Match Preview # 30: New Jersey Devils vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
The matchup: the New Jersey Devils (10-13-5) with the Pittsburgh Penguins (16-8-5)
Disclaimer: This preview was drawn up prior to the conclusion of the game against Detroit last night, so any predictions, stats and recordings will not reflect the outcome of this game.
SBN blog: PensBurg
The time: 7:00 p.m. EST
The broadcast: TV – MSG +
Off into the night
Well, the Devils were … not good. I want to say that their last game against Vegas saw a lot of improvement, but before that, their losing streak didn’t show much prospect of an end. Bad, mixed up play, incomprehensible line combinations, injuries and illnesses have brought the Devils to their knees in the last dozen games. However, Thursday night’s game featured both a power play and a shorthanded goal, as well as an effective comeback response, so I continue to hope for improvement soon. Hopefully tonight
Pittsburgh, on the other hand, didn’t have much to contend with. You stand 16-8-5 and win against Buffalo, Montreal, Anaheim, Washington, Seattle and Vancouver. Their last loss was December 1st against the Edmonton Oilers. They also somehow managed to avoid the Covid outbreaks that have hit other teams hard, including us – at the time of writing they didn’t have a single player on the Covid log, which is all amazing considering Vancouver, Washington, Seattle and Edmonton is currently have players on the list. They have also recovered from their early season injury problems – only Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust stay out with long-term injuries, recently Brian Boyle joined them with a minor lower body injury.
Pittsburgh has something in common with the Devils though – their power play is absolute crap too. They’re right next to us in the rankings, with a success rate of only 15.66% versus ours 12.82% (which is still a lot worse, but still. 15% is bad. They finished last season at 25%) . Unfortunately, unlike their arduous powerplay, they’re number one in the league for penalty kills with a whopping 92.96% kill rate, which is just ridiculous. The Devils are somewhere in the lower midfield with 79.31%.
I have low expectations.
On to the lines:
At the Devils, Mackenzie Blackwood suffered a neck injury in Thursday’s game after Tatar entered the game, so we’re on goalkeeper strings 3 and 4. Subban is still in the Covid protocol, as is Nico Hischier, Ryan Graves, Janne Kuokkanen and Christian Jaros. Hooray.
Zacha – Hughes – Tatar
Johnsson – Mercer – Bratt
Kuokkanen – Sharangovich – Studenic
Vesey – McLeod – Bastian
Smith – Hamilton
Siegenthaler – Severson
Geertsen – Bahli
Gillies / Schmid
For the penguins:
Rodigues – Crosby – Kapans
Sugar – Carter – Heinen
Aston-Reese-Blueger-McGinn
O-Connor – Lafferty – Simon
Dumoulin – Letang
Petterson – Marino
Matheson – Ruhwedel
Murray