The homestand continues for the New Jersey Devils (33-31-2). Coming into town is the Boston Bruins (37-23-6), who are fighting for their playoff lives in the grind of a schedule in this month of March.
Matchup Overview
The matchup against the Bruins wraps up what’s been a fairly successful homestand for the Devils. Overall, the Devils are 4-2 on this homestand and coming off a strong victory against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.
The good news in this stretch is that the Devils have been a good five-on-five team. Overall, the Devils have scored 24 goals, but 17 of them have come at five-on-five play. Over this span, the Devils have the second best Corsi-for percentage (55.06).
The Bruins are not one of the best teams when it comes to five-on-five play. They give up plenty of chances, especially high-danger chances. However, they’ve been opportunistic and do capitalize on the chances that they do get. It is a team led heavily by David Pastrnak, but also a career-year out of Morgan Geekie.
The Bruins have gone 5-3-1 since the Olympic break ended and are coming off their latest victory in a shootout against the Washington Capitals. What’s been a struggle for the Bruins is their power play. Despite having the fifth-most amount of power play time since the break, they’ve scored the fourth-fewest goals with the man advantage. Overall, the unit ranks eighth in the league but struggling as of late could pay off for the Devils in this matchup.
They currently occupy the first wild card slot and what should be an up and down grind to end the season. The teams have met once so far this season, with a Bruins victory 4-1 at TD Garden. They’ll faceoff at the end of the season in the final game of the year.
Projected Lineup
New Jersey Devils
Forwards
Meier-Hischier-Mercer
Bratt-Hughes-Brown
Gritsyuk-Glass-Hameenaho
Cotter-Bjugstad-Tsyplakov
Defense
Siegenthaler-Hamilton
Hughes-Kovacevic
Dillon-Nemec
Goalies
Markstrom
Allen
Boston Bruins
Forwards
Geekie-Minten-Pastrnak
Mittelstadt-Zacha-Arvidsson
Khusnutdinov-Lindholm-Jeannot
Eyssimont-Kuraly-Kastelic
Defense
Aspirot-McAvoy
Lindholm-Lohrei
Zadorov-Peeke
Goalies
Swayman
Korpisalo
What to Watch For
Arseny Gritsyuk’s Five-On-Five Impact
The Devils’ play at five-on-five has been better this homestand and one player who has elevated their play is Arseny Gritsyuk. Gritsyuk leads all Devils skaters in goals (three) and points (five) at five-on-five. Only two more players have more shots on net than he does in this span (Timo Meier and Luke Hughes), and his ability to create offense has been stellar for this Devils group.
Gritsyuk has done a great job creating high-danger chances and getting to the more quality areas of the ice. The three goals he’s factored into have all been high-danger goals. Also, his line of Cosy Glass and Lenni Hämeenaho have been great overall together.
The above goal scored against Los Angeles encapsulates how good they’ve been. The pass from Hämeenaho and the finish from Gritsyuk was one of the best goals that game and in this stretch. The chemistry has been there and the impacts are well noted.
The trio has 23:49 of time on ice and has a Corsi-for percentage of 58.14. They’ve scored well above their expected rate and are a strong depth line for this lineup. Gritsyuk and this line could play a key role against this Bruins lineup from a mismatch standpoint.
Capitalizing on Quality Chances
Monday’s game can come down to goaltending in the most cliche possible. The Bruins capitalize on the chances they do get and the Devils have shown this season to be woeful with their finishing ability. For the Devils, they’ve shown quality in this homestand, generating 49 high-danger shot attempts at five-on-five. Furthermore, they’ve had 31 high danger shots on goal, but only converted five times. That needs to change against the Bruins goalies.
Both Bruins goalies have been solid in the high-danger areas of the ice. Jeremy Swayman has a .772 high-danger save percentage and Joonas Korpisalo is much higher at .863. Furthermore, Swayman is third in the league in goals saved above expected with 21.8, showcasing his ability to stop quality chances.
The Devils have been impressive and have improved their play after the break. They’ll need to convert if they want to defeat the Bruins in this matchup.
How to Watch
Monday night’s puck drop is at 7:00 pm ET and can be found on MSG.