Match Overview
Tonight the New Jersey Devils face off against the New York Islanders for the fourth of eight games this season. This is also the first of three games in a row against their Long Island rivals. The Islanders won the first and most recent meetings between the teams 4-1 and 2-1. The Devils took the second matchup, a 2-0 win and 28-save Scott Wedgewood shutout.
The Islanders have been red hot lately, owning a record in their last 10 of 8-1-1 and a total record of 16-6-4. The Devils however, have been the opposite, with a record of 2-7-1 in their last 10 and a total record of 8-11-3. New Jersey lost their last game in overtime, 5-4 in Washington, failing to complete the comeback after being down 4-1 to start the third period. The Islanders previous game also went into overtime, but they survived and eventually triumphed over Boston 2-1 in the shootout.
Projected Devils’ Lines
Forwards:
Zacha – Hughes – Palmieri
Wood – Maltsev – Bratt
Sharangovich – Zajac – Kuokkanen
Johnsson – McLeod – Bastian
Defense:
Smith – Severson
Kulikov – Subban
Murray – Vatanen
Goalies:
Blackwood
Wedgewood
Projected Islanders’ Lines
Forwards:
Lee – Barzal – Eberle
Beauvillier – Nelson – Bailey
Dal Colle – Pageau – Whalstrom
Clutterbuck – Cizikas – Martin
Defense:
Pelech – Pulock
Leddy – Mayfield
Greene – Dobson
Goalies:
Varlamov
Sorokin
What/Who to Watch
- The Islanders have one of the best 4th lines in the league in Cal Clutterbuck, Casey Cizikas and Matt Martin. The trio have combined this season for 10 goals, 205 hits, and 32 blocked shots in 175 minutes of ice time. While their possession metrics as a line aren’t great, they have only let up six goals while they’re all on the ice together all season. As well as this, when Clutterbuck and Cizikas are on the ice and Martin isn’t, they have yet to let up a single goal.
- Scott Wedgewood is one of the strangest goaltending anomalies out there. So far this season he has a .910 save percentage (Sv%) in seven games. However, his individual SV%’s in those games are very strange. In timeline order: .886, 1.000, .867, .824, .903, 1.000, .833. However, Mackenzie Blackwood will most likely get the start tonight as he looks to get his mojo back.
- As bad as the Devils defense seems some games, they seem to have found a pair that works. However, the two players might surprise you. P.K. Subban and Dimitry Kulikov consistently create chances in the offensive zone and have very good possession metrics five-on-five. They have a 60.27% Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and a 63% expected goals percentage (xGF%). On top of that they have a 67.74% high danger Corsi for percentage (HDCF%).