Tonight, the New Jersey Devils’ road trip continue. No Jack Hughes? No problem. The New Jersey Devils (35-13-5) have found ways to get it done without their superstar center. Without him, they have gone 2-0-1 and have gotten contributions from everywhere.

New Jersey is coming off a thrilling last-second victory over Columbus. This game also featured one of their best five-on-five efforts in quite some time. Their opponent, the St Louis Blues (25-25-3) have won two straight since returning from the All-Star break. St Louis won the first meeting between these teams via a 5-3 victory in Newark. 

Projected Lineup

New Jersey Devils –

Forwards:

Palat-Hischier-Bratt

Sharangovich-Haula-Zetterlund

Tatar-Boqvist-Mercer

Wood-McLeod-Bastian

Defense:

Siegenthaler-Hamilton

Graves-Marino

Bahl-Severson

Goalies:

Blackwood

Vanecek

St Louis Blues –

Forwards:

Saad*-O’Reilly-Buchnevich

Schenn-Thomas-Kyrou

Barbashev-Acciari-Blais

Toropchenko-Walker-Pitlick

Defense:

Leddy-Parayko

Krug-Faulk

Tucker-Rosen

Goalies:

Binnington

Greiss 

What To Watch For

The Goaltending

Whoever takes the crease for either team will be something to watch for. For the Devils, either one will be fine as they have each been great as of late. Vitek Vanecek is 4-0-1 in his mast five starts with a .921 save percentage. Blackwood has gone 2-1-2 in his last five starts. However, his most recent game against Seattle was his best. 

Blues’ goaltender Jordan Binnington defeated the Devils earlier this year. He is 2-3 in his last five starts sporting a brutal 3.45 goals against average and an .895 save percentage.

Both teams have solid firepower up front, so it will be fun to see which goalie comes up large. 

Devils At Five-On-Five

The New Jersey Devils have been one of the best five-on-five teams in the entire league. However, as of late, that has not been the case. Jack Hughes or no Jack Hughes its been a struggle in this area.

Dating back to their game against the Nashville Predators, they’ve finished with a Corsi-for percentage under 50.00. Their last game against the Columbus Blue Jackets saw them finish with their best possession numbers since (61.21). It was their best overall effort, and they’ll want to continue that against the Blues who have been on a winning streak since. 

Where To Watch

Tonight’s puck drop is at 9:00 P.M. ET and can be found on ESPN.