The holidays are wrapped up and the New Jersey Devils return to home ice. Coming to town is division opponent Washington Capitals. This is the second meeting between the two teams this season.
Washington resides in the first wild card spot while the Devils are one point outside the current playoff picture.
Matchup Overview
It’s been an up-and-down rollercoaster ride for this Devils team in the month of December. Finishing ability has been a constant struggle, as the team has yet to score more than two goals over their last five games. That helps aid to the fact that the team has a 4-8 record in the month of December.
The two points weren’t awarded to them, but the last two games the Devils have put together quite the effort. Against the Sabres, the Devils finished with a 62.00 expected goals-for percentage and against the Islanders the team generated over five expected goals. To score two goals combined is a tough pill to swallow, but that’s been the name of the game. The Devils have struggled on home ice as of late, with six of their losses this month coming at the Prudential Center.
The Devils won the first meeting against the Capitals back in November. Like the Devils, they’ve been on the struggle bus. The Capitals have won one game in their last seven despite starting the month strong. The playing field is even for both teams heading into this matchup.
Projected Lineups
New Jersey Devils
Forwards
Meier-Hischier-Mercer
Palat-Hughes-Bratt
Gritsyuk-Glass-Brown
Cotter-Glendening-Noesen
Defense
Siegenthaler-Hamilton
Hughes-Pesce
Dillon-White
Goalies
Markstrom
Allen
Washington Capitals
Forwards
Ovechkin-Sourdif-McMichael
Protas-Strome-Leonard
Beauvillier-Dowd-Frank
Duhaime-Lapierre-Milano
Defense
Fehervary-Carlson
Chychrun-Roy
Chisholm-Van Riemsdyk
Goalies
Thompson
Lindgren
What to Watch For
Devils Finishing Ability
As noted above, the Devils’ finishing ability has been on the poor side over the last handful of games. When you dive a bit deeper into the overall numbers for the month of December, the Devils effort is very noticeable.
Throughout the entire month at five-on-five, the Devils have generated 27.95 expected goals, which places them sixth overall. However, they’ve scored just 14 goals, which is a significantly under their expected rate. To make matters worse, they’ve scored the second-fewest high-danger goals this month. Finishing ability will be key, especially against Logan Thompson who’s been good for the Capitals.
The Devils’ Big Guns Getting Going
A large reason for the teams goal scoring deficiencies lie with its big guns. Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier each have one goal, although none have come at five-on-five. Dawson Mercer is scoreless through 12 games as well.
Seeing those guys get going can help shift the teams goal scoring deficiencies. Droughts like these happen, but eventually the dam will need to break.
How to Watch
Saturday night’s puck drop is at 7:00 pm ET and can be found on MSG.