The New Jersey Devils entered Tuesday's game against Columbus on a five-game point streak and - despite holding the Blue Jackets to just 14 shots - that came to a disappointing end.
Tonight they'll be looking to get back on track against a Philadelphia Flyers team that has surprised some people coming out of the gate.
Though the Flyers are the NHL's 22nd ranked possession team and own a negative-3 goal differential they are a very respectable 4-2-2 on the year and currently possess a playoff spot (it's early, I know).
It's often entertaining whenever these two rivals reacquaint themselves and it should be no different this time around with both teams exceeding expectations in the early going.
LINEUPS Cammalleri - Henrique - Stempniak Tlusty - Zajac - Palmieri Kalinin - Josefson - Tootoo ** - Gionta - O'Neill
Greene - Larsson Gelinas - Severson Moore - Schlemko Merrill - **
Schneider
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Raffl - Giroux - Voracek Read - Gagner - Simmonds Umberger - Laughton - Schenn Lecavalier - VandeVelde - White
Del Zotto - Streit Schultz - Medvedev Manning - Gudas
Mason
KEYS TO THE GAME 1) Discipline. Things tend to get heated when these two teams meet and sometimes it leads to bad penalties. The Devils can't have that because Claude Giroux is one of the very best on the power play and he'll make them pay if they parade to the box.
2) Sticking to the game plan. The Flyers are one of the highest event teams in hockey while the Devils are the lowest. They probably won't fare too well if this turns into fire wagon hockey so they need to stick to the system that has given them respectable results thus far.
3) Stopping Simmonds. It seems like every time these teams meet Simmonds causes havoc throughout and gets on the scoresheet. He's tied for 2nd on the Flyers in scoring so he's certainly a guy they should be paying close attention to.
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