After a few days off the New Jersey Devils are in Florida tonight to take on the Panthers for the second time this season.
The Devils will be looking to build off their 3-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning, marking their fourth win in five games and the fifth time in six games they recorded at least a point.
Extending that streak will be no easy task as they take on a Panthers team they have already lost to this season. Working in New Jersey's favor, though, is Florida's without three top-9 forwards in Jonathan Huberdeau, Jussi Jokinen and Nick Bjugstad.
The Panthers are off to a mediocre 4-5-1 start but their play has been better than their record indicates. As it stands they are the 4th best possession team in the NHL behind only Los Angeles, St. Louis and San Jose. The Kings haven't found their way yet, in part due to Jonathan Quick's injury, but that is clearly a pretty good group of teams to be bunched in with.
The Panthers own a respectable 3-2-1 record on home soil while the Devils are winless in three tries on the road thus far. Perhaps tonight is the night they buck that trend.
Here is a look at the lineup the Devils are expected to go with:
Taylor Hall - Travis Zajac - Mike Cammalleri P.A. Parenteau - Adam Henrique - Kyle Palmieri Beau Bennett - Pavel Zacha - Devante Smith-Pelly Sergei Kalinin - Vern Fiddler - Nick Lappin
Andy Greene - Damon Severson Yohann Auvitu - Ben Lovejoy John Moore - Kyle Quincey
Cory Schneider
And the expected lines for the Panthers:
Jonathan Marchessault - Aleksander Barkov - Jaromir Jagr Colton Sceviour - Vincent Trocheck - Reilly Smith Jared McCann - Denis Malgin - Kyle Rau Derek MacKenzie - Greg McKegg - Shane Harper
Keith Yandle - Jason Demers Michael Matheson - Aaron Ekblad Mark Pysyk - Alex Petrovic
Roberto Luongo
A few notes:
1) No team has suppressed shots better than the Panthers this season (they're 1st in shot attempts against per 60) while the Devils rank 29th in shot attempts for per 60. The Devils probably won't get many good looks at full-strength so they'll need to take advantage of the ones they do generate.
2) Schneider has a .941 save percentage through seven starts and Florida is 28th in the NHL in scoring chances per 60 minutes of 5 v 5 play. This should be another strong night for him.
3) Marchessault has been one of the NHL's best most efficient players in the early going as he's tallied 11 points and 33 shots in just 10 games. He is a very smart, skilled player and has complimented Barkov and Jagr very nicely. The Devils will have their hands full trying to shut down that line; especially on the road where it's tougher to play matchups.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 7:30 pm eastern and can be seen on MSG+ 2 and FS-Florida.
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