San Jose moves to New Jersey to continue their road swing tonight to face the hot-starting Devils. The majority of the roster remains the same but there are a few changes to the lineup for tonight from the previous game.
Fourth line sniper John Scott is out in favor of Eriah Hayes, who will make his season debut tonight. This is a move that can only make the fourth line more effective, although it’s still not great. As nice as Scott’s goal was he was still a liability as soon as he went over the boards and the entire fourth line struggled in comparison to when Brown was in the lineup. They should struggle slightly less tonight.
Also out is defender Jason Demers; this I don’t agree with. Sure, his play hasn’t been exceptionally great but he’s also paired with Scott Hannan or Matt Irwin, not exactly the ideal situation for anyone. Demers had a solid season last year and hasn’t, in my opinion, been given a fair shake to start the year. When Mueller struggled Demers found himself lined up with Burns on the second pairing and that worked out fantastic for the Sharks. I don’t see how leaving Demers on the sidelines makes this defensive group more solid.
Antti Niemi will be in the cage tonight as the one game on, one game off, rotation continues. Stalock, all by himself, stole a point against the Islanders and I think you need to build off of that momentum for a goalie. It’s no secret there’s an open competition for the top goalie spot in San Jose and it’s going to be hard for either netminder to get into a rhythm if this trend continues. I recognize the back to back games tonight and tomorrow but Niemi could have played against the Rangers instead of the Devils, giving Stalock a chance to keep his solid play moving forward without a break after one game.
Todd McLellan wasn’t happy with his teams’ performance against the Islanders, nor should anyone have been, so we should expect to see a better effort tonight. Defensively they have to be more reliable and I think benching Demers might be sending a message to the blueline given his status as a top-four defender on the team, even though he plays bottom pairing with lesser quality linemates.
Projected Lines:
Tomas Hertl - Joe Thornton - Joe Pavelski Patrick Marleau - Logan Couture - Matt Nieto Tye McGinn - Chris Tierney - Tommy Wingels Eriah Hayes – Adam Burish – Andrew Desjardins
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Justin Braun Mirco Mueller - Brent Burns Matt Irwin - Scott Hannan
Antti Niemi
Player to Watch: Logan Couture
Couture has been playing well despite his lack of production in the goal department. It’s going to come. He’s doing everything he needs to do and eventually his luck will turn into a positive direction. The season is very young so patience will cure all wounds.
Milestone Watch: Jumbo Joe
Joe Thornton is one point away from 1200 so it’s not a stretch to say that mark could be hit tonight. He’s about to join an elite club of present and past NHLers, a fact that has been overshadowed by trade non-sense and captaincy questions.
Thanks for reading.