The New Jersey Devils (8-1-0) hit the road. Awaiting them is the high-flying Colorado Avalanche (5-1-4). The Devils are off to one of their best starts in franchise history and look to keep the win streak going Tuesday night.
Matchup Overview
The Devils have been rolling and it’s not because they’ve been playing lesser competition. When you look at their schedule thus far, the Devils have played some of the toughest opponents the league has to offer. They’ve won eight in a row since opening night and one of those eight wins comes against the Avalanche.
The Devils and Avalanche will wrap up both their home-and-home and season series Tuesday. The Devils took the first game at home on Saturday, thanks to the heroics from Jack Hughes. Hughes has been a roll to begin the year, scoring eight goals and 12 points in the month of October. He’s been a large reason for their success and the team’s gotten good goaltending. Speaking of goaltending, with Jacob Markström serving as Jake Allen’s backup last game out, he should get a start in return from injury sometime soon.
The Avalanche have been the puzzling team to start the season. After starting 5-0-1, they’ve lost four straight games, with three coming in either overtime or a shootout loss. They’ve gotten heavy production from their top line and former Devil, Scott Wedgewood, has started nine of their ten games. Mackenzie Blackwood remains out with an injury and has yet to tend the goal crease.
Projected Lineups
New Jersey Devils
Forwards
Palat-Hughes-Bratt
Meier-Hischier-Gritsyuk
Cotter-Mercer-Brown
Noesen-Glendening-Halonen
Defense
Hughes-Pesce
Siegenthaler-Hamilton
Dillon-Nemec
Goalies
Allen
Markstrom
Colorado Avalanche
Forwards
Lehkonen-MacKinnon-Necas
Olofsson-Nelson-Nichushkin
Landeskog-Drury-Colton
Kelly-Bardakov-Brindley
Defense
Toews-Makar
Manson-Burns
Ahcan-Malinski
Goalies
Wedgewood
Trenin
What to Watch For
All Eyes on the Avalanche Top Line
The bread and butter to the Avalanche offense lies within its top line. Of all their lines, they are the most creative and they generate the most offense. The gap is not even close.
The Avalanche top line has the best expected goals for percentage (xGF%) of 68.3. The trio has 10goals as alone and the next closest line has four. They’ve been counted on largely for offense and that’s expected when you have one of the best players in the world with Nathan MacKinnon.
Simon Nemec’s Impact Continuing
Simon Nemec has had an extremely puzzling start to the season. When you look into the underlying metrics, the impacts on the game aren’t the best. So far this season, Nemec has a 47.18 Corsi-for percentage and a 42.36 xGF%. He’s been on the ice for 10goals scored, but also 10against. It’s been a puzzling season, but when it comes to the production and the stuff that matters, he is producing.
Nemec has his fingerprints all over the victory against the Avalanche on Saturday, as he had three assists which included the game-winning goal by Hughes. Through the team’s first nine games, he has seven assists. He certainly doesn’t have the shooting first mentality, but his playmaking has done him well.
Can he continue to impact the game and help produce from the back end? It’ll be something to watch, as the obvious players to produce will keep doing so.
Where to Watch
Tuesday night’s puck drop is at 9:00 pm ET and can be found on MSG.