Overview
After a tough 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday, the New Jersey Devils (27-22-4) will face their division rival Philadelphia Flyers (29-19-7) in the first game of the Stadium Series at MetLife Stadium. This is the Devils’ second-ever outdoor game after losing their 2014 Stadium Series game to the New York Rangers 7-3. They will look for redemption against the Flyers, who hold the final playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division.
New Jersey stumbles into tonight’s game with a 4-5-1 record in their last ten games, but reasons for the losses vary. At the start of this stretch, poor goaltending plagued the Devils as it has all season long. Recently, however, they’ve gotten stellar goaltending from Nico Daws, but the team struggled to finish their chances. In their last three games, they’ve beaten Seattle and Nashville, an encouraging sign for a bubble playoff team, but fell to the Kings in a poor offensive effort. Tonight, the Devils will have to put it all together in a must-win match carrying high playoff implications.
The Devils are in fourth place in the Metropolitan Division with 58 points, seven behind the third-place Flyers with 65.
Lines and Pairings
Devils-
Forwards
Palat-Hischier-Bratt
Hughes-Haula-Toffoli
Meier-Lazar-Mercer
Holtz-Nosek-Bastian
Defense
Bahl-Nemec
Hughes-Marino
Smith-Miller
Goalies
Daws
Schmid
Flyers-
Forwards
Tippett-Couturier-Koneckny
Farabee-Frost-Atkinson
Hathaway-Poehling-Cates
Deslauriers-Laughton-Zamula
Defense
York-Sanheim
Staal-Drysdale
Seeler-Walker
Goalies
Ersson
Petersen
Keys to the Game
Daws is Red-Hot
Amid all the uncertainty in the Devils’ goaltending room with Vitek Vanecek sick or hurt and Akira Schmid going ice cold in the AHL, Nico Daws has shone brightly these past three games. In the games against the Kraken, Predators, and Kings, Daws has a .943 SV% and 4.39 goals saved above expected (GSAx). Even more impressive, he notched a .938 SV% against Nashville, his second game in two nights.
In the words of Jack Hughes, “When you get the saves, it’s much easier to win.” The Devils have backed that up with a 2-1-0 record since Daws gained head coach Lindy Ruff’s confidence. The key tonight will be whether Daws will get the run support he needs, to put it in baseball terms.
A Game Both Teams Have to Win
It’s not an exaggeration to say that tonight is the most important game of the season so far for both teams. The Flyers and Devils are third and fourth, respectively, in the Metropolitan Division, separated by only seven points. The gap is inflated because the Flyers have played two more games than the Devils.
With a win tonight, the Flyers could start to pull away from New Jersey and doom them to a tough wild-card battle. If the Devils win, they would be within striking range of the final divisional playoff berth in the Metro. Both teams would prefer to stay out of the wild card fight, where they would have to fight Toronto, Detroit, and Tampa.
Where to Watch
Tonight’s game can be seen on ABC at 8:00 pm ET.