- The Matchup: Anaheim Ducks (19-11-1) @ New Jersey Devils (17-13-1)
- The Time: 12:30pm EST
- The Broadcast: MSG, Devils Hockey Radio
Last Devils Game
In case you missed it, or wisely chose to do something else with your night, the Devils lost 8-4 against Tampa Bay on Thursday night. In the latest episode of Markstrom doing Markstrom things, he let up 2 goals less than 1 minute apart, less than 4 minutes into the game. Exactly what you need from your “starter.” Luke “I am on pace for 5 goals this season” Hughes gave the fans some hope by scoring his 2nd goal of the season at the 7:00 min mark. However, Markstrom wasn’t having any of that, and let up his 3rd goal against 56 seconds later (his 3rd GA on 7 shots). Surprisingly (yes, I’m being serious here) Keefe had seen enough and actually pulled Markstrom for Jake Allen at this point. Allen was not about to be outdone by the starter. In showing that he too can be the number one goalie for the Devils, he went on to let up 5 goals on 28 shots.
On the “bright side”, Jesper “it’s ok to shoot” Bratt scored his 1st goal since 11/6. Another way to look at it is that he also scored his 2nd goal since 10/22. Do with this information what you will. Paul Cotter, Stefan Noesen, and Cody Glass got on the board. Maybe they finally realized they have to do something. Maybe not. Angus Crookshank scored his 1st goal of the season. So we have that going for us. Which is nice. The Devils also let up 2 power play goals, oh wait. That’s not actually good news. The Devils did score a power play goal (Bratt), which would be good, if it wasn’t cancelled out by the 2 goals against by Tampa on their PP.
Last Ducks Game
On Thursday, the Ducks lost to the Islanders by a score of 5-2. The Islanders scored 3 unanswered goals in the 1st period, including 2 power plays goals in a row by Anders Lee. Anaheim scored once in the 2nd and once in the 3rd period to make it 3-2 at one point. However, NY scored 2 more goals later in the 3rd period to win the game 5-2. The game was their first loss after winning their previous 3 games in a row.
One bit of information that I found interesting is that Ville Husso started in goal on Thursday for the Ducks. That is not particularly interesting on its own. What IS interesting (at least to me), is that he has now started the last (checks notes…) 8 games in a row for the Ducks. In 2025, that’s something that is pretty crazy to see. I’m going to guess he starts today against the Devils, but we shall see.
Injuries, Roster for Tonight, Yada, Yada, Yada.
The latest victim of the injury bug this season is now Arseny Gritsyuk. Per Sheldon Keefe yesterday after practice, Gritsyuk will miss both games this weekend.
The other 2 remaining question marks for today are probably “will Timo be back?” and “who will start in net?” My response is pretty much, “does it matter at this point?” Realistically, I don’t expect Timo to be back today or this weekend.
Trust me, I’m as tired of saying it as you are of reading it. But Markstrom is awful (73rd in the league in GAA-3.66, 70th with a SV% of .875). Allen did not inspire confidence last night either. However at least he’s had more good games than bad this season and his stats (33rd in GAA 2.70 and 35th SV% .903) don’t resemble someone that belongs in the ECHL at this point (hint – it’s Markstom. I’m talking about Markstrom).
Grimace’s Prediction and 2025-2026 Record Tracker
The Devils are going to lose today. Kreider will score a goal on the PP. Sincerely, Grimace.
Grimace’s 2025-2026 Season Prediction record currently stands at 9-8-0.
Your Take
What else is there to say about this team at this point? I only wish Fitz could play today against Anaheim. Maybe then Jacob Trouba could throw one of his big hits on Fitz and put him out for the season. Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below and thanks for reading!
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