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Five things to watch when the New Jersey Devils take on the Toronto Maple Leafs:
1. High-event hockey
If you like fast-paced, run-and-gun, hockey this will probably be the game for you. Toronto ranks 1st in 5v5 Corsi pace (shot attempts for + against/60) while New Jersey also cracks the top-10. In terms of 5v5 xG pace, both sides sit inside the top-5.
The Maple Leafs have more high-end talent and natural finishing ability, of course, but the Devils also play very fast and are quite good at generating chances. I'd expect the goaltenders to get a lot of work in this one.
2. Team discipline
I can't stress enough how important it is for New Jersey to stay out of the box in this game. Though Toronto has hit a bit of a 'rut' on the man advantage of late, it's fair to say they are the league's most dangerous power play team. Auston Matthews missed quite a few games, William Nylander was MIA for the majority of the season, and Toronto is still lapping the field when it comes to creating scoring opportunities. If the Devils parade to the box, they'll pay for it.
3. Finding his mojo
Marcus Johansson is playing his best hockey since becoming a member of the Devils. I'm not sure any stretch has even been close. Over the last 11 games, he has 10 points (nine of which were primary), 42 scoring chances (1st on the team), and 20 high-danger chances (2nd on the team). His on-ice numbers have been solid as well with the Devils controlling ~51% of the attempts and ~52% of the chances at 5v5. His play is making the 2nd line a legitimate, and consistent, threat to score, which certainly comes in handy against high-powered teams like Toronto. It's tough to win when you can only rely on one unit for offense.
4. An elite 3rd line
The top two lines get a ton of attention – deservedly so – but Toronto's 3rd unit of Patrick Marleau, Nazem Kadri, and William Nylander is nothing to sleep on. The Maple Leafs are controlling 67% of the attempts and 66% of the chances with that trio on the ice at 5v5. Though the sample size is still fairly small, I don't think it's a stretch to say they're capable of steamrolling opposing team's depth lines on a nightly basis. They certainly have thus far. Suffice to say, they are *really* going to test the bottom half of New Jersey's roster.
5. Will Butcher
He has more than held his own since being put in a top-4 role alongside Sami Vatanen. In a little over 100 minutes together, they own a 57 Corsi For%, 56 Scoring Chance For%, and have out-scored opponents by a couple of pucks. For the most part that pairing has been easy on the eyes, too. I'm really interested to see how they hold up tonight against a Toronto team that possesses at least one elite player on each of the top three lines. There's no hiding in this one.
Here are the projected lineups.
New Jersey Devils
Taylor Hall - Nico Hischier - Kyle Palmieri
Marcus Johansson - Pavel Zacha - Jesper Bratt
Miles Wood - Travis Zajac - Blake Coleman
Brian Boyle - Brett Seney - John Quenneville
Andy Greene - Damon Severson
Will Butcher - Sami Vatanen
Mirco Mueller - Ben Lovejoy
Keith Kinkaid
Toronto (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Andreas Johnsson - Auston Matthews - Kasperi Kapanen
Zach Hyman - John Tavares - Mitch Marner
Patrick Marleau - Nazem Kadri - William Nylander
Tyler Ennis - Par Lindholm - Connor Brown
Morgan Rielly - Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner - Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott - Igor Ozhiganov
Frederik Andersen
Puck drop is just after 7:00 p.m. ET and can be seen on MSG+ and TSN4.
Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com and Corsica.Hockey
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