Fresh off a win to keep their extremely slim playoff hopes alive the New Jersey Devils are back at it again tonight against Dallas.
While the Stars sit near the top of the league standings they are not playing their best hockey right now having registered just three wins in their last 10 games.
For perspective the Devils, whose last 10 games all but killed their playoff hopes, have won four games in that span.
The Devils are still five points out of a playoff spot and have played more games than the teams they are chasing but if they can string a few wins together here you never know what could happen.
They beat a very good Nashville Predators team with Keith Kinkaid between the pipes last night. Now let's see if they can duplicate their success with Cory Schneider back between the pipes.
LINEUPS Boucher - Henrique - Smith-Pelly Blandisi - Zajac - Palmieri Kalinin - Josefson - Kennedy Farnham - Gionta - Tootoo
Greene - Larsson Moore - Schlemko Merrill - Warsofsky
Schneider
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Benn - Seguin - Ritchie Janmark - Spezza - Nichushkin Roussel - Eakin - Hemsky Faksa - Fiddler - Sceviour
Russell - Klingberg Oduya - Demers Nemeth - Goligoski
Lehtonen/Niemi
Notes
1) The Stars are missing some important players right now - notably Patrick Sharp - but they are still not a team to mess around with. Only Los Angeles gets a higher percentage of shot attempts and scoring chances at 5 v 5 and the Stars lead the NHL in scoring chances/60. The Devils will need to play a very structured game if they're going to have a shot.
2) Most games come down to goaltending and, well, the Devils have a decisive advantage in that regard. Both Lehtonen and Niemi have struggled as the Stars rank 4th last in team save percentage at 5 v 5 while we all know how good Cory Schneider is. If he plays as he usually does the Devils will have a good chance to win.
The game is at 8:30 eastern and can be seen on MSG+ and FS-SW.
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