The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (10-4-0) versus the Pittsburgh Penguins (9-4-2)
The Time: 12:30 PM ET
The Broadcast: TV — MSGSN
Hamilton Down
There was no update yesterday on Dougie Hamilton, who left Thursday night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens with a lower-body injury. Per Sheldon Keefe, Hamilton was being evaluated yesterday, so we should have some word on him today, whether or not he is available. With Colton White already in New Jersey, the Devils simply shifted their defensemen around to accommodate the newest injury. The resulting defensive pairs are…not pretty.
Still, the Devils have to work with what they have available. Do I think they should call up someone like Ethan Edwards or Seamus Casey, who were paired together in a 3-0 Utica Comets victory last night? Yes. Do I think they’ll do it? Well, not in time for this game. If the Devils are to win this game without Dougie Hamilton, it will be by relegating that third pairing to play with bottom six lines only, as the now-temporarily defunct Cholowski-Nemec pairing has had disastrous impacts and results in their minutes with Jack Hughes’s line. On top of that, I would expect Siegenthaler, Dillon, and Hughes to all hover around 25-30 minutes played this afternoon if it is a particularly close game.
The Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are off to a great start this season. I invite everyone to read what I wrote about them yesterday in the Division Snapshot. From there, there are some important injury notes on their roster:
Brazeau hitting IR is another tough blow for the Penguins, who have an even longer IR list than the Devils right now. Kevin Hayes was placed on injured reserve yesterday, though he may make his season debut against the Devils tomorrow. Tristan Jarry, who was actually having a good start to his season at 5-2-0 with a .911 save percentage, will not be back until December with a lower-body injury. The Penguins now have Sergei Murashov backing up Arturs Silovs, as Joel Blomqvist has been out for the start of the season. Luckily for the Penguins, Murashov was very promising in Russia and has been very good in the ECHL and AHL since arriving in North America last season. The Penguins are also missing Caleb Jones, who was playing third pairing minutes until he hit IR with a lower-body injury in late October, in addition to Rickard Rakell, who had eight points in nine games before getting hand surgery. He won’t be back until late December. The Penguins keep chugging along.
With 18-year old rookie Benjamin Kindel making a big impact on the Penguins alongside free agent pickup Anthony Mantha, the Penguins still have the players to keep their top six performing well. Their bottom six, however, still looks a little more suspect after those injuries, though Connor Dewar has chipped in some goals from the wing. The Penguins are always a threat to score when Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang are on the ice, though, and that is still about three-quarters of the game.
The last time the Devils played the Penguins, they hard-matched Cody Glass on Sidney Crosby due to Jack Hughes’s absence, and Glass did very well that night. I wonder if Keefe will go to the same look today, allowing Jack Hughes to feast on one of the Penguins’ bottom six lines. Otherwise, I would expect Nico Hischier to get the minutes against Crosby and Rust.
First Period Performance
As has been recently written about around here, the Devils need to make sure they show up for the first period. This is even more important with it being a 12:30 start time. If the Devils let the elder Penguins have free run in the first period, either Jake Allen or Jacob Markstrom (I’m presuming Allen based on the slightly short rest since Thursday) will have to come up big for them. I would prefer to see the Devils get out to an early lead, though, as this game is for the Metropolitan Division points lead.
Your Thoughts
What do you think of today’s matinee? Will you be there or will you be watching from home? Do you think the Devils will win? Who are you looking for a big performance from? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.