Saturday night, the New Jersey Devils look to snap out of their funk by defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Devils lost their most recent outing on Thursday, falling to the New York Rangers on the road.
The Devils are currently 25-15-4, which currently has them third in the Metropolitan division. The Lightning hold a record of 22-15-2, which has them third in the Atlantic.
Match Overview
The Devils just wrapped up their longest road trip of the season which will also most likely go down as their least successful road trip of the season. The team won only one game on the trip, going 1-4-1. The team had started to get hot at home prior to their West Coast swing, so hopefully returning to the Prudential Center will spark the falling squad.
Both squads are fairly healthy, with them both only dealing with one impactful injury. The Devils are currently dealing with the absence of Erik Haula to their forward group. Meanwhile, Tampa is managing their defense without breakout trade acquisition JJ Moser.
While these teams look fairly even on paper, Tampa has dominated the season series in the team’s first two meetings this season. They took the first game in Newark, 8-5, and the second in Tampa, 4-0.
Lines and Pairings
Devils
Forwards
Palat-Hughes-Bratt
Meier-Hischier-Noesen
Cotter-Dowling-Mercer
Tatar-Lazar-Bastian
Defense
Dillon-Hamilton
Hughes-Pesce
Siegenthaler-Kovacevic
Goalies
Markstrom
Allen
Lightning
Forwards
Guentzel-Point-Kucherov
Hagel-Cirelli-Geekie
Chaffee-Paul-Eyssimont
Girgensons-Glendening-Atkinson
Defense
Hedman-Raddysh
McDonagh-Cernak
Lilleberg-Perbix
Goalies
Vasilevskiy
Johansson
Keys to the Game
Lacking Depth
The Devils have had a major scoring issue as of late. On their road trip, they scored two goals or less in five-of-the-six games. The one where they scored more, they won. While Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt have been phenomenal this season at 50 and 49 points, respectively, the depth scoring needs to improve. We have seen little to no production in recent weeks from the likes of Stefan Noesen, Nico Hischier, Dawson Mercer, and especially the now injured Erik Haula.
Maybe returning home will spark the team, but if they’re going to win games they need to score more goals. When the team scores three-or-more goals this season they have a 25-3-2 record. When they score two or less that drops off to an abysmal 0-12-2.
Struggles Against Tampa
The Devils have struggled mightily against the Lightning in recent years. In the two team’s last 10 meetings, the Devils are 1-7-2. The one win came in Tampa during the team’s fantastic 2022-23 season. Their last home win against the Lightning came in January of 2020, on the day former general manager Ray Shero was fired and Tom Fitzgerald was named interim general manager. The goal scorers for New Jersey in that game were Andy Greene, Travis Zajac, and Miles Wood. Time flies doesn’t it.
Where to Watch
The Devils and Lightning are set for a 7:00 pm ET puck drop at the Prudential Center. The game can be seen on MSG SportsNet.