The New Jersey Devils' road trip continues in Colorado tonight as they look to get back on track against the Avalanche.
The Devils played a pretty good first two periods in St. Louis a couple nights ago but the wheels fell off completely in the 3rd period and they walked away without a win as a result.
They're hoping to change their fortunes and climb back into a wild card spot with a win against the struggling Avs.
The Avalanche are coming off consecutive losses, have struggled at home this season (9-10-3), and have been a complete mess defensively all season long.
Only Vancouver has generated a lesser percentage of scoring chances and high-danger scoring chances at full-strength.
As a result the Avalanche have elected to make some changes on defense as they've recalled Nikita Zadorov and Chris Bigras from the AHL.
How much of a difference they'll make - especially so early in their careers - at this point remains to be seen but the Devils would be smart to force the issue and find out.
LINEUPS Kalinin - Zajac - Palmieri Blandisi - Henrique - Stempniak Kennedy - O'Brien - Thompson Matteau - Gionta - **
Greene - Severson Gragnani - Larsson Merrill - Schlemko Gelinas - **
Schneider
--
Tanguay - Mackinnon - Duchene Martinsen - Grigorenko - Iginla Landeskog - Soderberg - Comeau McLeod - Mitchell - Skille
Beauchemin - Bodnarchuk Holden - Barrie Zadorov - Bigras
Pickard
Notes
1) In two games since being recalled Joseph Blandisi has six scoring chances, 10 shot attempts and an assist while finishing as a positive possession player both games. Look for him to have another strong game against the team that drafted and elected not to sign him.
2) The Avalanche have the 6th best PP in the league clicking at 21.2% on the year. The Devils can't afford to be as undisciplined as they were in St. Louis a couple nights ago.
3) New Jersey is the lowest event team in the league and Colorado is one of the highest. The team that forces the other to adjust and play a different style of game will probably walk away with two points.
The game is at 9:00 eastern and can be seen on MSG+2 and ALT
Recent Posts Devils on losing end of slugfest in St. Louis