The road trip for the New Jersey Devils continues. After making their way down south, they return north to the City of Brotherly Love to take on the Philadelphia Flyers. This is the first time this season that these two teams have met this season.
New Jersey sits at 13-6-1 on the season and Philadelphia is 10-6-3.
Matchup Overview
This road trip has been a mixed bag for the New Jersey Devils. The start of their trip saw the team continue to get into overtime or a shootout situation. They won the first two games, defeating the Blackhawks in overtime and hung on to defeat the Capitals. All of this can be paid tribute to defenseman Simon Nemec. The vibes were higher for this Devils team, despite losing their star center Jack Hughes until at least January.
Things down south against the two Florida teams did not bode well. The Devils got overmatched by the Tampa Bay Lightning, losing 5-1 and to a dominant performance by Jake Guentzel. It was a bounce back effort against the Panthers, but Sergei Bobrovsky slammed the door shut for his 50th career shutout in a 1-0 win.
The Flyers, despite a winning record sit seventh in the division. They had a mixed bag of results this month of November with a 4-3-3 record. There have been pleasant surprises for this team, as Dan Vladar has been stable in the goal crease with a 2.37 goals against average and a .911 save percentage.
Furthermore, Trevor Zegras is enjoying life with the Flyers and under new head coach Rich Tocchet. He’s pushed the right buttons because Zegras leads the team in goals (six), assists (14), and points (20). The Flyers are a surprise this season, so not a team the Devils can overlook.
Projected Lineups
New Jersey Devils
Forwards
Gritsyuk-Hischier-Bratt
Meier-Mercer-Brown
Palat-Lammikko-Dadonov
Cotter-Glendenning-Noesen
Defense
Siegenthaler-Nemec
Dillon-Hughes
Cholowski-Hamilton
Goalies
Markstrom
Allen
Philadelphia Flyers
Forwards
Michkov-Couturier-Brink
Foerster-Cates-Konecny
Zegras-Dvorak-Tippett
Deslauriers-Abols-Hathaway
Defense
York-Sanheim
Seeler-Juulsen
Andrae-Drysdale
Goalies
Vladar
Ersson
What to Watch For
Power Play Struggles
Jack Hughes being in the lineup gives the Devils a dynamic presence that can alter the game. Not only is his offensive prowess enormous at five-on-five play, but his creativity helps keep the power play flowing. It’s only been three games without Jack Hughes in the fold, but the power plays conversion rate isn’t nearly as efficient without him on it.
In the last three games, the Devils are 1-for-9 with the man advantage. The lone goal came from Arseny Gritsyuk after the Capitals got into first period penalty trouble. It’s not for a lack of effort, as the Devils units have generated three expected goals in the 17 minutes of total power play time. They need to find ways to create more high-danger chances, as they have only generated seven.
The Devils have plenty of key pieces on their power play units, but missing Hughes removes a big element to their power play.
Jacob Markström
The new contract extension for Jacob Markström made sense on paper. It bridges the gap for the next younger guy to come into the fold. But which version do we get with him in goal? Jake Allen has looked quite solid in the crease for the Devils and has played better overall.
Markström is 3-1-1 this month, but he has yet to post a save percentage above .900 on his last four starts. Also, he has allowed three of more goals in his last four starts. We’ve seen flashes of Markström being completely dialed in and other times he has struggled.
This game presents a great opportunity for him, as the Flyers rank 30th in goals scored and are a middle of the pack team in terms of five-on-five on-ice impacts. Markström needs a good bounce back game and it’ll be good to see what version of him we get.
Where to Watch
Saturday night’s puck drop is at 7:00 pm ET and can be found on MSG.