Tonight, the New Jersey Devils look to continue their success from Tuesday by beating the Winnipeg Jets tonight. The Devils are six points out of a wild card spot chasing the Detroit Red Wings. They also sit eight points out of third in the Metropolitan division with no games in hand on the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Devils are 33-32-4, good enough for sixth in the Metro. The Jets hold a record of 44-19-5, which has them first in the central division via tiebreaker.
Match Overview
These are two teams who have had practically opposite seasons. One has struggled due to a barrage of injuries and goaltending woes and the other has had Vezina caliber goaltending with little to no injury issues. The Devils are 3-7 in their last 10 games while the Jets are 7-3.
They say opposites attract and the Devils won their lone home game against the Jets last season so with both teams being fairly healthy this should be an interesting one.
The Devils won their last game 5-2 at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Meanwhile the Jets took down the Rangers in a 4-2 game at MSG.
The last time these two teams met was back in November when the Jets took care of the Devils with a final score of 6-3. Timo Meier, John Marino, and Dawson Mercer scored for the Devils while Nik Ehlers and Kyle Connor each scored a pair for the Jets.
Lines and Pairings
Devils
Forwards
Bratt-Hischier-Meier
Hughes-Haula-Holtz
Palat-Nosek-Mercer
Willman-Tierney-Lazar
Defense
Hughes-DeSimone
Bahl-Smith
Hatakka-Nemec
Goalies
Allen
Kahkonen
Jets
Forwards
Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo
Ehlers-Monahan-Toffoli
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Gustafsson-Namestnikov
Defense
Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt
Goalies
Hellebuyck
Brossoit
Keys to the Game
Connor “Vezinabuyck”
Remember when the Devils were going to trade for Hellebuyck last summer but then didn’t because the price was too high and then the Jets decided they wanted to keep him? Well now he’s on track to win the Vezina trophy for best goaltender this season.
Hellebuyck has already won the award once in 2019-20 and was a finalist for it in both 2022-23 and 2017-18, finishing third and second in voting respectively in those seasons.
The netminder signed a matching eight year nearly $60 million contract to Mark Scheifele to keep both around long term back in October. According to Moneypuck.com, Hellebuyck leads the NHL by a wide margin in goals saved above expected (GSAx) with a terrific 30.6 mark. If he is in net for the Jets it could be a long night for the Devils.
Luckily, the Devils are projected to face Laurent Brossoit tonight.
Timo’s March
While most of this season has been a complete disaster for Timo Meier, his past month or so has been terrific as you can see in the graphic above. In March, Meier has 10 goals and two assists for 12 points in 10 games.
This stretch has coincided with him playing on a better line with the likes of Nico Hischier or Jack Hughes. Unsurprisingly his five-on-five possession numbers have seen a drastic increase as well as his Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and expected goals percentage (xG%) are now at 51.22 and 49.83 percent respectively.
If Meier can continue his strong play to the end of the season it would be a good sign for the future and outlook of his long contract.
Where To Watch
The Devils and Jets matchup is slated for a 7:00 pm ET puck drop. The game can be seen on MSGSN.