Tonight, the New Jersey Devils look to get back on track against the Florida Panthers. The Devils have lost to two in a row while the Panthers have won their past nine.
The Devils are 21-15-3, good enough for fifth in the Metropolitan Division. The Panthers hold a record of 27-12-2, which has them at second in the Atlantic Division. They now sit one point behind the Boston Bruins for the division lead.
Lines and Pairings
Devils
Forwards
Haula-Hischier-Mercer
Toffoli-McLeod-Bratt
Tierney-Lazar-Holtz
Willlman-Bowers-Bastian
Defense
Smith-Nemec
Hughes-Marino
Bahl-Miller
Goalies
Daws
Vanecek
Panthers
Forwards
Rodrigues-Barkov-Reinhart
Verhaeghe-Bennett-Tkachuk
Luostarinen-Lundell-Lomberg
Gadjovich-Stenlund-Lockwood
Defense
Forsling-Ekblad
Mikkola-Montour
Ekman Larsson-Kulikov
Goalies
Bobrovsky
Stolarz
Keys to the Game
Injuries
If both of these teams were at full health this could be an interesting game. We saw a tight one earlier this year where the Devils nearly came back from down 4-0. In that game, the Panthers were missing a couple guys on their blue line. However, in this matchup it’s the Devils that have the misfortune of being down men.
You could ice a really solid starting five with injured Devils in Jack Hughes, Timo Meier, Ondrej Palat, Jonas Siegenthaler, and Dougie Hamilton. That’s even without considering a guy like Tomas Nosek who has missed a majority of the season. All these injuries have forced AHL forwards such as Max Willman and Shane Bowers into the lineup.
The Panthers meanwhile are missing only Nick Cousins, a bottom-six forward who is decent but doesn’t provide the impact of many of the injured Devils.
The Panther Wagon
The Florida Panthers are one of the hottest teams in the NHL. They have won nine in a row with multiple players being on heaters as well. Sam Reinhart has 12 goals on the team’s run and Matthew Tkachuk has 18 points. Both those marks lead the league in that span.
Where to Watch
Tonight’s game in Florida is slated for a 6:00 pm ET and can be seen on MSG SportsNet.