Match Overview
Tonight the New Jersey Devils face off against the Boston Bruins for the fifth time this season. The Devils have been the surprising victors in three of the team’s previous four games. In total, the Devils hold a 3-0-1 record against the Bruins this season. Mackenzie Blackwood has dominated in all three meetings he’s had vs Boston this season. On the flip side, Scott Wedgewood shut out the Bruins, making 40 saves in the process in the two teams previous meetings.
Projected Devils’ Lines
Forwards:
Kuokkanen-Zajac-Sharangovich
Bratt-Hughes-Palmieri
Wood-Zacha-Merkley
Johnsson-McLeod-Boqvist
Defenseman:
Kulikov-Subban
Smith-Severson
Murray-Vatanen
Goalies
Blackwood
Wedgewood
Projected Bruins’ Lines
Forwards:
Frederic – Bergeron – Pastrnak
Ritchie – Krejci – Smith
Bjork – Coyle – Senyshynn
McKegg – Studnicka – Wagner
Defenseman:
Grzelcyk – McAvoy
Zboril – Clifton
Tinordi – Kampfer
Goalies:
Halak
Vladar
What/Who to Watch
Bruins’ Injury Trouble
The Boston Bruins are currently really struggling with injuries. Forwards wise, wingers Ondrej Kase and Jake DeBrusk will both be out tonight, along with bottom-six center Sean Kurally. On the back-end Bardon Carlo and Jeremy Lauzon are still a long ways out from returning and John Moore was just announced to be out for the season. Goaltender Tuukka Rask has been out for a little while and is expected to return soon, but will miss tonight’s game in Boston.
The Cherry on top of all of this is that team leader in assists and points, Brad Marchand was announced to be on the COVID-19 list this afternoon. With all of these holes in the Bruins’ lineup, it should be a good opportunity for the Devils to regain some of their mojo after two sub-par games in Washington.
Jack Hughes’ Struggles
Jack Hughes was dominated by the Washington Capitals on Friday, he had a Corsi-for percentage (CF%) of 41.18 and an abysmal expected goals percentage (xG%) of 29.92%. I don’t think you can put it all on him though, Washington is a veteran-oriented and experienced team and was just able to shut him down. He will learn how to deal with what he did.
However, on the other hand he did make some costly decisions, especially early on in the game that led to goals and led to scoring chances the other way. Jack Hughes is still 19-years old, he’s going to have some rough games, this just happened to be one of them.
“STK” Line is Excelling
The Devils “STK” line of Yegor Sharangovich, Travis Zajac, and Janne Kuokkanen have been great since they’ve been put together. It seems like every shift they’re out there they create some form of trouble against the opposing team.
The trio may have a CF% of 51.74% and an xG% of 47.92%, but they’ve been successful at actually scoring. The three have combined for 10 goals when all of them are on the ice together. On the flip side, they have only allowed three in just under 140 minutes of ice time.
Tonight’s game is on NBCSN at 5:30 PM EST.