The New Jersey Devils, losers in 17 of their last 19 games, continue their limp to the finish line tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers.
While the Flyers certainly enter this contest the hotter of the two sides -- they have more wins in their last three than the Devils do in 19 games -- there is some hope for New Jersey fans who actually want to see them win a game.
The Devils have won all three meetings against the Flyers this season and are up 14-3 on aggregate. For whatever reason, they have had the Flyers' number for years regardless of who is on the roster and how well the team is playing heading into their matchups.
The playoffs are likely out of the question but you can bet the Flyers will bring it tonight. They're surely sick of losing to the Devils (the three losses are the difference between being six out or tied for a wild card spot), they're at home on a Saturday night and they haven't officially been eliminated. I think the Devils will have their hands full in this one.
Here are the expected line combinations for New Jersey:
Taylor Hall - Travis Zajac - Kyle Palmieri John Quenneville - Adam Henrique - Mike Cammalleri Joseph Blandisi - Pavel Zacha - Stefan Noesen Miles Wood - Blake Coleman - Beau Bennett
Andy Greene - Steve Santini John Moore - Damon Severson Micheal Kapla - Ben Lovejoy
Cory Schneider
And the expected lines for the Islanders (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Matt Read - Claude Giroux - Jakub Voracek Jordan Weal - Valtteri Filppula - Wayne Simmonds Dale Weise - Sean Couturier - Brayden Schenn Chris VandeVelde - Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - Travis Konecny
Ivan Provorov - Andrew MacDonald Micheal Del Zotto - Shayne Gostisbehere Brandon Manning - Radko Gudas
Steve Mason
A few notes:
1) The Devils are tied for 30th in 5v5 scoring chances over the last 10 games while the Flyers are 2nd in suppressing chances during that span. New Jersey's offense will likely be in tough tonight, which means Cory Schneider will have to be on his game.
2) Kapla made his NHL debut last night and fared pretty well. He took a couple shifts on the power play and at even-strength the Devils out-chanced the Islanders 9-6 with him on the ice. It'd be a huge bonus if he could put forth that kind of performance on a regular basis.
3) Mason has won four consecutive starts and posted at least a .926 save percentage in each game. The Devils have routinely dinged him up throughout his career so it'll be fun to see which trend continues in this one.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 7:00 and can be seen on CSN-PH and MSG+.
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