The New Jersey Devils (17-12-1), fresh off ending their five-game losing streak, will head back home to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning (17-11-2). The Devils will look to win their second game in a row and get back into the playoff picture.
Match Overview
The Devils are coming off a hard-fought 4-3 win over Ottawa on Tuesday, which saw Jacob Markström and the bottom-six thrive while the special teams struggled mightily. The win ended the Devils’ five-game losing skid, but despite that, the Devils are still out of a playoff spot.
Personnel-wise, the Devils will be without forward Timo Meier for an undisclosed amount of time. Meier is taking a personal leave of absence to attend to a family health matter according to the team.
The Lightning, on the other hand, while only being one point ahead of the Devils, sit first in the Atlantic Division. They also ended a losing streak on Tuesday, dominating the Canadiens 6-1. Tampa, however, may be without their star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who was placed on injured reserve retroactive to December 2. The former Vezina winner has been spectacular this season with a .916 save percentage (SV%) and ranks eighth in goals saved above expected (GSAx) at 13.7.
This will be the third and final time these two teams meet this season. The previous two games, both in Tampa Bay, produced very different results. The Devils defeated the Lightning 5-3 back in October, while the Lightning dominated the Devils in a 5-1 win in November. Connor Brown, who produced three assists in the win over the Senators, pocketed two goals back in October, and you know eyes will be back on him again.
Lines
Devils
Forwards
Check back to our social media pages closer to puck drop for the projected forward group.
Defense
Siegenthaler-Hamilton
Dillon-Hughes
White-Nemec
Goalies
Markström
Allen
Lightning
Forwards
Hagel-Cirelli-Kucherov
Guentzel-Point-Bjorkstrand
Holmberg-Gourde-Girgensons
Douglas-Paul-Sabourin
Defense
Hedman-Crozier
Moser-Raddysh
D’Astous-Lilleberg
Goalies
Jonas Johansson
Brandon Halverson
Keys to the Game
Score First
One of the reasons for the Devils’ poor play as of late is their inability to score first. The Devils have now failed to get the first goal in each of their last four games and in six of their last eight. Scoring first has seemed to make a big difference in New Jersey this year. The Devils are 12-2-1 when breaking the ice first in 2025-26 and 5-10-0 when they don’t score first. If New Jersey is going to get back to their winning ways, they will need to find the back of the net first more often than not.
Top Six Scoring
Heading into the game in Ottawa, it was the Devils’ bottom-six which was getting heavily criticized; now, after a stellar performance from the Devils’ third line, it is their top-six which is under pressure. Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt, who were producing the majority of the offense after the Hughes injury, have scored just one goal in the last four games. This lack of top-six scoring has also affected the power play, which is 0-for-8 in the same four-game span. The Devils were only winning post-Hughes injury because of the contributions of the top six, and they will need to get that back soon.
Where to Watch
You can watch Thursday night’s game starting at 7:00 pm ET on MSG.