Tonight’s Matchup
The New Jersey Devils (8-8-5) visit the Los Angeles Kings (15-6-1). The Devils come into this game on a 2 game winning streak and are 6-3-1 in their last 10. The Kings come into this game having won 4 straight and are 7-2-1 in their last 10 which includes a very impressive sweep of the NY teams. In other words, even though NJ has been playing well going into this game, they will still have to dig deep because LA is a very good hockey team that is playing very well lately.
Projected lines for the New Jersey Devils
Dainius Zubrus – Travis Zajac – Jaromir Jagr
Damien Brunner – Patrik Elias – Michael Ryder
Adam Henrique – Andrei Loktionov – Steve Bernier
Ryan Carter – Stephen Gionta – Cam Janssen
Andy Greene – Marek Zidlicky
Eric Gelinas – Adam Larsson
Peter Harrold – Mark Fayne
Projected lines for the Los Angeles Kings
Dustin Brown – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams
Dwight King – Mike Richards – Tyler Toffoli
Dan Carcillo – Jarret Stoll – Matt Frattin
Tanner Pearson – Linden Vey – Trevor Lewis
Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Robyn Regehr – Slava Voynov
Willie Mitchell – Alec Martinez
Random thoughts going into this game
I thought the Devils showed a lot of fight last night with their win in Anaheim. They got down early but were able to battle back. Yes, the Ducks didn’t deserve the 4 minute high sticking penalty but good on NJ to cash in on an opportunity and score 2 goals in those 4 minutes. Hopefully they take the momentum of beating Pittsburgh and Anaheim, two of the NHL’s top teams (well kind of, Pitt has fallen to 11th) into their matchup with LA.
I thought Zajac played a decent game again last night. He has points in four of his last five games and his defensive play has been really good lately. The funny thing of the OT goal last night is that Zajac looked like he tried to kick it in the net. Had Hiller not blocked that shot, it goes in but gets negated for a kicking motion and the Ducks then don’t put the puck in their own net.
Jagr is Jagr and he’s currently on fire. Let’s hope it continues.
Schneider gets the nod tonight and hopefully our goal scorers are up to helping him out tonight. He was excellent on Friday against the Kings but the bad news is that Scrivens was as well who will be in the net tonight for LA.
I’m starting to get a little sour on Brunner lately. That’s sad because this is a guy I really wanted to over the summer. He’s pointless in his last 10 games and is averaging about 13:36 TOI during that stretch. This guy really needs to start putting the puck in the net.
On a side note that doesn’t have to do with today’s game, Left wing Rostislav Olesz cleared unconditional waivers at noon today and his contract with the Devils has now been officially terminated.
NHL 14 Simulation Results
LA got on the board first with a Dustin Brown PP goal but NJ came right back and found the equalizer. The score remained 1-1 until the OT period where Drew Doughty put home a bomb from the blue line that beat Schneider glove side for a 2-1 OT victory.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
