Game Preview

The New Jersey Devils will play their third game on their Western Conference road trip tonight in Vancouver. The Devils are 1-1 so far, coming off of an emphatic 6-3 win in Edmonton, in which Cory Schneider had 36 saves. Vancouver played Wednesday as well, beating the Rangers 4-1 at home. Both teams are far out of playoff contention, so the matchup should make for an interesting dynamic.

What to Watch

The Devils will probably go with a similar look as the previous two games, giving the younger players more playing time to get a feel for the NHL pace. Against Edmonton, both Blake Pietila and John Quenneville played significant minutes, with Quenneville scoring, so they should get the same opportunity tonight. On the defensive side of things, Severson will probably lead in ice time again, but the Devils will likely try to work in Colton White into the top six a bit more. Both Connor Carrick and Steven Santini got heavy minutes in the Oilers game, so expect to see a lot of those two as well.

For the Canucks, be aware of Elias Pettersson, a speedy rookie who is nearly averaging a point per game. Pettersson has scored phenomenal goals all season, including on his very first shot in an NHL game…

Though Pettersson was elbowed by Kreider in Wednesday’s game, for which Kreider was fined $5K, he returned to the game and is expected to play tonight. Also watch for offensive weapons Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser, who are second and third on the team in points. On defense, Alex Edler leads the pack with 23 points and a +/- of 3 in 44 games played this season. Edler is also an unrestricted free agent this summer, so perhaps the Devils camp will be taking a closer look at this game than we think.

Projected Lines

New Jersey Devils

Coleman – Zajac – Noesen

Agostino – Rooney – Palmieri

Stafford – Pietila – Anderson

Tangradi – McLeod – Gabriel

Greene-Severson

Butcher-Carrick

White-Santini

Goalie: Blackwood

Vancouver Canucks

Roussel – Horvat – Pearson

Leivo – Pettersson – Boeser

Goldobin – Gaudette – Virtanen

Granlund – Beagle – Motte

Edler – Biega

Sautner – Tanev

Brisebois – Stecher

Goalie: Markstrom

When and Where to Watch

10PM EST; MSG+, SNP