The New Jersey Devils (23-11-3) travel to Michigan to take on the Detroit Red Wings (16-12-7) tonight. The Devils enter off the back of a 5-4 shootout loss to the Hurricanes while Detroit beat Ottawa on New Year’s Eve. This is the third and final meeting of the year between the Eastern Conference foes. The teams have split the previous two contests with the road team winning each matchup.
Match Overview
After picking up three of a possible four points against Pittsburgh and Carolina, the Devils remain in second place in the Metropolitan Division. After three goals in those games, Jack Hughes reached the 21-goal mark to lead the Devils. His 42 points also lead the team. Jesper Bratt had three points against the Canes, bringing him to 37 points in as many games.
In net, Vitek Vanecek figures to get the start with Mackenzie Blackwood backing him up. The former Capital has a .911 save percentage a 4.09 goals saved above expected in 24 games.
On the injury front, Nico Hischier and Tomas Tatar both missed practice for a maintenance day on Tuesday, per Amanda Stein. Both are still expected to play tonight. Ondrej Palat was once again a full participant in practice, per Stein, but there is still no official word on when he will return to the lineup.
As for Detroit, the Red Wings sit in fifth place in the Atlantic Division with 39 points, seven points out of the final Wild Card spot. Dylan Larkin leads the Wings in goals, assists, and points with 13, 19, and 32, respectively. Filip Hronek leads Detroit defensemen with 25 points, but has just two in his last 10 games. Meanwhile, forward Robby Fabbri is expected to make his season debut tomorrow, per Ansar Khan.
The Red Wings carry three goalies on their active roster, and journeyman Magnus Hellberg has taken the starter’s net of late after being claimed off waivers from Seattle in November. After entering in relief of Ville Husso last Wednesday in a four-goal comeback victory, Hellberg has earned consecutive starts.
In four games since joining Detroit, the 31-year-old has posted a .897 save percentage and a -0.51 GSAx. Husso, for his part, owns a .908 save percentage and a 3.09 GSAx in 24 contests.
Projected Lines
New Jersey Devils-
Forwards:
Tatar – Hischier – Bratt
Haula – Hughes – Mercer
Sharangovich – Boqvist – Zetterlund
Wood – McLeod – Thompson
Defensemen:
Siegenthaler – Hamilton
Smith – Severson
Graves – Bahl
Goaltenders:
Vanecek
Blackwood
Detroit Red Wings-
Forwards:
Rasmussen – Larkin – Perron
Berggren – Copp – Raymond
Soderblom – Veleno – Kubalik
Fabbri – Suter – Sundqvist
Defensemen:
Walman – Seider
Chiarot – Hronek
Maatta – Oesterle
Goaltenders:
Hellberg
Husso
Nedeljkovic
What to Watch For:
Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt
It’s no secret that Hughes and Bratt are the Devils’ best point producers, but the duo is playing especially well right now. Hughes has three goals in his last two contests and has points in 15 of his past 17. Meanwhile, Bratt hit a bit of a cold stretch in mid-December, but he has seven points in his last six games, including three on Sunday.
The possession metrics Hughes and Bratt have posted have been equally impressive. Among Devils with at least 10 games played, the pair are the team leaders in Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and top three in expected goals-for percentage (xGF%). Only Tomas Tatar is keeping Hughes in third there.
In fact, across the entire league, Jesper Bratt’s 63.41 CF% is the highest of any player with at least 300 minutes of five-on-five time on ice. Hughes is ninth at 60.71. For xGF%, Bratt ranks second at 65.53, behind only Patrice Bergon. Tatar is third with Hughes in fourth.
Simply put, Bratt and Hughes are among the league’s best, and if they remain hot, their production can right the ship for NJ after a difficult December.
Kevin Bahl
For Kevin Bahl, the underlying numbers have not been as kind. Since drawing back into the lineup on a fairly regular basis on December 13, Bahl has the worst CF% (51.06) and xGF% (47.84) among Devils’ defensemen. Earlier in the year, Bahl was leading all Devils skaters in a very limited sample size, but as injuries have forced him to play more, his results have dropped.
John Marino is still listed as week-to-week and has no specific timetable for his return, so Bahl will likely remain in the lineup for the time being ahead of Nikita Okhotiuk. However, Simon Nemec was reassigned to Utica in the AHL after Slovakia was eliminated from the World Juniors on Monday.
New Jersey can call up last year’s second-overall pick for up to nine games without burning a year off his entry-level contract, so there is a chance Nemec gets a short look in the coming weeks.
Devils’ Discipline
Despite picking up three of four points against division rivals last week, the Devils need to clean up their game, especially in terms of discipline. New Jersey had to kill off nine penalties in a win over Pittsburgh and four more against Carolina. While the Devils valiantly killed the first 11, Carolina scored a game-tying goal late in the third period on the powerplay. The Canes went on to win in a shootout.
Detroit is just 21st in the league with a 20.5% powerplay, but regardless, the Devils cannot continue to take penalties at this rate moving forward.
Where to Watch
The Devils and Red Wings can only be seen on TNT. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET from Little Caesars Arena.
Note: All statistics via Natural Stat Trick.