Matchup Overview:

Time for some California sunshine and good fortune! The Devils begin their West Coast trip with a matchup against the struggling Anaheim Ducks. Both teams come into this game off a win, with the Ducks trying to find a way to start a winning streak and the Devils seek for number 6 in a row. With Cammalleri and Hall out of the lineup again, it will be another tough test to produce goals in this one.

 

Keys to the game:

Special teams. The Ducks come into this one with a prototypical high-powered West Coast offense that has already scored 13 power play goals on the season and is somehow firing off at 42% at home (9 for 21). So it is safe to say that the Devils cannot find themselves in penalty trouble otherwise it may be an early night. Shutting down Perry and Getzlaf will be another tough task, as the two forwards are both very large and physical players, something that has always been a bit of an Achilles heel for the Devils to defend. Once again the general game plan for the Devils will be to get as many pucks at the net as possible and try to get those dirty goals. The Ducks also can be sloppy with the puck at times, as was seen in the Home Opener when the Devils clogged up the neutral zone and were creating turnovers at will. This will need to be another strong defensive game and they will need to really take advantage of the counter-attack opportunities.

 

Players to Watch:

The Ducks have a lot of depth and have been getting scoring from all of their four lines, not to mention some of their offensive-defensemen who are never afraid to join the rush. Keep an eye on the projected second line of Kesler, Silverberg and Cogliano. That is a good mixture of speed, size and skill, and I would not be surprised at all to see Kesler and Silverberg end up on the score sheet more than once. On the back end watch out for Sami Vatanen, especially on the Power Play as he can really make things happen.

For the Devils it is going to be another “next man up” type of game and they are going to need production from the entire team. The opportunity for Zacha to get rewarded could be there tonight playing alongside Henrique and Palmieri who will certainly be watched very closely by the Anaheim defense. The fourth line has been playing very well and with a lot of energy, and I think it is finally time for all of that effort to generate a reward on the stat sheet, keeping a close of on Fiddler there. On the back end Severson still can seem to do no wrong in the offensive end, and as long as he keeps getting pucks to the net good things will continue to happen, I don’t see a goal from him tonight but I do see him getting a secondary assist, setting up his partner Andy Greene who throws it on net and creates the rebound goal opportunity.

 

Prediction:

The Western Conference as a whole has been struggling so far this season, and the Ducks are not exempt from that claim. However, they have played very well at home and I think tonight is the night that missing Cammalleri and Hall does catchup to the Devils. It will be a very hard fought game, but unfortunately I see them falling 4-2 in this one, ending the winning streak.