Game Preview #39: New Jersey Devils @ Carolina Hurricanes

Coming off a big win in the first half of a home-and-home, the Devils look to sweep the Hurricanes away in Raleigh

The Matchup: New Jersey Devils (24-11-3) @ Carolina Hurricanes (21-13-1)

The Time: 7:00pm ET

The Broadcast: MSGSN2, FDSNSO, Devils Radio Network

Last Time Out

Usually I have different sections for “Last Devils Game”, “Last (Opponent) Game”, and “Last Devils-(Opponent) Game”. But considering this is the second half of a home-and-home, I can conveniently consolidate it into one section. Last night New Jersey defeated Carolina 4-2 at The Rock. Luke Hughes led the way with two points (a goal and an assist), and Jacob Markstrom was superb in net, stopping 29 of 31 shots.

Any Big Changes?

Aside from different goalies, I would not expect many changes for either side tonight. Jacob Markstrom got the call on Friday. His shutout streak came to an end, but it was still a strong game for Markstrom. He put up a .935 Save% while saving exactly one goal above expected according to Natural Stat Trick. Expect Jake Allen to start this evening. Meanwhile Pyotr Kochetkov manned the Carolina net last night, so Dustin Tokarski is expected to get the nod in Raleigh.

The only other change I can see happening is Curtis Lazar drawing back into the lineup. Lazar missed over a month with a leg injury and returned for one game last week before sitting again due to apparently reaggravating his injury. It was mostly precautionary, as head coach Sheldon Keefe said he expected Lazar back after the Christmas break. Well we didn’t see him last night, but Keefe stated he didn’t want to throw him into both ends of a back-to-back coming off his injury. So Lazar sat last night, and we very well may see him replace Justin Dowling on the fourth line this evening.

In case you need a reminder, here’s how each team lined up last night. First the Devils:

And now the Hurricanes:

It Was Fun While It Lasted

We all knew the streak was ending last night, right?

Entering Friday’s game, the Devils had allowed 20 or fewer shots against in seven consecutive games. That was the longest streak the NHL has seen since the league started tracking shots on goal.

That wildly impressive run came to an end last night against Carolina. Of course it did. The Hurricanes’ entire offensive system essentially boils down to “Fling the puck in the general direction of the net at every opportunity and hope it goes in”. Carolina is a shot-generating machine, so it’s no surprise New Jersey allowed more than 20 shots last night. The streak is over, but all good things must come to an end. I have a feeling it will be a very long time until another team puts together a stretch of defensive hockey that dominant again. The Devils should be proud of their accomplishment.

28 Days Later

On November 30th, the Devils lost 6-5 to the Washington Capitals. In that game, Justin Dowling scored a second period goal, his second of the season. It has been 28 days since that goal, and with one exception, that was the last time a forward outside of the top-6 has found the back of the net.

That one exception would be Dawson Mercer, who scored last night. Since that game on November 30th, Mercer has scored two other times in that span, both against the Rangers, on December 2nd and December 23rd. Mercer has spent a good amount of time in the top-6 this season though, so even counting Mercer as a bottom-6 member feels like cheating. And in fact one of his three goals since the end of November came on the power play, not while on a third line shift. Heck, even his goal last night was assisted by Jack Hughes during a partial line change. But even if you do count Mercer as a bottom-6 forward, the point still stands: New Jersey has not gotten much point production out of their depth forwards in a long time.

Four of the six defensemen on the club have scored in that time (the exceptions being the shutdown pair of Jonas Siegenthaler and Johnny Kovacevic), but none of the bottom-6 forwards. Erik Haula, Paul Cotter, Tomas Tatar, Nate Bastian, Kurtis MacDermid, and Dowling…not one goal to be found. It hasn’t harmed the Devils much, as the team has continued to pile up the wins thanks in large part due to the defensive efforts of the bottom-6. So it’s not like they’re complete dead weight. But the fact remains that New Jersey could really stand to get more production out of the third and fourth lines. I’m not too concerned considering how much the team as a whole, including the bottom two lines, have controlled play. At some point the pucks will start finding holes. But yeah, it would be nice if that could start happening sooner rather than later.

Back-to-Back Tracker

Another second half of a back-to-back for the Devils tonight. After struggling mightily last year in those situations, this season New Jersey is 1-3-1 in second halves of back-to-backs so far. Their only win came against the Buffalo Sabres in the season-opening two-game series in Prague, so the Devils have lost four straight in these scenarios.

This team’s ineptitude during the second half of back-to-backs played a huge role in sinking their playoff hopes in 2023-24. This season as a whole has been going much better than last year, but 1-3-1 during these game types is still not good enough. The Devils need to figure out how to play back-to-backs. If they can find a way to win tonight, not only would that be an encouraging sign that New Jersey might be turning their fortunes around in back-to-backs, but they could put some serious distance between them and the Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division standings.

Third Fourth Time’s The Charm

I am once again asking for a four-game winning streak.

Since a five-game winning streak from January 7th-16th, 2023, the Devils have not posted a winning streak of more than three games (and on the flip side of the coin they have only a single losing streak of four games or more since January of 2023 as well).

I went back and looked. Since that five-game heater, the Devils have had 11 different three-game winning streaks (three in 2022-23, four in 2023-24, and four so far in 2024-25 including the one they’re currently on). A loss has followed every single time.

0-for-10, with today being the 11th crack at it. Please make it 1-for-11 tonight.

Your Take

What are you anticipating for tonight’s game? Do you expect to see any major changes from either side? As always, thanks for reading!