Playoff Game Preview #3: New Jersey Devils vs. Carolina Hurricanes

With the possible return of Jonas Siegenthaler, the Devils hope to pull to within one game tonight.

The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (0-2) at the Carolina Hurricanes (2-0).

The Time: 8:00 PM EDT

The Broadcast: National TV – TBS; Canada: SN360, TVAS 2; Streaming: MAX; Local TV – MSGSN, FanDuel Sports Network South; Digital Audio – The Devils Radio Network

The Series Preview: For a complete breakdown of this series and more in-depth information, check out John’s Playoff Series Preview.

The Possible Return of Jonas Siegenthaler

While the Devils had no changes in their forward lines in practice yesterday — a mistake, in my eyes, given how much difficulty they had scoring last game — they had hopes of a huge boost coming from the blueline in the return of Jonas Siegenthaler. Skating on the third pairing with Simon Nemec, who had a nice Game Two in Raleigh, Siegenthaler hopes to give the Devils a defensive jolt, especially in defensive transition and play around the net. Brian Dumoulin and Brett Pesce did a great job on the left side in Game Two, but Dennis Cholowski leaves a lot to be desired in a playoff lineup.

Brett Pesce was off the ice, alongside other defensemen Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon. Keefe did not say that they are playing today, but he did not rule them out. That said, the return of Jonas Siegenthaler would give them a bit of time to hold Luke out of the lineup so he can recover more from whatever it is that actually happened to him in the second period of Game One. Brenden Dillon, whose injury is undisclosed, has had very few signs of activity. Personally, I would not be surprised to see Luke, but I am not expecting Dillon back.

The Hurricanes and Their Lineup

Up 2-0, I do not expect the Carolina Hurricanes to make any changes to their lines in Newark tonight. Per Rod Brind’Amour, the only concern is in net. Saying that the extra travel day makes him more likely to play, Coach Brind’Amour seems concerned about veteran goaltender Frederik Andersen’s ability to play every game in the series. If the Devils get out to an early multi-goal lead, expect him to pull Andersen for Pyotr Kochetkov, as he did in Game Three two years ago.

In their conversations with the media, Hurricanes Captain Jordan Staal credited the Devils and Nico Hischier for hemming his line in the defensive zone, noting that the team needs to prevent New Jersey from creating momentum in tonight’s game. Meanwhile, Jordan Martinook criticized their forecheck in Game Two, which he felt was too weak and slow to stop the Devils’ breakout.

Getting the Multi-Goal Lead

The essential, number one priority tonight is scoring two goals before the Hurricanes score one. The Devils absolutely cannot relent on their forechecking or their speed after scoring one — they need to make it two, so Jacob Markstrom won’t have a magnifying glass on his every movement and save. Markstrom’s stat line looks incredible so far this series — he has a .930 save percentage and 2.52 goals against average, but the Devils could really use a game where they hold Carolina to 1 or 2 goals, if not shutting them out. Giving Markstrom that cushion is the key.

This is also why I am not a fan of holding out Daniel Sprong from the lineup for Nathan Bastian and Tomas Tatar. I appreciate having one shutdown winger in the bottom six, but two is overkill. The Devils need scorers, and Sprong has shown great chemistry with Cody Glass and Erik Haula. Getting the middle six going will be part of the puzzle to fixing what’s wrong with this team, and I hope Sheldon Keefe has a change of mindset by puck drop tonight.

Your Thoughts

What do you think of tonight’s game? Will you be there? Will you be home, watching? What adjustments do you want to see? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.