The New Jersey Devils conclude their mini two-game road trip tonight as they are in Tampa Bay to take on the Lightning.
The Lightning have a mediocre 5-5-0 record in their last 10 and are dealing with some injuries, however, they still possess plenty of talent and have reason not to look past the Devils.
The biggest of which is that the Atlantic Division title is still within their grasp as, with five games to go, they sit just two points back of the Florida Panthers for 1st place.
While the Devils have been quite bad over the last few weeks they won't be pushovers tonight with one of the league's best goaltenders in Cory Schneider returning to the lineup.
Schneider doesn't get the recognition he deserves league wide but his save percentage is one decimal point lower than Braden Holtby's, for example, and Holtby is the odds on favorite for the Vezina Trophy.
Again, the Devils have not been good in recent weeks but excellent goaltending can mask a lot of problems and Schneider provides the Devils just that.
LINEUPS Kennedy - Henrique - Smith-Pelly Boucher - Zajac - Palmieri Blandisi - Kalinin - Sislo Farnham - Gionta - Pietila
Greene - Larsson Moore - Warsofsky Helgeson - Severson
Schneider --
Killorn - Stamkos - Kucherov Palat - Johnson - Marchesseault Paquette - Filppula - Callahan Namestnikov - Boyle - Brown
Hedman - Carle Garrison - Sustr Coburn - Nesterov
Bishop
Notes
1) The Devils posted a .908SV% at 5 v 5 over the span of Schneider's absence, which ranks 6th last in the NHL. The goaltending has been good of late but for a couple weeks it was a problem. Schneider will be a big help in that regard.
2) Over the last five games the Devils have controlled just 38% of the shot attempts at full-strength and 32% of the scoring chances. It's a small sample size, obviously, but with so many guys out of the lineup they've been getting caved in on a nightly basis. I doubt they'll fare much better against a solid Lightning team.
3) Steven Stamkos hasn't had the best of years (by his standards) but he has picked it up of late tallying seven goals and 12 points in his last nine games.
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