The All-Star break has concluded and the New Jersey Devils are back in action. Unfortunately, the Devils picked up right where they left off. The first game of the back-to-back, the Devils lost to the Ottawa Senators 4-1.

Tonight is the second game on their Canadien road trip and the Devils look to get back in the win column. After the NHL postponed the game originally, tonight is the night they finally play the dreadful Montreal Canadiens (8-29-7).

The Devils do remain without key players such as Dougie Hamilton (broken jaw), Jack Hughes (COVID-19), and starting goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood (heel).

Overview

Things have not been going right for the Devils. The bleeding seemed to never stop and they now sit dead last in the Metropolitan Division. Ever since the seven goal outburst against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Devils lost seven in a row. The team put forth strong showings against the Tampa Bay Lightning and in Carolina losing each game by one goal. They then gave up a third period lead to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a crushing loss.

The Montreal Canadiens sit not only dead last in the Atlantic Division, but also in the entire NHL standings. However, there last seven games went very similar to the Devils. Montreal had a strong win against the Dallas Stars and followed that up with back-to-back overtime losses to cup contending teams in the Colorado Avalanche and the Vegas Golden Knights. Montreal also lost the six remaining games before the All-Star break and are looking for any signs of positivity to end the second half of the season. Tonight will be the first game after the break for Montreal.

Projected Lineups

New Jersey Devils

Aside from the injuries mentioned above, the Devils did make a switch in net. The Devils called up goaltender Nico Daws from the Utica Comets and sent down goalie Akira Schmid. Turn to the New Jersey Devils Twitter page for an updated lineup.

Montreal Canadiens

Forwards

Artturi Lehkonen – Nick Suzuki – Tyler Toffoli

Paul Byron – Jake Evans – Josh Anderson

Mike Hoffman – Christian Dvorak – Brendan Gallagher

Joel Armia – Laurent Dauphin – Cole Caufield

Defensemen

Ben Chiarot – Alexander Romanov

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Kale Clague – Chris Wideman

Goalies

Sam Montembault

Cayden Primeau

Who/What To Watch For

• A big player to watch for is Jesper Bratt. Bratt is already off to a career year. He has already surpassed his point totals from last season with 42. His previous career-high was in 2017-2018 with 35. He has five points in his last five games and had 12 points total for the month of January. Jesper Bratt has been electrifying to watch and he is a key part of the Devils’ offense looking to take advantage of a dreadful Montreal defense. 

• The Montreal Canadiens are as advertised. The Canadiens are dead last in goals against per game with 3.92 and rank 31st in goals per game with 2.23. Montreal is also the fifth worst team in terms of Corsi-for % (CF%) at 46.75. And to make matters worse, they are third from the bottom in expected goals-for (xGF%) at 44.92. The Devils will look to capitalize on this. 

• Even though they are not a high scoring team, the player for Montreal the Devils should look out for is Nick Suzuki. He is young, but is also a threat when on the ice. He leads the team in points with 27. Head coach Dominque Ducharme plugs him in all situations as he leads the team in power play points with 10. Neutralizing his chances will be key to winning this game.

Puck drop is at the Bell Centre in Montreal at 7:00 PM and the game can be found on MSG.