The New Jersey Devils (29-19-6) continue a short, two-game road trip against the Pittsburgh Penguins (22-24-8) on Tuesday night. The Devils have lost two of their last three, including a 4-3 loss at Buffalo on Sunday. New Jersey currently sits third in the Metropolitan Division. These two longtime division rivals have met once this season when the Devils picked up a 3-0 home win.
Match Overview
There is finally some positive injury news for New Jersey. Erik Haula was a full participant in Monday’s practice and is expected to play against Pittsburgh. However, Nico Hischier and Jacob Markstrom remain out.
Despite being pulled after two periods on Sunday, Jake Allen is expected to start once again in Markstrom’s absence. For the year, Allen has a .903 save percentage and a 6.66 goals saved above expected (GSAx).
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh is currently without Evgeni Malkin who has missed the last three games after suffering a lower-body injury. The Penguins are also without defenseman Jack St. Ivany.
Offensively, Sidney Crosby is still leading the way for Pittsburgh. The 37-year-old future Hall of Famer is still among the best in the game, leading the Penguins with 57 points in 54 games, including goals in his last four contests. His linemates, Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust, are the only other Penguins north of 40 points.
On the blue line, Erik Karlsson leads the way with 35 points while he and Kris Letang lead Pittsburgh in ice time.
Pittsburgh’s depth took a bit of a hit after trading away defenseman Marcus Pettersson and forward Drew O’Connor to the Canucks in exchange for defenseman Vincent Desharnais and forward Danton Heinen.
In net, the Penguins recently waived Tristan Jarry, so Alex Nedeljkovic has taken up the starter’s mantle. He owns an .899 save percentage and a -2.93 GSAx in 25 games. Rookie Joel Blomqvist backs him up with an .899 save percentage and a -1.00 GSAx.
Projected Lines
New Jersey Devils
Forwards
Palat – Hughes – Bratt
Meier – Haula – Mercer
Cotter – Dowling – Noesen
Tatar – Lazar – Bastian
Defensemen
Siegenthaler – Hamilton
Hughes – Kovacevic
Dillon – Pesce
Goaltenders
Jake Allen
Nico Daws
Pittsburgh Penguins
Forwards
Rakell – Crosby – Rust
Bunting – Glass – Heinen
Beauvillier – Hayes – Tomasino
Imama – Lizotte – Acciari
Defensemen
Joseph – Letang
Grzelcyk – Karlsson
Graves – Desharnais
Goaltenders
Nedeljkovic
Blomqvist
What To Watch For
Hughes-Kovacevic Pairing
Since head coach Sheldon Keefe reshuffled the defensive pairings last week, the Devils have had some mixed results. In general, the pairing of Luke Hughes and Johnathan Kovacevic have struggled at five-on-five, posting just a 44.83 Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and a 34.17 expected goals-for percentage (xGF%). Both of these marks are the lowest among the three defensive parings by a wide margin.
As one would expect, the Devils have surrendered a 10-5 edge in high-danger chances with this pairing on the ice.
However, Hughes and Kovacevic were absolutely dominant on Sunday, despite the loss. Luke Hughes finished with an 83.35 xGF% and a 10-2 scoring chances advantage while Kovacevic posted a 69.60 xGF% and a 10-4 edge in scoring chances. These marks were the top two among Devils’ defensemen.
Hopefully, for the Devils, this pairing is finding some chemistry and Sunday is a sign of good things to come. However, it will still be interesting to see what version of the Hughes and Kovacevic pairing New Jersey gets in Pittsburgh.
Jack Hughes Line
The Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Ondrej Palat line had an uncharacteristically poor game on Sunday. The trio registered a disappointing 38.10 CF% and a 27.17 xGF%. Buffalo had a 7-4 edge in scoring chances and a 3-1 edge in high-danger chances.
Of course, this line has been solid all season, posting numbers above 50.00 in CF%, xGF%, scoring chances-for percentage, and high-danger chances-for percentage, so there is no reason to panic. With that being said, the Devils will need a much better effort from this line in Pittsburgh, especially with Nico Hischier out of the lineup.
Special Teams
It was a mixed performance on special teams for New Jersey in Sunday’s loss. The Devils were an excellent 4-for-4 on the penalty kill including a five-minute major where Jack Hughes netted a short-handed goal.
However, New Jersey was a miserable 0-for-5 on the power play. Perhaps more disappointingly, while down a goal late in the third, the Devils had two chances on the man advantage and could not even register one shot on goal.
New Jersey has been excellent on special teams over the course of the season, ranking third with a 27.9% power play and fourth with a 83.1% penalty kill. Pittsburgh’s power play sits sixth in the league (25.5%), while their penalty kill is 18th (78.8%).
In a road game without a key player in Hischier, the Devils’ power play will need to be better against a middle-of-the-pack penalty kill to potentially make the difference.
Where To Watch
Puck drop between the Devils and Penguins is set for 7:00 pm ET on MSGSN.
Note: All statistics via Natural Stat Trick.