Saturday, the New Jersey Devils continue their season opening road trip in Tampa Bay where they will face off against the Lightning.
The Devils are currently 0-1-0 after losing to the Hurricanes on Thursday. The Lightning also started the year off 0-1-0 after falling to the Senators. Both teams lost on late game-winners.
Match Overview
After starting their season off on the road against one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, the Devils will continue their season on the road against another top Eastern Conference team. New Jersey has a tough start to the season, but it’s also a good time to prove themselves as contenders in the league.
The Lightning did very little this offseason, only making a few depth additions in Pontus Holmberg and Curtis Douglas to play on the fourth line. That isn’t to say Tampa hasn’t improved in the last 365 days, most of their work was just done at the trade deadline when they acquired Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand for additional firepower.
This will be a tough matchup for both teams who are both looking for their first win.
Lines and Pairings
Devils
Forwards
Dadonov-Hughes-Bratt
Meier-Hischier-Mercer
Palat-Glass-Brown
Cotter-Glendening-Gritsyuk
Defense
Hughes-Pesce
Dillon-Nemec
Siegenthaler-Hamilton
Goalies
Markstrom
Allen
Lightning
Forwards
Guentzel-Point-Kucherov
Hagel-Cirelli-Goncalves
Geekie-Gourde-Bjorkstrand
Douglas-Holmberg-Chaffee
Defense
Hedman-Crozier
McDonagh-Cernak
Lilleberg-Raddysh
Goalies
Vasilevskiy
Johansson
Keys to the Game
Tough Time in Tampa
While the Devils luck in Tampa Bay isn’t quite as bad as Raleigh, it still isn’t great. Three straight loses with a 3-11-1 record over their last 15 games at Amalie Arena isn’t ideal The Devils are hoping to snap that streak and take a win in Tampa for the first time since March of 2023 when Jesper Bratt scored a hat trick.
Goaltending Battle
While Jacob Markstrom struggled in the opener, so did Andrei Vasilevskiy. The two-time Stanley Cup champion and former Vezina Trophy winner had an .879 save percentage (SV%) on 33 shots on Thursday.
Over the back-portion of his career, Vasilevskiy has been oddly underappreciated. The now 31-year-old netminder has a career .917 SV% over 541 games. Part of the reason many may underrate Vasilevskiy is because of his recent playoff performances.
Since holding a 48-23 record with a .928 SV% over 71 playoff games during Tampa’s run to three-straight Stanley Cup finals, Vasilevskiy has struggled. In the three years since (all first round exits), the future hall-of-fame goalie has an .882 SV% and 4-12 record.
How to Watch
Saturday night’s game will begin at 7:00 pm ET on MSG SportsNet2.