Tonight the New Jersey Devils take on the Carolina Hurricanes in a battle between two teams in the latter half of back-to-backs.
The Devils, of course, suffered a pretty one-sided defeat last night as they fell 4-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Hurricanes, meanwhile, came from behind and beat the struggling Nashville Predators in extra time to register their third win of the season.
While the Hurricanes do sit last in the Eastern Conference they are not a bad team. Far from it, actually.
At 5 v 5 the Hurricanes are controlling 53.15% of the shot attempts (6th), and 51.63% of the scoring chances (8th). The problem for them has been keeping the puck out of their net as Cam Ward and Eddie Lack have combined to provide the Hurricanes with the 3rd worst 5 v 5 goaltending in the league.
If they get a good outing from their goaltender they are a good team. The problem is that has been a big if and there's not really any reason to be optimistic that will change. The Devils are certainly hoping it won't tonight.
Here is a look at the lineup the Devils are expected to go with:
Taylor Hall - Travis Zajac - P.A. Parenteau Mike Cammalleri - Adam Henrique - Kyle Palmieri Beau Bennett - Pavel Zacha - Devante Smith-Pelly Sergei Kalinin - Vern Fiddler - Nick Lappin
Andy Greene - Damon Severson Yohann Auvitu - Ben Lovejoy John Moore - Kyle Quincey
Keith Kinkaid
And the expected lines for the Hurricanes:
Jeff Skinner - Victor Rask - Lee Stempniak Joakim Nordstrom - Jordan Staal - Andrej Nestrasil Sebastian Aho - Elias Lindholm - Teuvo Teravainen Viktor Stalberg - Jay McClement - Phil Di Giuseppe
Ron Hainsey - Justin Faulk Jaccob Slavin - Brett Pesce Noah Hanifin - Ryan Murphy
Cam Ward
A few notes:
1) The Hurricanes' top line has slowed down a bit of late but they've combined for 14 goals and 28 points through 10 games. The Devils will have their hands full defending that unit.
2) New Jersey's offense is still struggling, in part due to unsustainably low shooting percentages for several key players, so they need quality starts until Cammalleri, Palmieri and co. get going.
3) Severson has nine points in his last eight games and has been consistently good at both ends of the ice. The Devils really needed him to step up this year and he has done just that.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 6:00 pm eastern and can be seen on MSG+ and FS- Carolina.
Recent Posts On 5 v 5 offense, Auvitu and Moore