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Here are five things to watch when the New Jersey Devils take on the Colorado Avalanche:
1. Playing with fire
The New Jersey Devils are pretty hot right now (6-3-1 over last 10), especially relative to the norm over the last couple of years. Don’t let that fool you. They are still a flawed team, particularly on the defensive side of things.
Only Vancouver has given up shot attempts and chances at a higher rate than New Jersey during this streak. Mackenzie Blackwood has been able to mask a lot of the issues but he can’t be superman every night. At some point he’s going to look human for a night and, if the Devils are defending like this in front of him, it might get ugly.
My guess is that’ll happen sooner than later and the Avalanche, who lead the NHL in 5v5 goals, seem like an obvious choice to take advantage.
2. A whole lot of Hart
Nathan MacKinnon is legitimately as dominant as anyone in the NHL right now. He’s an untamable beast. Despite his common running mates – Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen – having already missed 16 games each, MacKinnon has amassed 62 points in 41 games and leads the league in points per contest. Only Alex Ovechkin has more shots on goal and that gap is closing quickly. If the Devils don’t tighten up defensively tonight, he’s going to run wild against them.
3. Staying hot
Thirty-five goaltenders have manned the crease for at least 300 minutes (5v5) since December 1st.
Mackenzie Blackwood sits tops among them in save percentage (.946) and goals saved above average (7.95). This while sitting tied for 1st in appearances (13) and, as mentioned prior, playing behind a leaky defensive team.
I have a hard time believing the Devils will magically figure things out tonight against an extremely talented Avs team so Blackwood has to be *really good* once again.
4. Budding superstars
Nico Hischier has been an impact player since the day he stepped foot into the NHL. He’s really taking his game to another level right now, though. Hischier has six points, and 400 chances, over his last four games and he’s looking like the two-way force the Devils hoped he’d be when they selected him to 1st overall.
Meanwhile Cale Makar, who the Devils were also rumored to be considering with the top pick, has seamlessly transitioned into the NHL, putting up 31 points in 33 games for the Avalanche this season.
Both players are performing at All-Star levels and they’re only scratching the surface of what they can become. It should be fun watching them go head-to-head, especially in a game that could be played with quite a bit of pace.
5. The hidden key
I think Blake Coleman is as important as any Devils skater in this game. With Jesper Bratt potentially sitting out, and less than 100% if he does play, the Devils don’t have much on the left side. Coleman is likely to draw the MacKinnon matchup at 5v5, he’s going to skate a regular shift on the PK (MacKinnon plays both units), and he’s probably the best shot generator on the roster. No. 20 will be heavily involved in all key situations.
Here are the projected lineups:
New Jersey
**questionable
Jesper Bratt** - Nico Hischier - Kyle Palmieri
Blake Coleman - Travis Zajac - Nikita Gusev
Miles Wood - Pavel Zacha - Wayne Simmonds
Jesper Boqvist - Kevin Rooney - John Hayden
Andy Greene - P.K. Subban
Sami Vatanen - Damon Severson
Will Butcher - Mirco Mueller
Mackenzie Blackwood
Colorado (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Gabriel Landeskog - Nathan MacKinnon - Joonas Donskoi
Matt Nieto - J.T. Compher - Mikko Rantanen
Matt Calvert - Nazem Kadri - Valeri Nichushkin
Tyson Jost - P.E. Bellemare - Andre Burakovsky
Ryan Graves - Cale Makar
Sam Girard - Erik Johnson
Ian Cole - Nikita Zadorov
Philipp Grubauer
Puck drop is just after 7:00 p.m. eastern on MSG and ALT2.
Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com
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