The New Jersey Devils (31-29-4) head across the Hudson to take on the New York Rangers (41-18-4) tonight. The Devils fell 4-2 to the Hurricanes on Saturday while the Rangers shut out the Blues last time out. This is the third meeting of the season between the rivals with New York winning the first two contests, both at the Prudential Center.
Match Overview
Tonight will likely mark the Devils’ debut of goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen, who New Jersey acquired from San Jose for Vitek Vanecek and a seventh round draft pick prior to Friday’s trade deadline. As a result, Akira Schmid was sent down to Utica after Saturday’s game.
New Jersey also acquired netminder Jake Allen from Montreal who is with the team, but awaiting a visa before he can play in live NHL action, per Amanda Stein.
On the season, Kahkonen has posted a .895 save percentage and a -8.39 goals saved above expected while Allen owns a .892 save percentage and -2.36 goals saved above average.
The Devils also recalled forward Nolan Foote from a conditioning stint in the AHL before Sunday’s practice. Foote could rejoin the lineup tonight. In other practice news, both Timo Meier and Jack Hughes took maintenance days on Sunday, but both are expected to play tonight.
As for New York, Saturday marked the Rangers’ debut for forwards Jack Roslovic and Alexander Wennberg. Both were trade deadline acquisitions and both will be in the lineup tonight.
The Rangers are led by Artemi Panarin’s 35 goals and 87 points. Chris Kreider is the only other Ranger to reach the 30-goal mark so far while Adam Fox leads the blue liners with 51 points.
In net, Igor Shesterkin owns a .912 save percentage and an 11.61 goals saved above expected while veteran Jonathan Quick has registered a .916 save percentage and a 11.74 goals saved above expected this season.
Projected Lines
New Jersey Devils
Forwards
Per Amanda Stein, the Devils were mixing up their forward lines throughout Sunday’s practice, so check our social pages closer to puck drop for updated lines.
Defensemen
Siegenthaler – Marino
Bahl – Smith
Hughes – Nemec
Goaltenders
Kahkonen
Daws
New York Rangers
Forwards
Kreider – Zibanejad – Roslovic
Panarin – Trocheck – Lafreniere
Cuylle – Wennberg – Kakko
Vesey – Goodrow – Rempe
Defensemen
Lindgren – Fox
Miller – Schneider
Jones – Gustafsson
Goaltenders
Shesterkin
Quick
What To Watch For
Timo Meier
After a slow start to the year, Timo Meier has really turned it on of late. His seven goals in March lead the league and he has scored in all five games in the month, including his first hat trick as a Devil on Thursday. The 27-year-old winger is up to 18 goals in 51 games, good for a 29 goal pace over 82 games.
In that same time frame, Meier has posted a tremendous 61.22 Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and a 64.39 expected goals-for percentage (xGF%) at five-on-five. Meier has also managed a 34-25 edge in scoring chances and a superb 21-10 edge in high-danger chances.
It is encouraging for the Devils to see Meier heat up after an injury-riddled start to the year. With Meier signed for seven more seasons beyond this one, New Jersey will hope he can continue this goal scoring form into next year, as well as tonight.
Kaapo Kahkonen
New Jersey’s newest goaltender does not have the highest bar set for him in terms of performance. Already, Kahkonen’s .895 save percentage from San Jose is as high as Akira Schmid’s this season, and higher than both Nico Daws’ and Vitek Vanecek’s.
On top of that, in both games against New York this season, the Devils allowed more goals than expected. In February, Nico Daws allowed a horrific 3.04 goals above expected while Vanecek allowed 1.04 above expected in his start back in November. If Kahkonen can just finish at a net-zero mark tonight, it will already be an upgrade for the Devils in the Hudson River Rivalry.
Special Teams
Back in the Ranger’s 5-1 win in February, special teams told the story of the game. In the first period, the Devils failed to score on a five-minute major after Matt Rempe received a game misconduct for a hit on Nathan Bastian. Later in the period, New York opened the scoring just five seconds into a power play of their own.
The Devils’ power play has been better of late, going 6-for-23 since that defeat. However, New Jersey generated a horrendous 0.00 expected goals and zero high-danger chances in over six minutes of power play time against Carolina on Saturday. That level of futility is unacceptable, regardless of the opponent.
On the other side of the ice, New Jersey will also need to stay out of the box against the league’s fifth-best power play.
Where To Watch
Tonight’s game will be aired on MSGSN with puck drop set for 7:00 pm ET at Madison Square Garden.
Note: All statistics via Natural Stat Trick