The New Jersey Devils had an extremely underwhelming beginning to the team’s west coast trip. Tonight, they will try to rebound against a rebuilding Los Angeles Kings team. In doing so, New Jersey project to be without arguably their best player. However, they are expecting to get one very large reinforcement. What should we expect tonight?
Overviews
The New Jersey Devils dropped their second consecutive game on Tuesday night by the score of 4-0 against the Anaheim Ducks. In doing so, they lost top defenseman Dougie Hamilton to a lower-body injury. He is not projected to play tonight. Alexander Holtz, on the other hand, was called up yesterday after scoring five goals in five goals in four AHL games, should make his NHL debut. As for the goalie, Jonathan Bernier started and lost the game against Anaheim. Does this mean we finally see Mackenzie Blackwood’s 2021 season debut? We shall see.
The Los Angeles Kings have started the season two totally different ways. They began with a 1-5-1 record that included six straight losses. Since then, they have won three straight improving their record to 4-5-1. The Kings are lead by ageless veteran Anze Kopitar, who has 13 points in the team’s first 10 games. In net will either be Calvin Petersen (.895 save percentage in four starts) or the veteran Jonathan Quick (.915 save percentage in six starts).
Tonight’s game will be streamed exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu. It is scheduled for a 10:30 PM ET puck drop at the Staples Center.
Projected Lines
New Jersey Devils –
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Los Angeles Kings –
Forwards:
Andersson/Kopitar/Brown
Kempe/Danault/Iafallo
Grundstrom/Kupari/Moore
Lemieux/Lizotte/Kaliyev
Defensemen:
Edler/Clague
Maata/Roy
Bjornfot/Anderson
Goaltenders:
Quick
Peterson
Who/What to Watch for?
- Special teams is always a large part of any games. However, when a game features the 27th ranked power play versus the 28th ranked penalty kill, something has to give. The Devils’ power play, as it has seemingly been for years, is struggling. In Anaheim, the unit went 0 for 5, got outshot, and gave up a short-handed goal. The Kings penalty kill has struggled mightily given up an average of 7.87 expected goals-against per 60 (xGA/60). Will Holtz help the unit? Will Hamilton’s absence be too much?
- P.K. Subban is quickly becoming enemy number one among Devils’ fans. When a fan base turns against a player it can be ugly, and for whatever reason Devils’ fans love doing it. Examples being Andreas Johnsson, Taylor Hall, or even Damon Severson at times. Usually it makes little sense, but in this case Subban has struggled most of the year. It’s simple, when Subban is playing third-pair sheltered minutes he is serviceable, which is completely fine. The issue with that, he has not been. To further this issue, Hamilton is now injured. So, Subban will most likely not be getting those sheltered, third-pairing minutes. Thus, a recipe for disaster. It’ll be interesting to see how head coach Lindy Ruff utilizes his defenseman.
- He is finally here, folks. As mentioned above, Holtz was called up yesterday and is expected to make his NHL debut. It appeared one of the reasons he was sent down was because New Jersey did not have a top-six spot for him. Did this change? Let’s hope so, as throwing Holtz to play in the bottom-six may not be particularly good for his development. At the least, he will be a huge upgrade to the Devils’ aforementioned struggling power play. Let’s hope the former seventh overall pick finds the magic he was using in Utica (AHL) to begin the season.
Tonight’s game is scheduled to start at 7:00 PM ET. It is being televised on NHL Network and MSG+.