After a blowout loss Friday night after the NHL trade deadline, the New Jersey Devils will look to rebound against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center Sunday afternoon.
New Jersey (33-25-6) still reside in third in the Metropolitan Division with a four point buffer over both Columbus and New York (Rangers). Meanwhile, their divisional rivals, the Flyers, sit with a 27-29-8 record, seventh in the Metropolitan.
Match Overview
The Devils are riding a three-game losing streak entering Sunday afternoon’s game. The losses overlap with a road trip where New Jersey went 2-3, followed by a 6-1 thrashing courtesy of the league’s-best Winnipeg Jets on Friday. Over this three-game skid, the Devils are being outscored 12-4. They’ll need to right the ship soon as the playoff race continues to compress.
New Jersey did see one of their three most notable trade deadline acquisitions play against Winnipeg. Brian Dumoulin skating alongside Johnathan Kovacevic and played 16:17 of ice time. Based off practice on Saturday, it appears both Cody Glass and Daniel Sprong will debut against Philadelphia. Glass skated alongside Sprong and Erik Haula on the team’s third line.
With those two in, it appears as if Paul Cotter is one of the odd men out. Cotter had a terrific start to the season, but only has three points over his last 20 games. In net, one would assume Jacob Markstrom would get another start. He sits with a 9.59 goals saved above expected and 0.906 save percentage on the season.
As for the Flyers, Philadelphia also finds themselves on a three game losing streak. Philadelphia lost their most recent game, just last night, 4-1 to the Kraken on home ice. Prior to that, they drop games to Winnipeg and Calgary. In all, the Flyers have gotten outscored 14-5 over their three game skid. To make matters worse, all three of those games have been on home ice.
Philadelphia is led by Travis Konecny, who has 63 points. The next highest point total on the team is rookie Matvei Michkov at 46. After that, only Owen Tippett and Sean Couturier have broken the 30-point mark. In net, since Samuel Ersson got the start in the loss on Saturday afternoon to Seattle, it appears likely Ivan Fedotov would get the start against New Jersey on Sunday. Fedotov owns a -5.98 goals saved above expected and a 0.888 save percentage on the year.
Projected Lines
Devils
Forwards
Meier – Hischier – Noesen
Palat – Mercer – Bratt
Haula – Glass – Sprong
Tatar – Lazar – Bastian
Defense
Hughes – Pesce
Dumoulin – Kovacevic
Dillon – Cholowski
Goalies
Markstrom
Allen
Flyers
Forwards
Foerster – Cates – Brink
Tippett – Couturier – Michkov
Pelletier – Peopling – Konecny
Deslauries – Abols – Lycksell
Defense
York – Sanheim
Seeler – Drysdale
Zamula – Ristolainen
Goalies
Fedotov
Ersson
Games Notes
Battle In Net
One area the Devils should have a distinct advantage over their divisional rivals is in net. Combined, the Devils’ netminders have stopped 25.28 goals above expected while the Flyers’ duo have allowed 17.42 more goals than expected. Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen far exceed what Samuel Ersson and Ivan Fedotov have given Philadelphia.
As mentioned above, the Devils are likely to face the 28-year-old Fedotov (-5.98 goals save above expected, 0.888 save percentage). However, if they do face Ersson, who would be starting on back-to-back nights, he owns a 0.889 save percentage and a -11.44 goals saved above expected.
Penalty Kill
Overall, the Devils’ penalty kill has been superb this season. On the year, it sits with a 82.4% efficiency rate which is fourth-best in the league. However, over the last seven games, New Jersey has given up six power play goals; they have given up one in five of these last seven contests. The bigger issue is that New Jersey has been taken way too many penalties, as the team is averaging the third-most penalty minutes per game over the last seven games.
Luckily, the Flyers don’t exactly draw penalties at a high rate (20th-highest penalty minutes per game) and they have one of the worst power play units in the league. The Flyers’ power-play efficiency sits at 28th-best. The 6.14 expected goals per 60 minutes they have generated on the power play is dead-last.
The Devils’ penalty kill which has struggled recently in terms of volume they have allowed should have a much easier assignment Sunday afternoon.
Where to Watch
Sunday afternoon’s game is set for a 1:00 pm ET puck drop at Wells Fargo Center. The game is exclusively on TNT and Tru TV.