New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers Play for the First Time this Season

The New Jersey Devils will look to extend the team’s point streak to three. (Photo via Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

After over 10 months without New Jersey Devils’ hockey fans are getting their first taste of the Hudson River Rivalry three games into the season. Both teams enter the season with one loss and one win. Devils have the one-point edge since their loss came in a shoot-out. The Rangers’ one loss was a shutout defeat, but they returned the favor in their win.

More has changed for the Rangers since the last meeting than New Jersey. The Rangers made the Stanley Cup return-to-play playoff and then drafted Alexis Lafreniere first overall. New faces on the Devils are the long-awaited defenseman Ty Smith and forward Yegor Sharangovich

Players To Watch

Alexis Lafreniere

You always watch the first overall pick, but you watch him a little more when he’s on your biggest rival and playing against you. In his first two games, Lafreniere has no points but four shots. Having his first career goal against New Jersey is what Madison Square Garden dwellers would love to see.

Miles Wood

Most of the time when watching Miles Wood, he’ll end up crashing into the boards. Looks like he didn’t take that ten-month layoff to work on his stopping on skates. Still, he had found the back of the net in both games this season. His struggles in coming to a stop have also resulted in a goaltender interference penalty, which leads to a goal by the Boston Bruins.

Jack Hughes

Last March, Jack Hughes was a boy, and now he is a man. Hughes had seemingly gotten better across the board and improved his game in all aspects. He may not have a goal, but he does have three points and a plus-two rating. Also, he leads all Devils’ forwards in ice time in the first two games of the season. His new powers must be in his mullet, definitely the mullet.

Keys To The Game

Power Play

After the hiring of Mark Reechi as an assistant coach, expectations for the power play were high. So far the Devils haven’t been able to break through on the man advantage going 0 for 10 in these first two games. Even worse, the team gave up a shorthanded goal for Boston’s only goal in Saturday’s game. Maybe try using that man advantage to our advantage this time?

Get The Second Goal

The Devils have three goals through two games. Granted they were against a pretty good Bruins team, but they took a 1-1 tie into overtime both times. Devils need to get that second goal in regulation.

Five-on-Five Play

The Devils have yet to let in a goal during five on five play. As of a Tuesday’s game, they are the only remaining NHL team with that distinction. That speaks more to the goaltending heroics than the rest of the team. Remember how Mackenzie Blackwood bailed out the team during that terrible first period opening night?

Projected Lineups

New York Rangers

Forwards:

Kreider/Zibanejad/Buchnevich
Panarin/Strome/Lafreniere
DiGiuseppe/Chytil/Kakko
Lemieux/Howden/Gauthier

Defenseman:

Lindgren/Trouba
Johnson/Fox
Miller/Smith

Goalies

Georgiev (17-14-2, .910 Sv%, 3.04 GAA)

Shesterkin