Preview: New Jersey Devils Look to Get Back on Track Against Washington

The Devils lost the third of their last four games yesterday against the Capitals. (Image via. Capitals Twitter)

Match Overview

This afternoon the New Jersey Devils face off against the Washington Capitals for round three of eight this season. Washington took both of their first two meetings. One in D.C. which was a 4-3 Devils loss and one at home, a 5-2 loss. With Mackenzie Blackwood and Vitek Vanecek both starting in net yesterday, don’t be surprised if Aaron Dell and Craig Anderson or Ilya Samsonov get the nod this afternoon.

Projected Devils’ Lines

The Devils lines will most likely be changed up a little today. Ryan Murray was a healthy scratch yesterday, so expect him to possibly get back into the lineup. As well as this Janne Kuokkanen and Mikhail Maltsev are both options to draw in on the forwards’ side.

Check back on our social media pages closer to game-time for full lineups.

Projected Capitals’ Lines

Forwards:

Ovechkin – Eller – Sheary

Vrana – Backstrom – Wilson

Panik – Oshie – Sprong

Hagelin – Dowd – Hathaway

Defense:

Dillon – Carlson

Orlov – Schultz

Chara – Jensen

Goalies:

Anderson

Vanecek

What/Who to Watch

  • Washington forward Lars Eller centered one of Washington’s top-six lines yesterday and expects to again today with the absence of Evgeni Kuznetsov. Eller has 10 points in his first 16 games this season, including a goal yesterday. Eller has spent now five seasons in Washington, putting up a career-high 39 points in just 69 games last season.

  • Pavel Zacha is currently on a nine-game point streak, which is now the longest active in the NHL. He also leads the team with 13 points, all 13 coming in the last 12 games. Pavel was of course the very controversial sixth overall pick, but it’s finally looking like he’s becoming the player we all thought he would be. In the past two games, his line with Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt has been fantastic.

  • Jack Hughes started the year red-hot point-wise with seven points in his first five games. However, since then, Jack has only had five points in his last 11. This isn’t because he’s been any worse though, it’s been a lot of bad luck, something that plagued him last season. The 19-year-old had an outstanding 17 shot contributions last Thursday against Buffalo but didn’t get a single point.

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