Match Overview

After losing in OT to Chicago Thursday night, the Devils will look to end a four game winless streak when they on the Nashville Predators this afternoon. New Jersey has been giving up their fair share of goals in recent weeks. They’ve allowed up to 3 goals or more in all seven games dating back to November 19th against the Los Angeles Kings.

After getting off to a slow start, the Predators have turned things around and are 7-3-1 in their last ten games. This will be no easy task for New Jersey as Nashville is 8-1-1 at home on the year. John Hynes will have to make sure his team ready to play this afternoon.

Projected Lines

New Jersey

Cammalleri/Zajac/Palmieri
Hall/Henrique/Parenteau
Quenneville/Zacha/DSP
Wood/Fiddler/Lappin

Greene/Severson
Auvitu/Lovejoy
Moore/Quincey

Kinkaid*

Nashville 

Forsberg/Johansen/Arvidsson
Fiala/Ribeiro/Smith
Wilson/Fisher/Aberg
Gaudreau/Jarnkrok/Watson

Ekholm/Subban
Josi/Irwin
Pardy/Weber

Rinne

What to Watch

• Miles Wood and Nick Lappin both had impressive games against Chicago. They were strong on the forecheck and gave the Blackhawks trouble throughout the game, especially early on. The Devils will need these two to keep it up, especially against a Nashville team that is great at home.

• As mentioned above, the Devils have had trouble preventing goals the last couple of weeks. They might want to get Yohann Auvitu out on the ice a bit more. He played just 15 minutes Thursday and only 8 minutes in his previous game against the Penguins last weekend. At worst, Auvitu can use his offensive ability to help the Devils get out of their own end.

• Despite not scoring a goal in quite some time, Kyle Palmieri seems to be coming on a bit. He had 2 assists against Chicago and has 4 in his last five games. If he can get going and start scoring some goals, it’ll be a big boost for the Devils offense going forward.

• The Predators are a relatively high event team. They average 57.3 shot attempts per 60 minutes as opposed to 55.8 shot attempts against per 60. Considering the Devils recent defensive woes, we could be in for another high event, offensive game.

Today’s game can be seen on MSG+ at 2 PM.