After suffering a setback at the hands of the Red Wings the New Jersey Devils will look to get back on track tonight against the Montreal Canadiens.
The Devils seem to be catching the Habs at the right time as they continue to free fall down the Eastern Conference standings without Carey Price.
The Habs led the Eastern Conference for much of the season but have won just two of their last 10 and are now hanging onto their playoff spot by a thread.
The Canadiens were in action last night, too, so the Devils are welcoming a tired team in the latter half of a back-to-back.
Montreal's underlying numbers have actually been pretty good but they've been sunk by goaltending during this rough patch. Over the last 10 games the Habs have been the 3rd best possession team (53.7CF%) but have posted the 3rd worst save percentage (.901SV%).
Average goaltending may not win hockey games but if you get sub par goaltending it will certainly lose you games and that's what we're seeing from the Habs right now.
LINEUPS Tlusty - Zajac - Palmieri Kennedy - Henrique - Stempniak Matteau - Kalinin - Ruutu Farnham - Gionta - Tootoo
Greene - Moore Gelinas - Larsson Merrill - Severson
Schneider
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Pacioretty - Plekanec - Gallagher Eller - Galchenyuk - Carr Fleischmann - Desharnais - Smith-Pelly Byron - Mitchell - Flynn
Beaulieu - Subban Markov - Petry Emelin - Barberio
Condon
NOTES 1) The Pacioretty - Plekanec - Gallagher line has been ridiculously good for Montreal this season as the Habs get 58% of 5 v 5 shot attempts, 57% of the scoring chances and 73% of the goals with that unit on the ice. I expect Zajac's line and and Greene's pairing will see a steady dose of them.
2) The numbers suggest teams in back-to-backs are more prone to taking penalties as a result of fatigue. The Devils aren't barn burning fast but they have more team speed than we've seen in recent years. Perhaps that will lead them to some extra power plays.
3) If Cory Schneider can be his normal self and hold the Habs to two goals or less the Devils should have a great chance of winning because the Canadiens can't keep the puck out of their net right now.
The game is at 7:00 eastern and can be seen on Sportsnet, MSG+, and RDS.