The New Jersey Devils (29-29-11) enter tonight's game having struggled mightily against the Penguins (39-20-10) this season, but there's reason to be optimistic that could change.
The Penguins, who have won three of four meetings, and allowed just seven goals to New Jersey, will be without a truly elite player in Evgeni Malkin, as well as one of their best wingers in Patric Hornqvist.
Still, you could make the case they have legitimate Hart Trophy and Norris Trophy candidates playing in Sidney Crosby (23G/71P) and Kris Letang (10G/52P), so they have high-end firepower.
In goal Cory Schneider will make his 61st appearance of the year in effort to build on his Vezina(nominee)-type season, and he'll need to be good if the Devils are to have a chance.
As mentioned, Pittsburgh still has much more firepower than New Jersey even without Malkin and Hornqvist, and they are better in terms of special teams.
Pittsburgh is much better at 5 vs 5 than the Devils, so New Jersey will likely need production from their power play to have a chance.
They're clicking at ~20% on the season and Pittsburgh is killing penalties at ~85% rate so it won't be easy, but the Pens struggle to stay disciplined at times (average 14.5PIMs/game) so the Devils should get their opportunities. They'll need to take advantage of them.
What to watch:
1) Jon Merrill and Damon Severson have been playing really good hockey of late, but the sample size is small. It'll be interesting to see if they can keep things rolling against a playoff-bound team.
2) Marc-Andre Fleury has had a pretty good season, but has allowed eight goals in his last two starts. Will that trend continue?
3) Mike Cammalleri has seven goals and 11 points in his last 12 games. He should have plenty of opportunities - at least on the man advantage - to keep that streak going tonight.
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