The New Jersey Devils are preparing to take on the Boston Bruins on Saturday, Dec. 6. This game marks the second of a back-to-back for New Jersey and the first game of two games on the road. The Devils lost on Friday at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights. They were shut out in a 3-0 loss. To kick off the road trip, the Devils will try and get their first win since Friday, Nov. 28.
Related: 3 Takeaways from Devils’ Uninspired 3-0 Loss to Golden Knights
This game marks the second of two home games for the Bruins. They just beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 on Thursday, Dec. 4. Before they hit the road, Boston will try to secure another home win at the TD Garden in front of all their fans.
Devils Storylines
In the Devils’ last two games, they have gone six periods of play without a goal. The last Devil to score was Timo Meier with a power-play goal in the middle of the third period on Monday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. They have now gone 128 minutes without scoring. This entire homestand was a flop, as they lost all four games at the Prudential Center.
The Devils’ home record is better than their away record, but not by much now. They have a home record of 9-4-1 and an away record of 7-7-0. They received their first loss of the season when they played the Colorado Avalanche at home on Oct. 28. They received their first regulation loss at home a full month later, on Nov. 29, 5-3 against the Philadelphia Flyers. Since then, they’ve been on a four-game losing streak. Let’s see if they can fix this in Boston.
The player to watch in this game is Meier. He is currently tied with Nico Hischier, Dawson Mercer, and Jack Hughes for the team lead in goals this season with 10. He has been finding success with Hischier and Jesper Bratt on the top line while Hughes has been recovering from injury. This top line needs to dig deep and find that success again.
Team Stats
New Jersey Devils
Season Record: 16-11-1
Top Scorers:
- Jesper Bratt – 5 goals (G), 21 assists (A), 26 points (P)
- Nico Hischier – 10 G, 15 A, 25 P
- Timo Meier – 10 G, 12 A, 22 P
- Dawson Mercer – 10 G, 11 A, 21 P
- Jack Hughes – 10 G, 10 A, 20 P
Goalie Stats:
- Jake Allen – 8-5-0, 2.48 goals-against average (GAA), .911 save percentage (SV%)
- Jacob Markstrom – 7-6-1, 3.51 GAA, .876 SV%
- Nico Daws – 1-0-0, 1.00 GAA, .968 SV%
Boston Bruins
Season Record: 16-13-0
Top Scorers:
- Morgan Geekie – 21 G, 10 A, 31 P
- David Pastrnak – 11 G, 18 A, 29 P
- Pavel Zacha – 7 G, 13 A, 20 P
- Elias Lindholm – 4 G, 12 A, 16 P
- Charlie McAvoy – 0 G, 14 A, 14 P
Goalie Stats:
- Jeremy Swagman – 11-7-0, 2.80 GAA, .910 SV%
- Joonas Korpisalo – 5-6-0, 3.38 GAA, .888 SV%
Projected Lineups
(Subject to change before puck drop)
As per The Hockey Writers’ projected lineup article.
New Jersey Devils
Timo Meier — Nico Hischier — Jesper Bratt
Ondrej Palat — Dawson Mercer — Arseni Gritsyuk
Paul Cotter — Cody Glass — Connor Brown
Angus Crookshank — Luke Glendening — Stefan Noesen
Jonas Siegenthaler — Dougie Hamitlon
Brenden Dillon — Luke Hughes
Colton White — Simon Nemec
Jake Allen
Jacob Markstrom
Scratched: Juho Lammikko, Dennis Cholowski
Injured: Evgenii Dadonov, Jack Hughes, Johnathan Kovacevic, Zack MacEwen, Marc McLaughlin, Brett Pesce
Boston Bruins
Alex Steeves — Elias Lindholm — Morgan Geekie
Casey Mittelstadt — Pavel Zacha — Viktor Arvidsson
Tanner Jeannot — Fraser Minton — Mark Kastelic
Marat Khusnutdinov — Sean Kuraly — Michael Eyssimont
Hampus Lindholm — Andrew Peeke
Nikita Zadorov — Jonathan Aspirot
Mason Lohrei — Victor Soderstrom
Joonas Korpisalo
Jeremy Swagman
Scratched: Jeffrey Viel
Injured: David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Henri Jokiharju, Michael Callahan, Matej Blumel, Jordan Harris
Next up for the Devils
The Devils will continue on the road and head north to Canada to take on the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, Dec. 9.
