The road trip continues for the New Jersey Devils. After having a few days off after their game against the Chicago Blackhawks, the Devils travel to the nation’s capital to take on the Washington Capitals. This is the first meeting between the two metropolitan division teams.
This game will also be the first that Jack Hughes misses this season. As was well documented on Friday, Hughes was cut by a piece of glass in a, “freak accident,” at a team dinner. The full timeline on his projected absence is to be determined.
As a result, the team announced they recalled rookie forward Shane Lachance from Utica (AHL). Lachance only has one point this season in what has been a disappointing start to his first full professional season. Connor Brown, who can be activated at any time, was placed back on injured reserve.
Matchup Overview
These two teams are at polar opposite ends of the division spectrum. The Devils remain in first place in the division, whereas the Capitals are buried in the basement. Things have not been great for the Capitals, as they have just two wins in the month of November and have lost three of their last four. They are without one of their top two centers in Pierre-Luc Dubois who is on injured reserve.
From a team defense standpoint, they are rock solid and rank second in goals against. But when it comes to scoring goals, they sit 23rd in the league. Special teams have been bottom of the barrel across the board and if not for goaltending things could be much worse. You know things are a little weary in the Nations Capital when Tom Wilson is leading the team in goals with nine.
The Devils are plugging along despite being down numerous key players. They lost depth center Cody Glass in their last game against the Blackhawks and he likely won’t play Saturday night. To add more salt into the wounds, Hughes is now sidelined, as mentioned above. Even with the injuries, the Devils have won three of their last four games and all have them have gone into overtime or the shootout.
The Devils are of course relying on their top players, but Simon Nemec has made the most of his opportunity. The Devils young defenseman is coming off a monstrous performance by being the third defenseman in franchise history to record a hat trick.
Projected Lineup
New Jersey Devils
Check back closer to pick drop to our social media pages for lineup information.
Washington Capitals
Forwards
Ovechkin-Strome-Beauvillier
Protas-McMichael-Wilson
Lapierre-Sourdif-Leonard
Duhaime-Dowd-Frank
Defense
Fehervary-Carlson
Chychrun-Roy
Sandin-Chisholm
Goalies
Thompson
Lindgren
What to Watch For
Cash in on the Power Play
When you dive into the issues from a goals against standpoint for the Capitals, a lot of their damage comes with the man advantage. At five-on-five play, the Capitals have an expected goals for percentage (xGF%) of 57.28 and do a tremendous job of limiting high-danger chances. They’ve allowed the fewest goals at five-on-five play. So, even with the strong two games for the Devils in that regard, they’ll want to maintain that effort and more.
But the Capitals penalty kill has been dreadful. They have allowed the third most goals when down a man, which isn’t ideal. Furthermore, nine of their 15 goals against are high-danger goals. The Devils’ power play thrives in the inner slot and the Capitals will have no issues giving them these high-danger looks. It is a game that could be tightly checked during five-on-five, so special teams can be a deciding factor.
Hischier Needs To Step Up
With Hughes out of the lineup, the Devils should turn to their line next biggest line. This line just works and their chemistry is evident and even goes back to the playoffs. The line of Jack Hughes, Arseny Gritsyuk, and Dawson Mercer was very impactful. But so was the Hischier line and they’ll need to put forth that same amount of dominance against the Capitals.
The trio outshot the Capitals 8-4 when on the ice and finished with a Corsi-for percentage (CF%) of 57.1. Furthermore, they controlled the expected goals share and putting an exclamation point on their impacts was an 87.1 xGF%. This line has a bit of everything in a combination and the team will be getting a boost if they contribute in a massive way.
How to Watch
Saturday night’s puck drop is at 7:00 pm ET and can be found on MSG.