The New Jersey Devils play host to the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight in a battle of teams limping their way through the home stretch of the regular season.
The Devils have been decimated by injuries in the 2nd half of the season and it has shown in the results as they have won just eight of their last 23 games.
Meanwhile the Lightning, who once seemed poised for a deep playoff run, are without Anton Stralman and Steven Stamkos for the foreseeable future and the likes of Victor Hedman and Ryan Callahan are also banged up.
Unsurprisingly the Bolts have struggled of late winning just six of their last 15 games and are in danger of losing home ice in the 1st round as a result.
They need all the points they can get right now and few teams have dropped more of late than the Devils. We'll see if that trend continues tonight.
LINEUPS Kennedy - Henrique - Smith-Pelly Boucher - Zajac - Palmieri Elias - Josefson - Sislo Kalinin - Gionta - Pietila
Greene - Larsson Schlemko - Severson Moore - Mozik
Kinkaid
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*expected to play, unsure of where in lineup
Palat - Johnson - Kucherov Killorn - Filppula - Brown Drouin* - Namestnikov - Marchessault Paquette - Boyle - Condra
Garrison - Sustr Coburn - Nesterov Taormina - Carle
Bishop
Notes
1) Keith Kinkaid will make his final start of the season tonight against the Bolts. Will we see the guy who has stopped 76 of the last 80 shots (.950SV%) or the guy who allowed 13 goals in three games prior?
2) In Tampa Bay's last 10 games they have had .909 goaltending at 5 v 5. For comparison sake the Devils have a .936 save percentage in that span.
3) Jonathan Drouin has been recalled due to the amount of key injuries the Lightning are dealing with. He scored nine goals in nine AHL games prior to being recalled so he's clearly feeling good about his game right now.
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