Preview: New Jersey Devils take on Washington Capitals in Double-Header

The New Jersey Devils are slated to take on the Washington Capitals tonight. (Photo via Andrew Mills/NJ Advance Media via AP)

Match Overview

Tonight, the New Jersey Devils will face off against the Washington Capitals at 7:00 PM ET in Capital One arena. This is the first of four games the Devils have with the Capitals between today and next Sunday. This will finish out the eight game season series between the two. In their first four matchups, the Devils lost three in regulation, and one in overtime. The overtime loss was the most recent. It saw the Devils rallying back from a 4-1 deficit only to fall in overtime by the hand of Jakub Vrana.

In that game, the shot totals were fairly even, but the Capitals third line of Richard Panik, T.J. Oshie, and Daniel Sprong were able to do damage, combining for three points. Jakub Vrana also got the best of Scott Wedgewood on March 9th, scoring two goals on three shots. That being said, Wedgewood has been solid for the Devils this season, with a .918 save percentage and a 2.59 goals against average while facing 31.6 shots per game.

Note, it is yet to be determined who will be in between the pipes for New Jersey tonight. Make sure to check back to our social media pages throughout the day for updates.

Projected Lineups

Devils’ Lines:

Forwards

Kuokkanen – Zajac – Sharangovich

Bratt – Hughes – Palmieri

Maltsev – Zacha – Merkley

Johnsson – McLeod – Wood

Defenseman

Murray – Vatanen

Kulikov – Subban

Smith – Severson

Goalies

Mackenzie Blackwood

Scott Wedgewood

Capitals’ Lines

Forwards

Alex Ovechkin – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Tom Wilson

Jakub Vrana – Nicklas Backstrom – Connor Sheary

Ruchard Panik – T.J. Oshie – Daniel Sprong

Carl Hagelin – Nic Dowd – Garnet Hathaway

Defenseman

Brendon Dillon – John Carlson

Dmitri Orlov – Justin Schultz

Zdneo Chara – Nick Jensen

Goalies

Vite Vanecek

Ilya Samsonov

Keys to the Game

To win this game, the Devils will have to exploit what seems to be a relatively average Capitals’ defense and goaltending group. The Devils’ offense doesn’t match up well with the size of the Capitals’ offense, and the speed of New Jersey’s defense may not be able to compete with that of Washington’s top scorers.

With all of that on the table, it’s hard to see the Devils winning this game. Still, it is very difficult to beat a team five times in a row in the NHL. With the Devils winning four of their last five games, maybe they could string together another tonight against a terrific Washington Capitals team.

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.