The New Jersey Devils will be hosting the Colorado Avalanche tonight at 7:00 pm ET at the Prudential Center as they search for their fourth straight win. It won’t be an easy task, with the Avalanche sitting at second place in the Western Conference standings with a 24-13-4 (52 pts) record. Although Colorado is coming off a dominant performance against the St. Louis Blues, who happen to be the defending Stanley Cup Champions, by a score of seven to three, the team has still lost five of their last seven games.
The Devils will look to continue their winning streak as they attempt to claw their way out of the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with a 15-19-6 (36 pts) record. New Jersey is coming fresh off a win on Long Island, where they defeated the Islanders, another top-three team in the East, the second one they’ve taken down in this hot streak. The Devils will look to continue improving as a team since the departure of Taylor Hall, as they’ve gone 6-2-1 in their last nine games without their former star.
Who To Watch
Ben Street
The Devils are going into today’s game without two of their young and dynamic forwards in 18-year-old rookie Jack Hughes and 21-year-old Jesper Bratt. Both are out with injuries that are considered to be minor, as the two are being evaluated on a day-to-day basis. This has led to the Devils to turn to their farm system for help, as they’ve called up veteran forward Ben Street from the Binghamton Devils.
In his last eight games with the Devils’ AHL team, Street has recorded seven points (five goals and two assists) while totaling 28 shots on goal in that same time span. As captain of his team, Street is the leader in total points (33), goals (13), and assists (20) for Binghamton. The player with the second-most points on the team is ten behind.
Street’s offensive presence has been recognized around the AHL, as he was recently named to the AHL All-Star Game. Before today’s game, coach Alain Nasserdine discussed how impactful Street has been for the AHL affiliate and described him as “the best player [the Devils] had” in that league and “deserved a call-up” to the NHL. Let’s see if he can attempt to fill in the void that the absence of Hughes and Bratt leave on offense. Can Street finally make a name for himself in the NHL?
Line Combinations
New Jersey Devils Lineup
- Zacha/Hischier/Palmieri
- Coleman/Zajac/Gusev
- Wood/Street/Simmonds
- Boqvist/Rooney/Hayden
- Greene/Subban
- Severson/Vatanen
- Mueller/Butcher
- Blackwood (starter)
- Domingue
Colorado Avalanche Lineup
- Landeskog/Mackinnon/Donskoi
- Calvert/Kadri/Nichushkin
- Nieto/Compher/Rantanen
- Jost/Bellemare/Burakovsky
- Graves/Makar
- Girard/Johnson
- Cole/Zadorov
- Grubauer (starter)
- Francouz