The New Jersey Devils will look to bounce back after an 8-4 thrashing in Colorado on Tuesday night that resulted in the end of their eight game winning streak. Their trip to the western part of the United States continues as they are set to take on the San Jose Sharks Thursday night.
New Jersey enters the game with an 8-2-0 record while San Jose sits at 2-6-2. This is already the teams’ second and final meeting of the season. The Devils are tied with Pittsburgh and Montreal for the most points in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, San Jose has the second-fewest points in the league.
Matchup Overview
Head coach Sheldon Keefe chose to deploy his recently rehabilitated goaltender, Jacob Markström, on Tuesday night and it backfired, even though the defense in front of him was quite poor. This early into the season the rational behind deploying Markström is there, but letting him make a return in a softer spot against the San Jose Sharks could have worked as well. It remains to be seen who will man the cage for the Devils Thursday night in San Jose. Jake Allen has been terrific, posting a .921 save percentage and a 5.74 goals saved above average. Meanwhile, Markström, sits at a .836 save percentage and a -5.11 goals saved above expected early on.
The Devils’ offense is really rolling right now. They set a franchise record by scoring at least four goals in each of their first 10 games. The team’s 3.90 goals per game average is comfortably the top mark in the league. Shouldering that load is Jack Hughes, whose nine goals is tied for the league-lead. Jesper Bratt (12 points) and Nico Hischier (10 points) are also currently point-per-game players.
New Jersey will be facing off against a still rebuilding Sharks team. San Jose started out by losing their first six games. Since then, they have two 6-5 overtime wins and two losses, one of which came in New Jersey last Friday. San Jose’s last game Tuesday against Los Angeles was a very hard fought 4-3 loss as they outshot the Kings 40-14 and held the expected goal share 5.06-1.54.
Overall, the Sharks are a huge mess in their own end. The 4.60 goals per game they are allowing is by far the worst mark in the league. Their penalty kill is the fifth-worst unit in the league, clicking at only a 66.7% success rate. Both of their goalies, Alex Nedelijkovic and Yaroslav Askarov, have also struggled mightily. Nedelijkovic owns a .877 save percentage and a -4.59 goals saved above average while Askarov has a .847 save percentage and a -3.09 goals saved above average.
Projected Lineups
New Jersey Devils
Check back closer to puck drop for the full projected lineup.
San Jose Sharks
Forwards
Tyler Toffoli – Macklin Celebrini – Will Smith
William Eklund – Alexander Wennberg – Philipp Kurashev
Collin Graf – Michael Misa – Jeff Skinner
Barclay Goodrow – Ty Dellandrea – Ryan Reaves
Defensemen
Dmitry Orlov – Timothy Liljegren
Mario Ferraro – John Klingberg
Sam Dickinson – Vincent Desharnais
Goalies
Alex Nedeljkovic
Yaroslav Askarov
What To Watch For
League’s Best Versus League’s Worst
As mentioned above this game features the league’s best scoring offense and league’s worst defense which means something has to give. San Jose has allowed at least three goals in every game this season and has allowed five or more in half of their games played.
At five-on-five the Sharks’ defense is allowing the eighth-highest expected goals against per 60 minutes (xGA/60) and the third-highest xGA/60 while on the penalty kill. Couple this with the third-worst save percentage in the league (.858), and two goalies that have combined for a -7.68 goals saved above expected, you’re going to give up a ton of goals.
This should be another opportunity for the lethal Devils offense to excel. New Jersey will look to extend their franchise-breaking streak of scoring four or more goals to 11 straight games to begin the season.
Defensive Woes?
With the recent subtraction of Brett Pesce due to injury (most recent report cite he will miss at least a month), New Jersey is now down two of their best defensive defensemen in Johnathan Kovacevic and the aforementioned Pesce. This has resulted in the entrance of Seamus Casey and the call-up of Dennis Cholowski. Having to play developing players such as Simon Nemec and Casey on a nightly basis may compromise the team’s ability to be as strong as they need to be in front of whoever is in net.
Despite the strong start as a team, and sparkling assist total, Nemec owns a 41.67 expected goals-for percentage which is second-worst on the team. Meanwhile, last season across his 14 game run Casey owned a 37.67 expected goals-for percentage as he struggled mightily in his own end. Needing to rely on both of these defenseman more may put the Devils in a pickle.
Luckily, Jake Allen has been superb this season and New Jersey have been able to outscore any type of issues the team has had defensively. However, the moment some regression hits the team’s finishing rate or if Allen/Markström start to struggle those defensive issues may make themselves more clear.
Where To Watch
Thursday night’s game has a 10:00 pm ET puck drop and can be seen on MSG SportsNet.