Tonight, the New Jersey Devils look to get back on track against Edmonton Oilers. The Devils have lost to two in a row while the Oilers have dropped their past three.
The Devils are 16-12-2, good enough for sixth in the Metropolitan division. The Oilers hold a record of 13-15-1, which has them at sixth in the Pacific division.
Lines and Pairings
Devils
Forwards
Palat-Hischier-Bratt
Toffoli-Hughes-Haula
Meier-Mercer-Holtz
Lazar-McLeod-Bastian
Defense
Siegenthaler-Nemec
Bahl-Marino
Smith-Hughes
Goalies
Vanecek
Schmid
Oilers
Forwards
Nugent Hopkins-McDavid-Hyman
Kane-Draisaitl-Foegele
Janmark-McLeod-Gagne
Erne-Hamblin-Ryan
Defense
Nurse-Ceci
Ekholm-Bouchard
Kulak-Desharnais
Goalies
Skinner
Pickard
Keys to the Game
Get a Bounce
While on Sunday the Devils didn’t play well in the second and third period, Tuesday the Devils played great. They crushed the Flyers in many aspects, Philadelphia was just better at capitalizing.
Early on in the season the Devils couldn’t finish at five on five and were carried by their elite power play. As the season has gone on and the power play has cooled down the five-on-five scoring has picked up but oftentimes it hasn’t been enough.
It’s not like the Devils aren’t generating chances, they are fifth in the league at expected goals per 60 minutes (xG/60) at five on five. Their xG/60 at five on five is higher than their actual goals per 60 minutes at five on five which is not good.
If the team can tap into their great finishing ability we saw most of last year they’ll be just fine. The chances are there, just gotta capitalize.
Similar Tales
While many say the Devils have struggled early on, and they certainly haven’t lived up to expectations, the Oilers have been even worse. Edmonton has gone from Stanley Cup aspirations to hoping they squeak into the playoffs.
However, similarly to the Devils, they have gotten awful goaltending and bad finishing at points while putting up great possession numbers at five on five. Remember when I mentioned the Devils were fifth in the league at xG/60? Well Edmonton is first, 0.34 ahead of the team in second, which is a huge gap.
They’re defense hasn’t exactly been leaving their goaltenders out to dry either. The Oilers have the seventh-best expected goals against per 60 minutes (xGA/60) at 2.41. As the Devils saw when these two teams met just a couple weeks ago, this team is scary when they get goaltending.
Where To Watch
Tonight’s game is scheduled for a 7:30 pm ET at the Prudential Center. Tonight’s game is exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu.