The New Jersey Devils host Chicago tonight looking to remain undefeated and move to 4-0-0 at home on the season.
While the Blackhawks don't have as much quality depth surrounding their stars as they have in years past they are still a good team.
Their 3-3-1 record to date doesn't jump off the page, however, they are top-10 in possession and scoring chance for% at full-strength so they are playing very well. The wins will come in time if they continue playing as they have.
Beating them will be a tall task for the Devils, especially without Cory Schneider in net, but they enter tonight's game playing their best hockey of the season. Let's see if they can keep it going.
Here is a look at the lineup the Devils are expected to go with:
Taylor Hall - Pavel Zacha - Kyle Palmieri Mike Cammalleri - Travis Zajac - P.A. Parenteau Beau Bennett - Adam Henrique - 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 lines Chicago is expected to go with (subject to change):
Richard Panik - Jonathan Toews - Patrick Kane Artemi Panarin - Artem Anisimov - Marian Hossa Tyler Motte - Nick Schmaltz - Ryan Hartman Dennis Rasmussen - Marcus Kruger - Jordin Tootoo
Duncan Keith - Brian Campbell Michal Kempny - Brent Seabrook Niklas Hjalmarsson - Michal Rozsival
Corey Crawford
A few notes:
1) Severson has looked very good, and comfortable, for the Devils over the last couple games but they happened to be against teams that didn't have elite players up front. That is not the case with Chicago, obviously, as they have Toews/Kane and Severson's pairing will surely see a lot of them. I'm curious to see how he responds to that kind of challenge.
2) Chicago's penalty kill has been absolutely terrible thus far and have definitely cost the Blackhawks some points in the standings. The Devils need to take advantage of that, and kick them while they're down, because teams like Chicago don't have many weaknesses to exploit.
3) Kinkaid wasn't great last season but in the year prior he had a string of excellent starts against top teams - with Chicago being one of them. The Devils need him to replicate that success tonight.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 7:30 pm eastern and can be seen on MSG+ and WGN.
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