Writer’s Twitter: @ChrisMottHockey

Preview

The New Jersey Devils are coming into Chicago looking to shake off one of their toughest losses of the season at the hand of the St. Louis Blues. While Chicago has not been as dominant this season as they have in season’s past, they are still a very talented team, and the first the Devils will play in a back-to-back before playing the Minnesota Wild tomorrow.

The Devils are currently in one of the bottom spots in the overall league standings and will look to avoid another embarrassment like what happened in St. Louis. Taylor Hall is not on the trip and will not be available for either game as he recovers from an injury.

What to Watch

I’d look for this team to bounce back after Tuesday’s drubbing. What is the response going to be? And who is going to lead this team forward? There is also the obvious potential trade pieces the team and fans would like to see do well, but the main focus is the team getting back to playing competitively, taking what happened in St. Louis and turning it into a learning experience.

The Devils did practice yesterday after arriving a day early for the game and hopefully the practice tightened up some weaknesses that St. Louis was phenomenal at exposing. As of now, Blake Coleman and Miles Wood are out for tonight’s contest, as well as Hall. Steven Santini will also be in for Eric Gryba and Drew Stafford will be in the lineup for Kurtis Gabriel. I think the Devils will bounce back, and we’ll see the Devils go to overtime in this one before heading to Minnesota tomorrow.

Lineups

New Jersey Devils
Johansson/Zajac/Palmieri
Bratt/Hischier/Anderson
Agostino/Zacha/Stafford
Seney/Rooney/Lappin

Greene/Severson
Butcher/Lovejoy
Mueller/Santini

Schneider

Chicago Blackhawks

Caggiula/Toews/Kane
DeBrincat/Strome/Kahun
Saad/Anisimov/Sikura
Kunitz/Kruger/Hayden

Keith/Seabrook
Dahlstrom/Murphy
Koekkoek/Gustafsson

Ward