New Jersey Devils Projected to Return on Long Island

After Monday’s game was postponed, the New Jersey Devils finally hit the ice again to take on the New York Islanders. This will be the second time this season the Devils travel to the Islanders’ new home of UBS Arena. So far, New Jersey is 1-1-0 against New York this season.

The postponement of Monday’s game was necessitated by the amount of Devils players in COVID-19 protocols. The team returned to practice on Tuesday morning. Even with players returning, there were some concerning players left out.

Islanders’ Scoring Struggles

One interesting thought comes from a quick look at the Islanders’ team statistics. The Islanders are a team that do not score a lot of goals (30th in goals for per game). However, they don’t give up a lot either (top-10 in fewest goals against per game). Meanwhile, as of the late, the Devils have been scoring a lot of goals but giving up a lot as well. Anything can happen, but it seems like those Islander stats might work in the Devils favor.

Keys To Victory

Reinforcements:

The Devils played forward down against the Columbus Blue Jackets. That was even after calling up members of taxi squad. The good news for Thursday’s game is that if Tuesday’s practice is any indication, the Devils are getting some reinforcements back. Pavel Zacha and Yegor Sharangovich, two of the players in protocol since last week, were some of the first players on the ice.

Goaltending Questions:

Both MacKenzie Blackwood and Akira Schmid have entered protocol. That left newly acquired third goalie John Gillies as the only goalie available at Tuesday’s practice. As for Nico Daws, he’s on the injured reserved and unavailable. If Gillies gets the start, who backups is a mystery.

Long Layoff:

The Islanders haven’t played since January 1^st. This since their Canadian road trip had to be postponed. The Devils have also had a layoff, but not one as long as New York’s. To make things worse for the Islanders, their head coach, Barry Trotz was placed in protocol on Tuesday. Lane Lambert will be the Islanders bench boss for the next few games at least.

Players To Watch

Jimmy Vesey:

Vesey was the only Devil with multiple points in Saturday’s loss against the Columbus Blue Jackets with a goal and an assist. Even more interesting is that he places fifth amongst forwards with 18:55 of ice time. This included time on the power play and penalty kill. He’s not a top-six forward, but he can be used when needed and made the most of his increased opportunity in Saturday’s pieced together line up.

Yegor Sharangovich:

After missing three games, Sharangovich is expected to return to the lineup. Prior to entering NHL protocols, Sharangovich had five points in his last four games. Three of those points were goals. He’s finally starting to look like the Sharangovich we saw glimpses of last season.

Mathew Barzal:

No surprise we listed the Islanders’ top scorer here. Last time these two teams met, Barzal tallied a pair of assists for a multi-point game against New Jersey. Fellow Islander Oliver Wahlstrom also had a multi-point game against New Jersey that night. He is not projected to be in Thursday night’s lineup, for now.

Projected Lineups (as of Wednesday)

New York Islanders’

Forwards:

Anders Lee-Mathew Barzal-Josh Bailey

Keifer Bellows-Jean-Gariel Pageau-Anthony Beauvillier

Zach Parise-Anthony Czarnik-Ross Johnson

Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck

Defensemen:

Adam Pelech-Scott Mayfield

Zdeno Chara-Noah Dobson

Robin Salo-Andy Greene

Goaltenders:

Ilya Sorokin, Semyon Varlamov