Game Preview #71: New Jersey Devils vs Montreal Canadiens

The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (24-40-6) versus the Montreal Canadiens (19-40-11). SBN Blog: Eyes on the Prize

The Time: 7:00 PM EDT

The Broadcast: TV - MSG+2

Basement Battle

Both the Devils and Canadiens are in the bottom 5 of the standings. The Devils have 5 more points in the same amount of games played. Both teams have had terribly disappointing seasons. The Devils were expected to be competitive and push for a wild card spot. The Canadiens, while not expected to repeat their performance from last year, still did make it to the cup final, and I don’t think many people expected them to be in dead last for most of the season.

Last Game

Last game was a 3-1 loss to the Rangers. You can read about it here. The Devils certainly need more offense than they had last game. 1 goal does not win you many games, especially with the goaltending the Devils have been getting.

Injury Updates

As you probably already know, Jack Hughes is out for the season with a low-grade left MCL sprain after being hit by Wahlstrom. Yegor Sharangovich, who left Tuesday’s game early, is skating and a possibility for tonight. Vesey had imaging done on his leg yesterday, but no update yet. Bastian is expected to skate today but won’t play in the game.