Thanksgiving is officially done and hockey is back. The New Jersey Devils hit the road to take on the Buffalo Sabres in a Black Friday mid-afternoon tilt.
The Devils own the best record in the Eastern Conference (15-7-1) while the Sabres are at the bottom owning a 9-10-4 record.
Matchup Overview
After a tough end to the five game road trip for the Devils, they’ve enjoyed home cooking. The Devils are the best team on home ice this season, only losing one time at the Prudentail Center.
The Devils defeated the Detroit Red Wings on the backs of a strong performance by Jacob Markström. It’s been a tough go for Markström this season, as he has posted a save percentage above .900 twice this season. Sometimes you need your goaltender to steal you a win and that’s precisely what Markström did.
The Devils continued to flirt with overtime and once again Simon Nemec was the teams’ biggest hero. Nemec now has two game-winning overtime goals this season. He continues to be a strong presence for the Devils and being able to seize the opportunity he’s been given. The Devils still maintain first place in the Metropolitan Division as a result.
The Buffalo Sabres are the true definition of inconsistency. They lost the first three games of the year, only to rattle off four wins in five games. Then they lost eight of nine games, then to win four of their last six games. The Sabres are last in the Atlantic Division.
As a team, the Sabres have plenty of players that have made contributions in the lineup. They aren’t reliant on just one player, but Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch are the two that are the center of their offense. The Sabres are a weak team during five-on-five play, sitting 23rd in Corsi-for percentage (47.82) and are middle of the pack on expected goals-for percentage (xGF%). It’s a team that has many areas the Devils can exploit and goaltending that has not held up particularly well.
Projected Lineups
New Jersey Devils
Forwards
Meier-Hischier-Bratt
Palat-Mercer-Gritsyuk
Cotter-Glass-Brown
Lammikko-Glendenning-Noesen
Defense
Siegenthaler-Hamilton
Hughes-Nemec
Dillon-White
Goalies
Allen
Markstrom
Buffalo Sabres
Forwards
Benson-Thompson-Tuch
Zucker-McLeod-Quinn
Doan-Ostlund-Kozak
Dunne-Krebs-Malenstyn
Defense
Dahlin-Samuelsson
Byram-Timmins
Bryson-Power
Goalies
Luukkonen
Lyon
What to Watch For
Nico Hischier’s Continued Dominance
The captain appears to be back. After what was a really slow start to the month of November, Hischier has been a productive machine for the Devils. Leading by example, he’s helped soften the blow with the loss of Jack Hughes.
Hischier has had three straight multi-point games in a row, with two of them being three-point games. Hischier has four goals and eight points in his last three games and has climbed his way to the top of the Devils’ points leaderboard. He assisted on the Nemec overtime goal against the Blues and was right in the middle of the scrum against the Red Wings.
Stopping the Thompson, Tuch Duo
Thompson and Tuch come as a dynamic duo. They’ve shuffled who has played with the two, but regardless they get the job done and are effective. Thompson leads the Sabres in goals (12) and both are tied for the team lead in points (21). Also, the two have been dynamic together when on the same line.
In total, they’ve spent 116:13 of time on ice and in that span they have outscored opponents 10-6. They control the expected goals share 54.21% of the time and do a tremendous job of creating high-danger chances. It is a duo the Devils are going to want to shutdown, especially if the Sabres have a power play.
How To Watch
Friday’s puck drop is at 4:00 pm ET and can be found on MSG.