Tonight, the New Jersey Devils look to continue their success from this past week by beating the Ottawa Senators tonight. The Devils are six points out of a wild card spot chasing the Detroit Red Wings. They also sit seven points out of third in the Metropolitan division with no games in hand on the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Devils are 34-32-4, good enough for sixth in the Metropolitan Division. The Senators hold a record of 28-36-4, which has them last in the Atlantic division and second to last in the East.
Match Overview
Even though the Senators have been worse than the Devils, these are two teams that have struggled with similar issues. Both teams have dealt with injuries as well as horrible goaltending.
We all know about the Devils side of things, but the Senators have lost significant time from Mathieu Joseph, Josh Norris and Thomas Chabot. In net, Ottawa has the worst save percentage (SV%) in the league at an .881 and the worst goals saved above expected by far according to moneypuck.com.
The Devils have won their last two games 5-2 and 4-1 at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Winnipeg Jets. Meanwhile the Senators fell to the St. Louis Blues, 5-2 in Ottawa.
The last time these two teams met was back in December when the Devils defeated the Senators 6-2 on the road. Jesper Bratt collected a goal and four total points in the victory. Himself, Jack Hughes, Dawson Mercer, Tyler Toffoli, Brendan Smith, and Luke Hughes scored for the Devils. Drake Batherson and Jacob Bernard-Docker scored for Ottawa.
Lines and Pairings
Devils
Forwards
Bratt-Hischier-Meier
Hughes-Haula-Holtz
Palat-Nosek-Mercer
Willman-Tierney-Lazar
Defense
Hughes-DeSimone
Bahl-Smith
Hatakka-Nemec
Goalies
Kahkonen
Allen
Senators
Forwards
Tkachuk-Pinto-Batherson
Kelly-Stutzle-Giroux
Ostapchuk-Grieg-Joseph
Katchouk-Kastelic-Kubalik
Defense
Sanderson-Zub
Chabit-Brannstrom
Chychrun-Hamonic
Goalies
Forsberg
Korpisalo
Keys to the Game
Disappointing
At the start of the season, the general consensus was that the Devils and Senators would both make the playoffs. That will most likely not be the case. While the Devils still have a small chance, the Senators are second to last in the Eastern Conference.
The two teams maybe don’t deserve to be in this spot given their play however. The goaltending was already discussed, they are 31 and 32 respectively in SV%. The other numbers to look at though are Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and expected goals percentage (xG%). This will tell someone if a team is controlling play for the most part.
In terms of xG% the Devils rank 13th but have fallen off after a stronger first half, and the Senators rank a surprising ninth. Both teams control over 51% of the xG. If you look at CF%, the Devils are much stronger ranking fourth in the league, While the Sens are more consistent with their xG numbers ranking 10th.
Overall these are two teams that maybe should be better off than they are but have been brought down by awful goaltending.
Luke Hughes Record
While it’s been a very up-and-down rookie season for Luke Hughes, he still has a chance to do something special. He can break the Devils rookie defenseman point record, set in 2017-18 by Will Butcher.
Butcher scored 44 points in 81 games back in his rookie season which was terrific for the Devils. Luke’s season may be looked at differently when it’s all said and done, but with 38 points in 70 games, Hughes is on pace for 45 points which would stick itself in the Devils record book.
Where To Watch
The Devils and Senators matchup is slated for a 7:00 pm ET puck drop. The game can be seen on MSGSN.