- The Matchup: New Jersey Devils @ Tampa Bay Lightning
- The Time: 7:00pm EST
- The Broadcast: MSGSN 2, Devils Hockey Radio
Last Devils Game
Well, game 1 happened against Carolina on Thursday night with a 6-3 loss. As much as we all, the faithful members of the Devils Nation wanted a win, the Hurricanes have had the number of the Devils (not 666 unfortunately) for a few years now. There was some good and more than an ideal amount of bad. However, that was Thursday and this is today. Let’s see what is in store for tonight’s matchup.
Injuries? Again? Already? Maybe….?
Chris talked about this in his recap of Thursday’s game, but it bears repeating here. Pesce took a pretty hard shot to his back against Carolina, and while he did return, I’d put the odds at 50/50 that he is either fine to play tonight, or they wind up keeping him out for “maintenance” or some other such nebulous reason.
Unlike Pesce, Dadonov did not finish the game on Thursday night. However, per Amanda Stein, the X-rays on his hand came back negative. There was no practice on Friday, so as of this writing (Friday night) we’ll have to wait and see if he is able to play tonight.
If Pesce is unable to play tonight, I would assume that Dennis Cholowski is the one that would fill his spot. The bigger question mark is, should Dadonov not be able to play, will we see the season debut of Shane Lachance, or Lenni Hameenaho?
I would expect an announcement to be made at some point today regarding these players, however at what time, I have no idea. I am 100% sure though, that I don’t really want to see the injury plague bug start to strike this hard, this early in the season. Fingers crossed for both Pesce and Dadonov to suit up tonight. But if not, next man up, no excuses.
Run It Back With Markstrom?
Thursday night was a strange game, as far as Jacob Markstrom goes. He did make some nice saves, that could have blown the game wide open. At the same time, one, two, maybe three posts is luck, coincidence, whatever. 5 posts. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5….is not a coincidence. I wouldn’t call it bad luck, because not 1 of those 5 ended up in the net. However, even being generous, you could say maybe 1 or 2 of those could/should have gone in. Point being, Markstrom got beat multiple times on Thursday, both from goals that counted and numerous could have been goals. As Torts said during the intermission on Thursday night (granted it was about Carolina), “you need a save there.” Markstrom made some great saves, yes, but there were more than a few “you need a save there” goals on Thursday.
So, does Keefe go back to Markstrom to give him a chance to put game 1 behind him, grab a win and gain some confidence? Or does he go to Allen, to mix it up see what happens? If it was me, I’d go with Allen. I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough today though, who will get the call tonight.
Grimace’s Prediction
Grimace is back friends to make a prediction. Fear not, my faithful followers, both of the Devils Nation and the Church of Grimace of Latter Day Hockey Gods. I have been informed, that the Devils will win tonight by a score of 4-2. When I asked him how sure he was, he said “does it matter? If I’m wrong, they are going to come after you, not me.” Let’s hope he’s right.
Your Take
I think it’s safe to say, that we all want Grimace to be correct tonight. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but starting the season 0-2 with a looming home opener next week against the 2 time defending champs, is not an ideal start to the season. Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below and thanks for reading!