The day has come. The time is here. The moment is now. Can they do it?
Rise up, Devils Army! After six long years, the opportunity has finally come for the New Jersey Devils. They can clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs tonight with a win of any kind over the New York Rangers. However, a win alone will not be enough, they need a little bit of help. The Florida Panthers have to lose in regulation tonight against the Nashville Predators for a berth to be possible. New Jersey can also find themselves in third place of the Metropolitan Division with regulation losses by the Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers. Without further ado, let’s get down to tonight’s game against our rivals from across the river.
Overview
The Devils (42-28-9) are set to host their Hudson River rival Rangers (34-36-9) at the Prudential Center. With a chance to clinch a spot in the playoffs expect both teams to come out hard; New York is going to want to play spoiler while New Jersey is ready to end the six year drought. This game is going to be an interesting one to say the least, as the Rangers are dealing with many injuries in addition to being in rebuild mode. However, they do have Henrik Lundqvist at the ready tonight and we all know how he plays against the Devils.
Lines
New Jersey Devils
Taylor Hall – Nico Hischier – Kyle Palmieri
Michael Grabner – Pavel Zacha – Patrick Maroon
Blake Coleman- Travis Zajac – Stefan Noesen
Miles Wood – Brian Boyle – Brian Gibbons
Andy Greene – Sami Vatanen
John Moore – Mirco Mueller
Will Butcher – Ben Lovejoy
Keith Kinkaid
New York Rangers
Chris Kreider – Mika Zibanjead – Vladislav Namestnikov
Kevin Hayes – Lias Andersson – Pavel Buchnevich
Jimmy Vesey – Filip Chytil – Ryan Spooner
Cody McLeod – Peter Holland – Paul Carey
Marc Staal – Neal Pionk
Rob O’Gara – Brady Skjei
John Gilmour – Ryan Sproul
Henrik Lundqvist
Who/What to Watch
Michael Grabner… Facing his former team for the first time, this could be the game for Grabner to break out and grab a couple of points. He has the speed to find himself on a couple of breakaways tonight, the issue will be getting it passed his former goalie. It will be interesting to see what he will get to do tonight on the second line.
Pavel Buchnevich… With all of the injuries to the Rangers, Buchnevich is tonight’s player to contain. He has 43 points on the season and his next assist will bring him to 30. This is a player that could potentially cause some trouble for the Devils if they let him heat up and get on the scoresheet. Expect him to be a factor if the Rangers are to put anything on the board.
Prediction
Tonight’s game is going to be an incredible one to watch. Lundqvist is going to have another great game against the Devils as usual but he is just going to face one too many shots and will be letting a couple go by. Keith Kinkaid on the other hand will not be too heavily tested and if he is he will be warmed to the task. I predict a 4-0 win for the Devils.
I am playing this game on statementgames.com. Here are my two LOCK statements for tonight:
New Jersey Devils WILL WIN by OVER 1.5 Goals
Keith Kinkaid OVER .900 SV%
When/Where to Watch
7:00 PM MSG+, MSG 2 (Rangers feed)