The New Jersey Devils are in Anaheim tonight looking to pull off a sweep through California and keep their extremely slim playoff chances alive in the process.
Doing so won't be easy against an Anaheim Ducks team that has dominated the league over the last few months; although they have lost consecutive games(!!).
You can bet the Ducks will be extra motivated to right the ship given they sit just two points back of the Los Angeles Kings for 1st in the Pacific Division.
The Ducks are an elite team and they have a lot to play for so the Devils will have to bring their 'A' game if they're going to have a shot in this one.
LINEUPS Kennedy - Henrique - Smith-Pelly Boucher - Zajac - Palmieri Blandisi - Kalinin - Sislo Farnham - Gionta - Ruutu
Greene - Larsson Moore - Schlemko Helgeson - Warsofsky
Kinkaid
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Ritchie - Getzlaf - Perron McGinn - Rakell - Perry Cogliano - Kesler - Silfverberg Garbutt - Thompson - Santorelli
Fowler - Bieksa Lindholm - Manson Holzer - Despres
Notes
1) After being lit up in a blowout loss to Pittsburgh Keith Kinkaid has responded in a big way winning consecutive games and posting a .981SV% in the process. Perhaps he can take the ball and run with it knowing the net is his for the foreseeable future.
2) Since January 1st the Ducks have controlled 54.5% of the scoring chances at 5 v 5. That ranks them 3rd in that regard while the Devils rank 27th having controlled just 46.6% of the scoring chances.
3) Devante Smith-Pelly has five points in five games since being acquired from Montreal. Can he keep the streak going against one of his former teams?
The game is at 10:00 eastern and can be seen on MSG, PRIME and FS-SD.
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