The New Jersey Devils (3-1) return home to take on the Utah Hockey Club (3-0-0) in a Monday afternoon matinee matchup.
The Devils are coming off a bounce-back win against the Washington Capitals, while the Hockey Club emerged victorious in the Metropolitian area. Utah is looking for a clean sweep in the New York/New Jersey area, already defeating the New York Islander and Rangers.
Match Overview
Depth has been an enormous factor for the Devils during the 2024-25 season to start. Paul Cotter leads the team in goals (four) and tied for first in points (five). Stefan Noesen is tied with him in points and has four assists. Erik Haula also has four assists, so the contributions are coming from their depth, which is great to see.
The Devils still remain without defenseman Brett Pesce and Luke Hughes, but both are continuing to skate.
Utah, in their inaugural season, has started 3-0-0 and has done it in thrilling fashion. They won their home opener and have now won back-to-back games in overtime, defeating both the New York Islanders and Rangers.
Both Dylan Guenther and Clayton Keller continue to pave the way for Utah, making them a fun and exciting team to watch for this season. Guenther leads the team in goals (five) and Keller is tied for the league lead in points (six). It’s exciting times for the Hockey Club.
Projected Lineup
New Jersey Devils
Forwards
Meier-Hughes-Bratt
Tatar-Hischier-Mercer
Cotter-Haula-Noesen
Palat-Lazar-Bastian
Defense
Dillon-Hamilton
Siegenthaler-Kovacevic
Casey-Nemec
Goalies
Markstrom
Allen
Utah Hockey Club
Forwards
Keller-Hayton-Schmaltz
McBain-Cooley-Guenther
Crouse-Kerfoot-Doan
Maccelli-Stenlund-Carcone
Defense
Sergachev-Durzi
Valimaki-Kesselring
Kolyachanok-Cole
Goalies
Ingram
Vejmelka
What to Watch For
Jack Hughes
With the depth paving the way for the Devils to begin the 2024-25 season, it’s time for the star players to shift gears. One of them is none other than Jack Hughes. To start the season, Hughes only has two points, with both being assists. Hughes got off to a rocking start during the 2023-24 season, with 18 points in the month of October.
Hughes is still impacting things offensively during five on five play. While the Corsi-for percentage (CF%) is only 46.97, the Devils are still getting their looks offensively. With Hughes on the ice, they have a slight edge in scoring chances and are controlling the expected goals share 2.44-2.11.
With Utah giving up the sixth-most expected goals against, the fourth-most shot attempts against, and the seventh-most shots on goal against it presents a good opportunity for Hughes to produce more.
Special Teams Could Be a Factor
Special teams for the Devils has been good, particularly the penalty kill. The Devils rank first on the penalty kill, with a perfect 100% success rate. They’ll need that penalty kill to remain steady, as Utah has a 42.9% success rate on the power play this season (first in the league). However, the Devils’ power play is looking to be more dominant and become more of a weapon.
To start the season, the Devils are just 2-for-15 with the man advantage, good for a 13.3% success rate. They rank 25th in the league and a step down from what the unit was to start the year last year. Utah’s penalty kill is middle of the pack at 13th, so if the Devils can right the ship and capitalize that’ll be huge.
This is an Utah club that has allowed four or more goals the last two games, so having the Devils offense find ways to deliver is huge in this tilt.
Where to Watch?
Today’s puck drop is at 1:00 pm ET and can be found on MSG.