Devils Welcome In Lowly Sharks To Newark

Devils vs. Sharks. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

The New Jersey Devils (11-9-1) enter the second game of a back-to-back situation as they return to the Prudential Center. New Jersey is coming off of a big win against the Philadelphia Flyers and pushed their win streak to three. The Hughes brothers connected for the beautiful overtime game winner and the Devils continued their momentum.

Coming to town Friday night is the lowly San Jose Sharks. The playing field is leveled out, as they are also in a back-to-back scenario. Also, coming to town is former goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood – who started last night – and forward Fabian Zetterlund. This presents another great opportunity for the Devils to find the win column once again. 

Projected Lineup

San Jose Sharks 

Forwards 

Zetterlund-Granlund-Duclair

Eklund-Kunin-Hoffman

Macdonald-Sturm-Lebanc

Smith-Carpenter-Bailey

Defense

Ferraro-Emberson

Addison-Benning

Okhotyuk-Burroughs

Goalie

Blackwood

Kahkonen

New Jersey Devils

Forwards 

Toffoli-Hughes-Mercer

Palat-Hischier-Bratt

Holtz-McLeod-Lazar

Laberge-Tierney-Bastian

Defense

Siegenthaler-Hughes

Bahl-Marino

Smith-Miller

Goalies

Schmid

Vanecek

What to Watch For

Push the Pace Offensively 

Tonight’s matchup presents a great opportunity for the Devils’ offense. Their finishing ability is not the best, despite being second in Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and seventh in expected goals percentage (xG%). However, tonight the Devils will face a Sharks team that has a porous defense.

San Jose has been poor and has allowed their opponents to feast on them. They’ve allowed the second-most goals at five on five (60) and the most goals in all situations. There is a good reason for this.

The Sharks are chasing the game more often than not and have allowed the most shot attempts on net. Also, San Jose has allowed the second most shots on goal at five on five, which is great for a Devils team averaging 32.38 shots per game. 

Mackenzie Blackwood. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

Blackwood Returns to New Jersey

The Devils were not able to give longtime Devil Damon Severson a tribute video but another one is on deck. Former goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood returns to Prudential Center for the first time since being let go from the team. At one point he was labeled the future of the Devils’ crease but things changed. However, a touching tribute is likely to come as he gets recognized for his time in Jersey. 

His time was not always cheery and often times he was struggling. However, Blackwood has been strong in goal this season despite the team being poor in front of him. He has a lowly 3.56 goals against average (GAA) and a .903 save percentage (sv%), however, his 1.8 goals saved above expected (GSAx) is a solid number. Ironically, this would be the best among any Devils goaltender this season. 

With Blackwood playing last night, it may very well be Kaapo Kähkönen in net for San Jose. He allowed 0.77 goals above expected this season.

Where to Watch

Tonight’s puck drop is at 7:00 pm ET and can be found on MSG. 

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