected to start a goaltender (Charlie Lindgren) who owns an .891 save percentage through 30 AHL games this season.
He has been good in his 10 appearances at the NHL level but one would think that's unlikely to continue given his struggles a league below.
This is another SMASH spot for Hall.
3. Brendan Gallagher Over the last 10 games, the following players have generated more 5v5 scoring chances per hour than Brendan Gallagher: Rick Nash, Nathan MacKinnon, Viktor Arvidsson, Alex Ovechkin and Vladimir Tarasenko. That's it.
He's been shooting a *ton* and is now getting more opportunity in the top-6 so he's a guy the Devils will definitely have to pay attention to.
4. Getting Michael Grabner going Grabner is pointless in five games since being acquired by the Devils and he's generated just two (2) shot attempts over the last couple games.
I think Pavel Zacha and Kyle Palmieri are good linemates for him, and this is a great matchup, so I'd expect him to be much more of a threat tonight.
5. New Jersey's PP vs Montreal's PK This is one of many favorable matchup for the Devils. Montreal ranks 29th in shot suppression while down a man and they also give up a lot of chances, as evident by their 26th place ranking in expected goals against/60. If Montreal gets into penalty trouble, the Devils should be able to take advantage.
Here are the projected lineups:
New Jersey
Taylor Hall - Nico Hischier - Jesper Bratt Michael Grabner - Pavel Zacha - Kyle Palmieri Patrick Maroon - Travis Zajac - Stefan Noesen Miles Wood - Brian Boyle - Blake Coleman
Andy Greene - Sami Vatanen John Moore - Damon Severson Will Butcher - Ben Lovejoy
Keith Kinkaid
Montreal (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Alex Galchenyuk - Jonathan Drouin - Artturi Lehkonen Nikita Scherbak - Philip Danault - Brendan Gallagher Paul Byron - Jacob De La Rose - Andrew Shaw Nicolas Deslauriers - Byron Froese - Daniel Carr
Karl Alzner - Noah Juulsen Jordie Benn - Jeff Petry Mike Reilly - Rinat Valiev
Charlie Lindgren
Puck drop is just after 7:00 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on MSG+, TSN2, and RDS.
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