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G77 New Jersey Devils vs Buffalo Sabres: Five things to watch

March 25, 2019, 11:34 AM ET [39 Comments]
Todd Cordell
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Five things to watch when the New Jersey Devils take on the Buffalo Sabres:

1. Dispersed scoring

In an effort to jump-start the team's offense, which has mustered up just 20 goals over the last 10 games, the Sabres have completely juggled their lines and altered their approach. Rather than stacking the top line, and leaving little production for the rest, the Sabres are putting one member of their big three (Jack Eichel, Jeff Skinner, and Sam Reinhart) on each of the top three lines. On one hand, it can't hurt to try a more balanced approach because what they were doing clearly didn't lead to much team success. On the other, they might be neutering some of their best offensive players (Reinhart, for example) with the current construction while weakening what was a productive top line in the process.

I'm interested to see how much this changes things for the Sabres, and how quick – if at all – Phil Housley stacks the top line again if they get off to a slow start. Personally, I think putting all the eggs in one basket might benefit the Devils. While Travis Zajac's line had a tough time against Patrice Bergeron, they have been really good defensively and sticking them on a stacked Eichel line would free up New Jersey's top unit to take advantage of a really bad bottom-9.

2. Schneider staying hot

Remember when Cory Schneider couldn't stop a beach ball for the better part of a year? Well, now he is a brick wall between the pipes. Since coming in relief against Minnesota, Schneider has been one of the league's best goaltenders posting a .927 save percentage across all situations and looking very sharp in the process. One would think he has a good chance of putting forth another quality showing tonight against a Sabres team has dropped nine of 10 and potted just 20 goals during that span.

3. An incoming breakout?

McLeod registered just four shots on goal and four scoring chances over his first eight games. He has stepped it up in a big way tallying 14 shots and 13 chances in seven games since despite continuing to play a bottom-6 role alongside (mostly) undesirable linemates. I'm beating a dead horse here but I think he's way overdue for a reward. Maybe he'll finally get it tonight.

4. All out attack

Generally coaches like to put their puck-moving/rushing defenders with a 'safe', stay-at-home partner. The Sabres have elected to go against that line of thinking with the Rasmus Dahlin - Brandon Montour pairing and the early returns suggest that's a wise decision.

The Sabres are controlling 55% of the attempts and generating nearly 66 per 60 minutes with that duo on the ice. They like to push the pace and get involved and, clearly, they're having success doing it. New Jersey's forwards need to make sure they're quick to get back – and don't sleep on a trailer jumping in – because they'll pay the price otherwise.

5. New Jersey's PK vs Buffalo's PP

Buffalo has struggled on the man advantage for a while now. Over the last 25 games, they sit 26th in chances/60 and bottom-10 in attempts/60. They're having a tough time creating quality looks and I'm not sure it'll get any easier for them tonight. While the Devils are undisciplined, which is a nice bonus for the Sabres, they're very good at limiting the damage that causes. On the year, they're 3rd best at suppressing shots, chances, and goals and that's in spite of losing a billion man-games to injury.

Here are the projected lineups.

New Jersey Devils

Kenny Agostino - Nico Hischier - Kyle Palmieri
Blake Coleman - Travis Zajac - Stefan Noesen
Miles Wood - Pavel Zacha - Drew Stafford
Kurtis Gabriel - Kevin Rooney - Michael McLeod

Andy Greene - Damon Severson
Mirco Mueller - Sami Vatanen
Steven Santini - Connor Carrick

Cory Schneider

Buffalo (via DailyFaceoff.com)

Conor Sheary - Jack Eichel - Alex Nylander
Jeff Skinner - Evan Rodrigues - Jason Pominville
Vladimir Sobotka - Casey Mittelstadt - Sam Reinhart
Zemgus Girgensons - Johan Larsson - Kyle Okposo

Zach Bogosian - Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Dahlin - Brandon Montour
Marco Scandella - Casey Nelson

Carter Hutton

Puck drop is just after 7:00 p.m. ET and can be seen on MSG+ and MSG-B.

Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com

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