The New Jersey Devils will host ex-Devils forward Jaromir Jagr and the Florida Panthers at Prudential Center tonight as they will close out this weekend’s set of home games before traveling north of the border to Toronto on Monday.
Tonight’s matchup is the first of three between these teams this season, with the next game taking place on December 17th at Prudential Center.
The Devils most recently fell to the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in overtime on Friday night. Cory Schneider stopped 21 of 25 shots on goal and Stefan Matteau, Kyle Palmieri, and Mike Cammalleri each scored for New Jersey.
New Jersey has not been strong on home ice lately, as they currently hold a 5-6-3 record in 14 games played this season at Prudential Center.
Devils captain Andy Greene told reporters on Friday that his team must improve their performance on home ice in Newark.
“If you want to be a good team in this league, you have to be a good team on the road and obviously take care of business at home,” Greene said according to NHL.com. “I couldn’t explain why we come out here slower or why it takes us a little bit to get into it.”
The Panthers most recently played on Friday night in Columbus and are on the last stop of their five-game road trip. They and have defeated all of their opponents thus far on their road swing through Detroit, St. Louis, Nashville, Columbus, and New Jersey.
Projected Panthers Line Combinations (per dailyfaceoff.com, subject to change):
Forwards: Pirri-Barkov-Jagr; Huberdeau-Trocheck-Smith;Jokinen-MacKenzie-Shaw;Howden-Bolland-Thornton.
Defensemen: Campbell-Mitchell;Kampfer-Ekblad;Gudbranson-Kulikov.
Goaltenders: Luongo/Montoya.
Injury List: Nick Bjugstad (upper body), Alex Petrovic (foot, injured reserve), Marc Savard (concussion symptoms, long-term injured reserve)
Projected Devils Line Combinations (per dailyfaceoff.com, subject to change):
Forwards: Cammalleri-Henrique-Stempniak;Elias-Josefson-Palmieri;Matteau-Kalinin-Kennedy;O’Neill-Gionta-Tootoo.
Defensemen: Greene-Larsson;Moore-Severson;Merrill-Schlemko.
Goaltenders: Schneider/Kinkaid.
Injury List: Travis Zajac (upper body, day-to-day), Ryane Clowe (concussion symptoms, long-term injured reserve)
Projected Goaltending Matchup:
Florida:
Goaltender Roberto Luongo #1 of the Florida Panthers defends the net with the help of teammate Tomas Fleischmann #14 against Adam Henrique #14 of the New Jersey Devils the New Jersey Devils at the BB&T Center on March 14, 2014 in Sunrise, Florida.
March 14, 2014| Credits : Eliot J. Schechter (Getty Images)
Roberto Luongo (Record: 10-8-3 in 21GP) –The Montreal, Quebec, native has been stellar between the pipes lately for Florida. In his last 5 games played, he is 4-1 and has not let in more than 2 goals. He has only one goal against per game in his last three games played and currently maintains a .928 save percentage and 2.24 goals against average. He most recently played on December 3rd and backstopped a 2-1 victory for Florida in Nashville.
New Jersey:
New Jersey Devils goaltender Cory Schneider. (Credits: Paula Faerman Photography)
Cory Schneider (Record: 11-7-3 in 21GP) – New Jersey’s number one goaltender continues to be one of the best in the entire league. Despite holding a 1-2-2 record in his last five games, Schneider holds an impressive 2.12 goals against average (8th in the league) and .924 save percentage (15th in the league). He most recently played in the Devils’ 3-2 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night, stopping 21 of 25 shots on goal.
Players to Watch:
Florida:
SUNRISE, FL – MARCH 19: Jaromir Jagr #68 of the Florida Panthers is congratulated by teammates after scoring the first goal of the game against the Detroit Red Wings during second period action at the BB&T Center on March 19, 2015 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
Jaromir Jagr (8G-10A in 24GP) – The 43-year-old Czech legend will suit up in his first game back at Prudential Center since being traded to Florida by ex-Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello on February 26th, 2015. He currently leads all Panthers skaters in points with 18 (8G-10A) playing on the Panthers top line alongside Brandon Pirri and Aleksander Barkov. Jagr sits one goal behind Marcel Dionne (731) for sole possession of 4th all-time in goals scored with 730.
New Jersey:
New Jersey Devils forward Patrik Elias. (Credits: Paula Faerman Photography)
Patrik Elias (1G-3A in 6GP) – The 2-time Stanley Cup Champion with the Devils is slowly coming back to form after making his regular season debut on November 25th against the Columbus Blue Jackets. In his 20th season with the Devils, Elias has recorded 1 goal and 3 assists in 6 games. He will look to continue his two-game point streak tonight after recording one assist in each of his last two games played.
Credits to NHL.com and Daily Faceoff for all quotes and statistics and credits to Getty Images and Paula Faerman Photography for all images.
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Nick Papadimas is a New Jersey native, New Jersey Devils season ticket holder, and avid hockey fan. He is an aspiring sports journalist who has covered high school sports and local events for TAPinto.net since 2012. Nick may be reached on Twitter (@ngpaps) or by e-mail at papadimasn@icloud.com.