The New Jersey Devils (20-14-2) return home after a 2-1-0 road trip to host the Chicago Blackhawks (11-25-2) tonight. The Devils are coming off a 6-3 win over the Capitals on Wednesday while Chicago lost 4-1 to the Rangers last night. This is the second and final meeting of the year between the two teams. New Jersey defeated Chicago 4-2 in November.
Match Overview
Morning skate has come and gone giving us some details into what to expected for the Devils tonight. Ondrej Palat missed Wednesday’s win after sustaining an injury in practice and is expected to remain out tonight. There has also been no new update on Timo Meier’s injury. Each do not have a timetable to return per Amanda Stein.
Nico Daws and Vitek Vanecek are likely to split this back-to-back with Chicago and Vancouver. Daws has a .906 save percentage and a -0.43 goals saved above expected (GSAx) in two games this year. Meanwhile, Vanecek has posted an .883 save percentage and a -13.17 GSAx this season. Vanecek was in the starter’s net at morning skate, so expected him to get the nod tonight.
Meanwhile, Chicago has been hampered by injuries this season. The Blackhawks will be without all of Taylor Hall, Tyler Johnson, Andreas Athanasiou, Anthony Beauvillier, Joey Anderson, Taylor Raddysh, and Seth Jones tonight.
Last year’s first overall pick, Connor Bedard, leads Chicago in goals, assists, and points with 15, 18, and 33, respectively. Philipp Kurashev is the only other Blackhawk north of 20 points with 22 while Jason Dickinson’s 12 goals makes him the only other Blackhawk with double-digit goals.
In net, the Blackhawks will likely turn to Arvid Soderblom tonight after Petr Mrazek played last night. The 24-year-old Swede has posted an .874 save percentage and a -9.36 GSAx this year.
Projected Lines
New Jersey Devils
Forwards
Toffoli – Hughes – Bratt
Haula – Hischier – Mercer
Lazar – McLeod – Holtz
Smith – Tierney – Bastian
Defensemen
Siegenthaler – Nemec
Hughes – Marino
Bahl – Miller
Goaltenders
Daws
Vanecek
Chicago Blackhawks
Forwards
Donato – Bedard – Kurashev
Foligno – Dickinson – Blackwell
Reichel – Entwistle – Guttman
Katchouk – Seney – Johnson
Defensemen
Tinordi – Murphy
Vlasic – Megna
Korchinski – Zaitsev
Goaltenders
Soderblom
Mrazek
What To Watch For
The Hischier Line
Injuries forced head coach Lindy Ruff into tweaking the forward lines on Wednesday night, and the Devils found a line that clicked instantly. On Wednesday, the trio of Nico Hischier, Dawson Mercer, and Erik Haula posted a 76.08 expected goals-for percentage (xGF%) at five-on-five during 15 minutes together.
The Hischier line also had an 11-5 edge in scoring chances at five-on-five and outscored Washington 2-0. Hischier scored twice, with one coming on the power play, while Mercer tallied a pair of goals as well.
After his two goal night, Mercer has now scored five goals in the last six games, scoring in four of those contests.
Michael McLeod
Michael McLeod also had a big night against Washington, continuing his strong run of form. McLeod also scored twice, including a nifty spinning backhander to cap off a do-it-all shift.
In the win, McLeod led all Devils’ skaters with an 82.57 xGF% at five-on-five while posting a 4-0 edge in high-danger chances.
Since December 2, McLeod leads all Devils’ skaters who have played all 14 contests with a 57.78 xGF% at five-on-five. McLeod has also posted a 40-28 edge in high-danger chances in that time behind only Curtis Lazar and Nathan Bastian.
Special Teams
After a rough stretch in December where the Devils power play went through a 2-for-26 drought, New Jersey has started heating up on the power play again.
After a Nico Hischier power play tally on Wednesday, the Devils have now scored four times on the power play over the last three games, scoring in all of the contests.
The power play should be able to stay hot tonight against the 27th ranked Chicago penalty kill that only kills 73.6% of power plays against.
On the negative side, the Devils’ penalty kill allowed a pair of goals on Wednesday, just as it did in Boston last Saturday. However, Chicago’s power play converts just 12.7% of the time, good for 31st in the league, so the Devils will have that advantage in that department as well.
Where To Watch
Tonight’s game will be on MSGSN at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Note: All statistics via Natural Stat Trick