Here are five things to watch when the New Jersey Devils take on the Calgary Flames in this season’s first edition of the Todd Cordell Bowlâ„¢:
1. Danger(free) zone New Jersey’s offense has performed a lot better of late. At times, Calgary’s looks as potent as anyone’s. Even so, neither side is particularly good at breaking teams down and generating Grade A looks on a consistent basis. At least they haven’t been. The Devils are mustering up 9.02 high-danger opportunities per 60 at 5v5. That’s good for 28th in the league. The Flames aren’t really much – any? – better, generating 9.09 Grade A looks per 60. That sits them 27th. Both teams are in the top half of the league at suppressing high-danger looks, too, so they may not be trading chances in this one.
2. A pulse from Sean Monahan Calgary’s top line hasn’t had the same juice this season and a lot of that is on Monahan. His on-ice numbers aren’t great and his individual outputs are down across the board. He’s averaging just 1.42 points/60, which is the lowest number of his career. His iCF/60 is also at a career low, and he’s averaging the fewest Grade A looks/60 since the 2015-16 season. The Flames really need him to get on track – they’re not going to go very far if their 1C has to be propped up.
3. Power play prowess The Devils have netted at least one PP marker in six of the last seven games. They’re firing on all cylinders right now. While Calgary is quite good at killing penalties off, they most definitely take too many – no team in the league has spent more time shorthanded. If they parade to the box, the Devils are looking like the kind of team that will make them pay.
4. Matthew Tkachuk is scorching hot No. 19 is on an absolute heater, having recorded five goals and eight points over the last four games. His chance generation numbers have been through the roof of late and I think Andrew Mangiapane’s presence on the 2nd line only raises their offensive ceiling. It should be fun watching him go up against Taylor Hall, who is riding a six-game point streak, all night long.
5. Turning a corner Mackenzie Blackwood has quietly rebounded nicely after an absolutely disastrous start to the season. He has only conceded 13 goals over his last six games. There were a couple clunkers in there but he’s actually providing serviceably goaltending more often than not, which is all the Devils are asking for. If he can hold his own again tonight, the Devils should have a good shot with the way they’re playing right now – especially given the Flames’ tendency to take a period or two off every night.
Here are the projected lineups:
New Jersey Taylor Hall - Nico Hischier - Kyle Palmieri Pavel Zacha - Jack Hughes - Nikita Gusev Jesper Boqvist - Travis Zajac - Blake Coleman Miles Wood - Kevin Rooney - Wayne Simmonds
Damon Severson - P.K. Subban Andy Greene - Sami Vatanen Will Butcher - Matt Tennyson
Mackenzie Blackwood
Calgary Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Elias Lindholm Andrew Mangiapane - Mikael Backlund - Matthew Tkachuk Sam Bennett - Derek Ryan - Alan Quine Milan Lucic - Mark Jankowski - Tobias Rieder
Mark Giordano - Travis Hamonic Noah Hanifin - Rasmus Andersson Michael Stone - T.J. Brodie
David Rittich
Puck drop is just after 9:00 p.m. and can be seen on SNW and MSG+2.
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