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Five things to watch when the New Jersey Devils take on the New York Islanders:
1. Michael Grabner's debut
The 30-year-old will be making his debut playing on the 2nd line with Pavel Zacha and Kyle Palmieri. While it could take him some time to adjust to the system and, more so, new linemates, I wouldn't be surprised to see him make an impact tonight. The Islanders play a very fast paced, high-event style and are a disaster defensively. This should be a perfect game for him to get his feet wet.
2. Taylor Hall's streak
Hall is playing the best hockey of his career right now. He has tallied 28 points (14 goals, 14 assists), 84 shots and 139 attempts over his last 20 games while finding the scoresheet in every single one of them.
No team has allowed more goals, chances, or shot attempts than the Islanders so Hall seems like a good bet to extend his point streak. This is a SMASH spot.
3. Matchups
The John Tavares line often gets the most respect from opposing teams but I'm not sure that should be the case. Mathew Barzal has 10 more points than Tavares at 5v5 and his unit has performed better in terms of Corsi For%, Expected Goals For%, and actual Goals For%.
It will be interesting to see which line, if any, John Hynes attaches the Andy Greene - Sami Vatanen pairing to. I wouldn't be surprised if they see a good dose of both.
4. Goaltending
This will probably be a storyline every game until Cory Schneider returns.
Devils goaltenders have posted a .910 save percentage, which is a little below league average, or better just six times in the last 21 games. The Devils are 6-0 in those games.
In the 15 games they've had sub .910 goaltending, the Devils have won just twice. They just don't have the firepower to overcome bad goaltending with any regularity. The Grabner acquisition will help but they still can't outscore their problems every night. They need some saves.
5. New Jersey's power play vs New York's penalty kill
The Islanders are a complete mess defensively at 5v5 so it should be no surprise the same holds true when they're down a man. They rank 31st in shot suppression and have allowed more power play goals than all but Edmonton and Vancouver.
The Devils' power play hasn't been all that impressive of late. This seems like a perfect opportunity to get back on track.
Here are the projected lineups:
New Jersey
Taylor Hall - Nico Hischier - Jesper Bratt
Michael Grabner - Pavel Zacha - Kyle Palmieri
Blake Coleman - Travis Zajac - Stefan Noesen
Miles Wood - Brian Boyle - Drew Stafford
Andy Greene - Sami Vatanen
John Moore - Damon Severson
Will Butcher - Ben Lovejoy
Keith Kinkaid
New York Islanders (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Anders Lee - John Tavares - Josh Bailey
Anthony Beauvillier - Mathew Barzal - Jordan Eberle
Andrew Ladd - Brock Nelson - Tanner Fritz
Ross Johnston - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck
Nick Leddy - Johnny Boychuk
Thomas Hickey - Ryan Pulock
Adam Pelech - Sebastian Aho
Puck drop is just after 8:00 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on MSG+ and MSG+2.
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