The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (10-13-4) versus the Pittsburgh Penguins (18-11-1). SBN Blog: PensBurgh
The Time: 1:00 PM
The Broadcast: TV - MSG+
The Last Meeting: Good News and Bad News
The Good News: We Won!
The Devils beat the Penguins 3-2 in a game that was honestly not as close as the score makes it seem. We looked good, the Penguins honestly didn’t. Assuming we’re able to repeat that performance, we should be looking at another win today.
The Bad News: We lost... a lot of people
So the bad news is we may still have to play without Pavel Zacha, who was injured in Tuesday’s game against Buffalo and is considered possible, but not definite, to return to today’s lineup. We also lost Mackenzie Blackwood who left the pregame warmups with an upper-body injury and is a bit less likely and undergoing further evaluation but still a game-time decision. Also lost in Thursday’s game and considered the least likely of the trio to return today was Nathan Bastian. And of course, we’re still missing Nico Hischier, who has at least two more weeks to go on his recovery.
So What do Our Lines Look Like Without... well, everyone?
We’re pushing the whole taxi squad thing to its limits, that’s for sure. Here’s what I can make of who’s left:
Kuokkanen - Hughes - Bratt
Wood - Zajac - Palmieri
Gusev - Maltsev - Sharangovitch
Johnsson - McLeod - Merkley
Smith - Severson
Kulikov - Subban
Murray - Vatanen
Wedgewood
For the Pens, this was their practice lineup as of yesterday:
Guentzel - Crosby - Rust
Tanev - McCann - Kapanen
Aston-Reese - Jankowski - Lafferty
Sceviour - Rodrigues - Angello
Dumoulin - Letang
Matheson - Ceci
Pettersson - Marino
Jarry
Jared McCann is considered a game-time decision for today but he has participated a full practice since returning from injury so it is looking like a go.
Your Take
Can the Devils keep the momentum from last game going? Will the Penguins continue to play as badly against us? Will we get any good news on the injury front?