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.
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.