Match-up - New Jersey Devils (9-11-5) @ Carolina Hurricanes (10-10-5) Road/Home records - 5-7-3 -------------- 6-4-4 TV - MSG Plus, FS-CAR Puck drop - 7:00 PM ET Season series - Hurricanes lead 1-0 Last 10: Devils 5-4-1 / Hurricanes 5-3-2 Projected starting goalies - Cory Schneider vs Cam Ward
Goals for/against per game
Carolina - 2.08/2.68 New Jersey - 2.12/2.32
Power play/Penalty Kill
Carolina - 13.2%/80.2% New Jersey - 18.0%/86.8%
Projected lines for the Hurricanes (courtesy of DailyFaceoff.com):
Nathan Gerbe - Eric Staal - Tuomo Ruutu Jiri Tlusty - Jordan Staal - Pat Dwyer Jeff Skinner - Riley Nash - Elias Lindholm Drayson Bowman - Manny Malhotra - Radek Dvorak
Justin Faulk - Ron Hainsey Brett Bellemore - Mike Komisarek Ryan Murphy - Jay Harrison
Notable injuries: Alex Semin, Joni Pitkanen, Andrej Sekera, Anton Khudobin.
Projected lines for the Devils:
Dainius Zubrus - Travis Zajac - Jaromir Jagr Adam Henrique - Patrik Elias - Damien Brunner Ryan Carter - Andrei Loktionov - Steve Bernier Mattias Tedenby - Jacob Josefson - Michael Ryder
Andy Greene - Mark Fayne Eric Gelinas - Marek Zidlicky Jon Merrill - Anton Volchenkov
Notable injuries: Ryane Clowe, Stephen Gionta, Bryce Salvador, Adam Larsson.
Some notes:
- I'll start with the most surprising news of the day. Pete DeBoer has decided to bench his son, Pete Harrold, and play Anton Volchenkov in his place. Harrold has actually been decent for the good part of the year but I think he's struggled over the last few games and this is the right call.
- It will be interesting to see how Volchenkov fares today. He usually struggles against teams or players with a lot of speed and the Hurricanes have a ton of it. He'll need to keep his game simple and make sure he doesn't get caught flat footed.
- Chances are Jon Merrill will be sent back to Albany when Adam Larsson and Bryce Salvador return. That said, if he continues to play well Lou Lamoriello may be forced to move someone to make room for him. Merrill hasn't been perfect but he's done a lot of good things in his short time up with the team. The 21-year-old played just less than 20 minutes on Wednesday.
- Cam Ward was very good Wednesday and will get the nod in goal again tonight. Ward made a couple unbelievable saves, but for the most part wasn't tested near enough. The Devils will have to throw a lot more pucks on net and get some traffic in front. Maybe bang in a rebound or two in the paint.
- I thought Travis Zajac played his best game of the season against the Hurricanes Wednesday, playing primarily against one of the Staal brothers and taking it to them offensively. How will he build on that?
- Damien Brunner is back in the lineup and will play on the 2nd line with Henrique and Elias. Brunner has struggled mightily of late but perhaps playing in a top-6 role with those two after sitting out a game will get him going again. He hasn't done anything lately, but Brunner looked real good with Elias in preseason and early in the regular season.
- Michael Ryder will start tonight's game on the 4th line. That shows just how poor he's played this season. As I've pointed out many times, he scored four goals in his first nine games and has since disappeared off the face of the earth. The Devils need much more from him.
- Cory Schneider will get the nod in goal tonight. The Devils have struggled to score this season and it's been even worse when Schneider starts, so he'll likely need to limit the 'Canes to one or two goals if the Devils are going to win this game.
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