Match-up - New Jersey Devils (4-7-4) @ Toronto Maple Leafs (10-5-0) Road/Home records - 2-6-2 -------------- 5-2-0 TV - TSN, MSG Plus, RDS2 Puck drop - 7:30 PM ET Season series - 0-0 Last 10: Devils 4-5-1 / Maple Leafs 6-4-0 Projected starting goalies - Cory Schneider (NJD) v. Jonathan Bernier (TOR)
Goals for/against per game
Toronto - 3.13/2.40 New Jersey - 1.93/2.60
Power play/Penalty Kill
Toronto - 23.5%/87.1% New Jersey - 17.0%/84.1%
Projected lines for the Maple Leafs:
Joffrey Lupul - James van Riemsdyk - Phil Kessel Mason Raymond - Nazem Kadri - David Clarkson Troy Bodie - Jay McClemment - Nikolai Kulemin Frazer McLaren - Jerred Smithson - Colton Orr
Carl Gunnarsson - Dion Phaneuf Mark Fraser - Paul Ranger Cody Franson - Jake Gardiner
Projected lines for the Devils:
Dainius Zubrus - Andrei Loktionov - Jaromir Jagr Damien Brunner - Travis Zajac - Steve Bernier Mattias Tedenby - Adam Henrique - Michael Ryder Ryan Carter - Stephen Gionta - Cam Janssen
Andy Greene - Peter Harrold Anton Volchenkov - Marek Zidlicky Eric Gelinas* - Adam Larsson
*Mark Fayne will play if Gelinas can't go
Notable injuries: Ryane Clowe, Patrik Elias, Bryce Salvador, Jon Merrill.
Some notes:
- Due to a few injuries, the Leafs' bottom-6 is pretty awful. Their 3rd line is OK and their 4th line is one of the worst lines I've ever seen assembled. Smithson was part of the Oilers' pathetically bad bottom-6 last year and McLaren and Orr can't do anything besides punch people in the face. The Devils need to take advantage of every shift they have against that line.
- Speaking of punching people in the face, Janssen surprisingly didn't fight last night. I expect he'll indulge himself in a scrap tonight with the Leafs dressing three fighters.
- Good ol' David Clarkson will square off against the Devils for the first time since walking away from the team in the summer. Clarkson's off to a pretty slow start having zero goals and one assist through five games. You know who does have a goal? CamJAM. In all seriousness, I expect Clarkson to pick it up a bit offensively but I'm not sure he'll produce anything more than 40 points. That's probably even a stretch.
- The Leafs are 45% in the faceoff circle on the year. That's likely due to the fact they've been decimated down the middle, but it's still pretty terrible. The Devils might win that battle tonight - especially if Zajac is going up regularly against JvR in the dot.
- Toronto is outshot by an average of 12 shots per game. Considering the Devils often outshoot their opponents and have allowed 24 shots or fewer in eight of their last nine, I'm not expecting the Leafs to break that trend tonight. More often than not the team that shoots more wins the game, so…
- The Devils are a pretty disciplined team and don't take many penalties. They need to make sure they keep that trend going, because the Leafs' power play is pretty damn good. If the Devils spoon feed them opportunities, the Leafs will burn them.
- Jaromir Jagr has 1,699 career points. Does 1,700 come tonight?
- Given the Devils' scoring woes, they'll need good goaltending if they want to have a chance to win. Martin Brodeur wasn't tested much last night but answered the bell when called upon. Cory Schneider will need to do the same tonight.
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