After an excellent team performance in a shutout yesterday, the Devils take on Carolina in Raleigh.
The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (4-1-0) at the Carolina Hurricanes (0-1-0).
The Broadcast: TV – MSGSN
The Time: 7:00 PM
New Looks for Each Team
While we have become well-acquainted with the new-attitude New Jersey Devils, who handily beat the Capitals and Utah Hockey Club over their last two games, we have yet to see how any true divisional foes look this season. The first such rival contest is tonight, as the Hurricanes stymied the Devils the last time the young squad made it to the playoffs — and many of our fans have long-standing grudges against the Canes for prior playoff meetings. The big question is this: are the Hurricanes still good enough to make the playoffs?
After losing Brett Pesce and Stefan Noesen to the Devils, while Brady Skjei went to Nashville and Teuvo Teravainen went to Chicago, the Hurricanes lost a fair part of their identity over the offseason. However, it was not all bad, with the additions of Sean Walker, who played very well for Philadelphia and Colorado last season, alongside Shayne Gostisbehere, who remains an underrated second pairing defenseman in the NHL. On the forward side, however, the team did not come close to replacing Noesen and Teravainen. They brought in Jack Roslovic, who is on the second line, per James Nichols, while William Carrier now plays on their third line. Roslovic had been a decent middle six forward for Columbus between 2021 and 2023, but he is not a hugely impactful player despite his speed. Many Devils fans also may have wanted William Carrier this offseason after he made a physical impact for Vegas for several years, but ending up with Paul Cotter instead has worked out rather well. Still, Rod Brind’Amour is a fantastic coach, and they could very well end up strong defensive forwards within his system.
However, the Hurricanes have yet to play a Devils team led by Sheldon Keefe. Coming off a 20-shot shutout yesterday afternoon, the Devils are more confident than they have looked in years on the defensive end, looking like they can hang with strong, defensive teams like Carolina. The Devils have not been a team that thrives in low-scoring games in years, but things are different now.
Any Changes Tonight?
Yesterday, before the game, I wrote a short article on Simon Nemec’s historical struggles playing with right-handed defensive partners. Of course, Seamus Casey and Nemec went on to have one of their best games as a defensive pairing, putting up the best numbers of any Devils pairing against Utah. If anything, the only change there should be that they play more minutes. Thankfully, the team has an extended time to recover for a back-to-back, going from a 1 PM start to a 7 PM start, but I do not really want to see Dillon and Hamilton playing 25 or more minutes on a back-to-back.
On the forward side of things, I really hope to see the Bratt-Hughes-Meier line do better tonight. They barely played together at five-on-five yesterday, and they did look better on the power play, but things have not been super consistent yet at even strength. When they improve, this team will become incredibly tough to beat. I do think it would be tough to shake things up with how well the bottom six has played, as the depth of this team has delivered wins so far.
Your Thoughts
What do you think about tonight’s game? Do you think this team will perform better against Brind’Amour’s Hurricanes? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.