The New Jersey Devils return to action tonight as they host the Columbus Blue Jackets. New Jersey is dealing with a plague of injuries, as it seems someone else gets injured every game. They are down to Travis Zajac, Jesper Bratt, Blake Coleman and Drew Stafford for everyday starters that have been here all season.

Lines

Columbus Blue Jackets

Panarin – Dubois – Atkinson
Foligno – Duchene- Bjorkstrand
Dzingel – Wennberg – Anderson
Sedlak – Jenner- Dubinsky

Werenski – Jones
Nutivaara – Savard
Harrington – Kukan

Bobrovsky

New Jersey Devils

Bratt – Zajac – Stafford
Agostino – Coleman – Lappin
Pietila – McLeod – Anderson
Noesen – Rooney – Gabriel

Greene – Severson
Butcher – Carrick
Yakovlev – Santini

Schneider

Who/What to Watch

Cory Schneider… Frankly, the Devils are running out of players to watch, so we’ll go to the goaltender. Schneider is given the nod tonight, continuing the 50/50 workload split with Mackenzie Blackwood. It is all but a guarantee to say that will go to the end of the season. So what he is going to have to do tonight? Simple, stand on his head. He is going to have to be near perfect for the Devils to have any chance at winning or even staying in this game.

Artemi Panarin…Here is someone who is 90% in his final season with the Blue Jackets. He leads the team with 73 points and is playing with all-out effort to try and help his team make a deep playoff run before moving on next season. He’s a natural scorer and very dangerous on the puck. The Devils will need to keep him off the scoresheet tonight for any chance at success.

Prediction

Schneider is going to have another solid performance tonight. He seems to have found his game and looks like the guy the team picked up in 2013. But with the roster the Devils have out there, it’s still going to be ugly on the scoreboard. I’ll take the Blue Jackets to win 3-0.

When/Where to Watch

7:00 PM Prudential Center MSG+2, FS-O (Columbus Area)