Who: New Jersey Devils (22-19-2, 46 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (20-12-9, 49 points, 5th place Metropolitan Division)
How to Watch: Broadcast locally Sportsnet Pittsburgh and MSGSN, streaming on ESPN+
Pens’ Path Ahead: Today kicks off another heavy stretch of games for the Pens, starting with three in four days over the weekend with a home afternoon game against Calgary (3:30pm start) and then a visit to Boston on Sunday (5:00pm start). The Pens then return home next week for games against Tampa, Philadelphia and Columbus.
Opponent Track: Well, it’s not pretty. The Devils got pounded 9-0 on Tuesday night against the Islanders. New Jersey has floated towards the bottom of the East with a 6-11-1 record since the start of December. It’s been tough sledding to find their game, going 2-3-1 since the Christmas break and 2-5-1 in the last eight games.
Season Series: NJ took the first game, a 2-1 shootout win back on November 8th. After tonight the teams will matchup two more times on February 26th in Pittsburgh and then on April 9th in New Jersey.
Hidden Stat: The Devils have scored 0 or 1 goals in 11 games of their last 25 games since Nov 18, with a 2.08 goals/game this stretch that easily ranks last in the NHL. NJD has been shutout five times in this stretch, including last game.
Getting to know the Devils
Jack Hughes – Nico Hischier – Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier – Dawson Mercer – Arseni Gritsyuk
Paul Cotter – Luke Glendening – Stefan Noesen
Ondrej Palat – Cody Glass – Connor Brown
Jonas Siegenthaler / Dougie Hamilton
Luke Hughes / Brett Pesce
Brenden Dillon / Simon Nemec
Goalies: Jake Allen and Jacob Markstrom
Potential scratches: Juho Lammikko, Colton White, Dennis Cholowski
Injured Reserve: Evgenii Dadonov
- The good news is that it looks like Nemec could return for his first game since December 11th after coming off an injury. Cotter, too, looks like he’s approaching a return.
- Palat has been moved down to the fourth line.
- No news on a goalie, but you’d have to think Jake Allen will be going tonight. He’s been the better of the two goalies this season, and somewhat shockingly, the Devils left Markstrom in to crash and burn when he allowed all nine of the goals in the 9-0 loss on Tuesday. They didn’t play Monday or Wednesday, so that certainly was an interesting choice to keep a struggling goalie twisting in the wind like that.
- This is ugly. 80 different skaters on 30 out of the 32 teams have 13+ goals this season, only Calgary and New Jersey aren’t represented. 70 different skaters making up 27 of the 32 teams have at least 34+ points, the Devils again are in the handful that don’t. Those numbers are cherrypicked for maximum effect, the overall meaning remains stark to not have even one of the top 70 point scorers or be anywhere within the top 80 goal scorers so far, that’s a terrible place to be midway into the year.
- As you’d expect, the underperformers are everywhere. Jesper Bratt scored 88 points last season, Nico Hischier had 35 goals, both are way under that. Jack Hughes and Timo Meier combined for 123 points last season, they have 49 together so far. Expensive veterans like Ondrej Palat and Jacob Markstrom have looked more like the problem than solution.
Key matchup: Trying to keep a struggling team down
Is it good or bad to be the next opponent of a team that just loses 9-0 two nights before? The Penguins are about to find out. While it seem fortunate to be playing a team that clearly has a high level of disarray, there’s always the dreaded ‘response game’ to worry about, where NJD will rally and show that the previous outing isn’t one that they are going to try and come back from.
Besides that emotional element, this is one to try and keep a bad team on their downward trajectory. The Devils underperform at scoring, they can’t finish, their goal share is the worst, their goaltenders aren’t very good, their PK stinks. You name it and they’re a hot mess right now.
It’ll be a fascinating watch to see if they quit taking on water and can turn things around. Between J. Hughes, Pesce, Nemec, they’ve dealt with a lot of talent out of the lineup in what ended up being a cascading effect. Many expected by bringing on Sheldon Keefe as coach that the Devils could take the next step forward, so far it’s been mostly a frustrating and troubling season at a critical moment given that a 9-0 blowout happened.
Infographic courtesy of the Penguins
Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust
Ben Kindel – Evgeni Malkin – Yegor Chinakhov
Anthony Mantha – Tommy Novak – Justin Brazeau
Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari
Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson
Brett Kulak / Kris Letang
Ryan Shea / Jack St. Ivany
Goalies: Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs
Potential Scratches: Ville Koivunen, Kevin Hayes, Connor Clifton
IR: Filip Hallander, Caleb Jones, Rutger McGroarty
- McGroarty was placed on the IR yesterday with a concussion suffered in practice when he had a collision with a teammate.
- The question about how Malkin will be used has been answered, for now it appears the Penguins will not reunite him with the successful line he had with Mantha and Brazeau. The good thing is that the coaches can always go back to that by the second or third period if circumstances dictate needing it.
- If the familiar goalie rotation continues it would be Skinner’s turn starting tonight for the Pens. That would line Skinner up to play two of the upcoming three games, just as Silovs last week played that portion of the games.
While the wheels came off the Devils on Tuesday in their blowout loss, the Penguins are red hot.
From the team (and prior to last night’s games):
The Penguins are red hot with a 5-0-0 record since Christmas (December 25). They rank near the top in multiple statistical categories around the League:
NHL Stat Leaders Since Dec. 25
Category Rank
Wins (5) T2nd
Points (10) T3rd
Goals For (25) T3rd
Goals Against (12) T1st
Power Play (33.3%) 6th
Pittsburgh had an off day on Monday and many a veteran like Crosby, Karlsson, Letang and Rust were able to rest an extra day during Tuesday’s optional practice. Whether the Pens are energized by the break or have lost the momentum with some inactivity will be worth watching.
Another day, another potential move up the ranks for Crosby
It’s a fun and niche trivia note that Ray Bourque (21 seasons 1,516 games with the Bruins) has more assists for one franchise than anyone else. More than Yzerman or Howe for the Red Wings, or Lemieux with the Penguins or even Gretzky with the Oilers. Then again, Gretzky only had nine seasons in the NHL with the Oilers. Crosby, who is on a five-game point streak (5G+7A) is knocking on The Great One’s Edmonton total and as of today is only 26 back of Bourque, so that little trivia note is approaching extinction quickly.