Introduction
The New Jersey Devils (3-2-1) host the Buffalo Sabres (3-4-0) on Friday night. The Devils are coming off a 6-4 loss in a disappointing effort against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Sabres last played on Tuesday in a 6-4 win over the Senators. This is the first meeting of the year between the two teams.
Match Overview
Per Amanda Stein, all healthy Devils’ skaters were at morning skate today. Tomas Nosek remains on injured reserve while Colin Miller has not returned to skating.
Vitek Vanecek was in the starters net at morning skater per Stein, and he should be in net tonight for New Jersey. The Czech netminder played five of the six periods during Tuesday and Wednesday’s back-to-back after Akira Schmid struggled against Washington. For the season, Vanecek has a .900 save percentage and has allowed 1.20 goals above expected.
Meanwhile, Buffalo has been led by Rasmus Dahlin’s seven points so far. Jeff Skinner, Casey Mittelstadt, and Dylan Cozens all have six points, while Skinner leads the team with five goals.
Per Heather Engel, goaltender Devon Levi was the only absence from Thursday’s practice for the Sabres. The young netminder has struggled in four games this year, posting a .892 save percentage and has saved 0.74 goals below expected.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and former Devil Eric Comrie have shared the net in his absence. Luukkonen has a .895 save percentage and has saved 0.04 goals below expected in one game while Comrie has a .923 save percentage and has stopped 2.50 goals above expected in two contests. Comrie is expected to get the nod tonight.
Projected Lines
Buffalo Sabres –
Forwards
Greenway – Thompson – Cozens
Skinner – Mittelstadt – Tuch
Jost – Krebs – Peterka
Olofsson – Girgensons – Okposo
Defensemen
Dahlin – Samuelsson
Power – Jokiharju
Clifton – Johnson
Goaltenders
Comrie
Luukkonen
New Jersey Devils –
Forwards
Toffoli – Hughes – Meier
Palat – Hischier – Bratt
Haula – Mercer – Lazar
Holtz – McLeod – Bastian
Defensemen
Siegenthaler – Hamilton
Bahl – Marino
Hughes – Smith
Goaltenders
Vanecek
Schmid
What To Watch For
The Top Line
The main attraction for New Jersey, and maybe the entire league, has been Jack Hughes. The 22-year-old forward is off to a scorching start with a league-leading 17 points through six games, which is the best start to a season since Mario Lemieux in 1995-1996.
However, he is not the only member of his line playing well. Tyler Toffoli leads New Jersey with six goals, five of which came in the last two contests. Meanwhile, Timo Meier got his first of the year on Wednesday and was involved in several of Toffoli’s goals.
The trio has dominated in their time together at five-on-five. They have posted a 67.86 Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and a 73.68 expected goals-for percentage (xGF%) in just over 38 minutes together. High-danger chances are 14-5 in favor of New Jersey with this line on the ice.
Luke Hughes
Just over six months ago, the youngest Hughes brother made his NHL debut against these very same Buffalo Sabres. Now with eight regular season and three playoff games under his belt, Luke Hughes may be coming off the best game of his NHL career.
Wednesday night against Washington, Hughes posted a team-leading 70.00 CF% and 79.90 xGF% at five-on-five. He also led the Devils with 21:12 of ice time at even strength. With Luke on the ice, the Devils had a 24-8 edge in scoring chances with a 10-3 edge in high-danger chances.
With the Devils down early to Capitals, it appeared that Hughes ended up playing with Dougie Hamilton later on in the contest, and going off Hughes’ exceptional on-ice metrics, it worked well. While Hughes was back with Brendan Smith at morning skate, a Hamilton-Hughes pairing is something to keep an eye on when the Devils are chasing a game.
Special Teams
With both Hughes brothers clicking, it makes sense that the Devils power play has been dynamite to start the year. New Jersey leads the league with a 42.3% success rate with the man advantage and is the only team north of 40%.
New Jersey has connected multiple times on the power play in four of their six games, and Wednesday was the first time the Devils failed to convert, going zero-for-one. Look for the Devils to get back on track tonight, even against a Buffalo penalty kill sitting at 88.9%, good for seventh in the league.
Where To Watch
Tonight’s game is on MSGSN with faceoff from the Prudential Center set for 7:00 pm ET.
Note: All statistics via Natural Stat Trick.