The Time: 7:30 PM EDT
The Broadcast: TV - MSG+, Radio - 660 AM WFAN
The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (15-13-1) at the Florida Panthers (16-9-5)
The Previews: Tom wrote the preview for tonight's game and it's good; so please go read it here. As for a point of view from the opposition, John Beatty wrote this preview at Litter Box Cats, which includes projected lines.
A Death Song for Tonight: From the also-classic Individual Thought Patterns, this is "The Philosopher" by Death. 10 years ago to this week, Death frontman and mastermind Chuck Schuldiner passed away with a brain tumor. That his musical works have remained the test of time both as an influence and just plain brutal music a testament to his genius. For the interested, Lars Gotrich at NPR put together this brief history as well as a collection of 11 musicians describing their favorite Death track and their thoughts about it. It's also 10 more Death tracks to listen to. (The Philosopher was one of them)
Gameday Info: Tom Gulitti confirmed this morning that the newly-acquired Kurtis Foster will make his debut on defense tonight. In that same post, Gulitti also confirmed that Cam Janssen will be back in the lineup. As a result of both, Alexander Urbom and Nick Palmieri will be scratched. I can't say I disagree with the choices on who to scratch; but I can't say I'm liking the bottom two lines (Eric Boulton on the third line?) or the rookie pairing of Adam Larsson and Matt Taormina. I really hope Florida's top line doesn't see too much time against either. As for the Panthers, Harvey Filakov of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported this afternoon that Erik Gudbranson has suffered a minor injury and will not play tonight. Also, Mike Santorelli and Keaton Ellerby will be active tonight. Ellerby will replace the open spot left by Gudbranson's injury; while Santorelli is coming off a one-game benching. It'll be interesting to see how those two will make do this evening. Lastly, Jose Theodore will get the start for Florida.
As usual, you can use the comments in this post to discuss today's game before, during, and after it happens until the recap is up later tonight. Please remember the rules at all times, namely: keep your comments clean, keep them on topic (namely about the two teams in this game), and keep them legal (read: nothing about illegal streams - no links, no discussion, no requests). Go Devils!