The Devils once again have another imperative game against the team directly below them in the standings. They successfully took advantage of Scott Darling last Thursday and hopefully will find the same success tonight. Nico Hischier is playing his best hockey and Hall could very well become a Hart finalist. The Devils need to win this game and in regulation. They are not in a position where they can just give up points to the competition.

Key to the Game

I’ll say goaltending until Schneider gets back. Kinkaid has been pretty bad but if he can just play at a league average level, the Devils will be in good shape. With their offense firing, they are very hard to stop.

The Hurricanes have bad goaltending so getting shots on net would be a great idea. They do have some skill themselves in the form of Jeff Skinner, Justin Faulk, and Sebastian Aho so it will be important for the defense to continue to limit high danger chances.

Players to Watch

Nico Hischier: Just when we all thought he was great, he got even better. He is playing with a level of confidence we haven’t seen out of him. He has been as impactful as Hall during this very important stretch so watch for him to continue to light it up.

Noah Hanifin: The smooth skating defenseman made his first all-star game this year and has finally broken out. He has 7 goals on the season, which is one off from matching his career total. Watch for him to make an impact tonight.

Prediction

The Devils and Hurricanes both desperately need to win this game. Hungry dogs run faster and these dogs are starving. It will be a high paced game so expect a lot of goals given who is in net. Going to give a crazy guess on this one.

6-4 Devils