The Devils (18-13-1), following a win Saturday afternoon against the Anaheim Ducks, look to make it two straight against the Vancouver Canucks (11-17-3).
Match Overview
It’s been a rough season for the Canucks faithful, and seeing Quinn Hughes go in a Friday trade was just the icing on the cake. Their 11-17-3 record puts them last in the NHL with just 25 points, and to make it all worse, star forward Elias Pettersson is out with injury. However, they do have some reinforcements on the way. Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, and Liam Ohgren are all expected to make their Canucks debut Sunday after being traded over in return for Hughes. Marco Rossi, in particular, should be a big help to the top-six. Rossi, a 60-point scorer last season, has four goals and 13 points in 17 games to begin just his third full season in the NHL.
The Devils, on the other hand, are coming off an impressive 4-1 win over the Ducks despite all the injuries. New Jersey, currently fighting for a playoff spot, has still lost six of their last eight and will be without eight regular starters at puck drop.
Personnel-wise, the Devils are expected to once again be without Timo Meier, Arseny Gritsyuk, and Simon Nemec. Head coach Sheldon Keefe announced Saturday morning that Nemec will miss, “some time,” after getting hurt in practice on Friday.
Lineups
Devils
Forwards
Bratt-Hischier-Mercer
Palat-Glass-Brown
Cotter-Lammikko-Noesen
Parent-Glendening-Crookshank
Defense
Siegenthaler-Hamilton
Dillon-Hughes
Cholowski-White
Goalies
Markström
Allen
Canucks
Forwards
Debrusk-Rossi-Boeser
Hoglander-Kampf-Garland
Kane-O’Connor-Sherwood
Ohgren-Sasson-Karlsson
Defense
M. Pettersson-Hronek
Buium-Myers
E. Pettersson-Willander
Goalies
Demko
Lankinen
Keys to The Game
Take Care of Business
If there is any team that the Devils would like to face right now, it would be Vancouver. The last-place Canucks are without their best player and less than 48 hours removed from trading their captain and face of the franchise, Quinn Hughes. On top of that, the Canucks will also be without their leading point scorer, Elias Pettersson. The Devils, despite all their injuries, still should be favored in the contest and pick up a huge two points.
Everybody Stepping Up
Over the past couple of games, the Devils have gotten a huge boost from the bottom six in terms of scoring. This was the second straight win where the Devils got carried by depth pieces. Unlikely sources of offense like Juho Lammikko, Colton White, and Ondrej Palat all registered two points in the win over Anaheim.
Paul Cotter is another player who has stepped up big lately. After having just two goals in his first 29 games, Cotter now has goals in each of his last three games. He had been very disappointing offensively this season after scoring a career-high 16 goals last season. The Devils would love to see more of this from Cotter going forward.
Where to Watch
You can watch Sunday afternoon’s game starting at 12:30 pm ET on MSGSN and NHLN.