New Jersey Devils

G81 New Jersey Devils vs New York Islanders: Spoil the party
April 8, 2017, 11:58 AM ET [3 Comments]
Todd Cordell
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The New Jersey Devils have long been out of the playoff race but tonight's game still holds a lot of meaning.

The reason: the New York Islanders are still fighting for their playoff lives. They've won four consecutive games and, though they're missing their best player in John Tavares, still have a (slim) chance of playing hockey in a week's time.

The Isles need a lot of help -- like losses from Toronto and Tampa Bay - but nothing matters if they don't take care of business in this game.

Their lineup leaves a lot to be desired (see below), and they'd almost certainly get crushed by the Capitals in a series, but you know they'll leave it all on the table tonight. That's why the Devils need to come out and match their intensity. They should be pretty amped up from #PattysLastLap and, though a win doesn't help the Devils much, this is the most meaning one of their games has held in months.

It's been a very disappointing season for the Devils but they have an opportunity to take one of their rivals down with them. Let's see if they can do it.

Here are the expected line combinations for New Jersey:

Adam Henrique - Travis Zajac - Kyle Palmieri
Taylor Hall - Pavel Zacha - Mike Cammalleri
Beau Bennett - Jacob Josefson - Stefan Noesen
Miles Wood - Blake Coleman - Ben Thomson

Andy Greene - Ben Lovejoy
John Moore - Damon Severson
Jon Merrill - Michael Kapla

Keith Kinkaid

And the expected lines for the Islanders:

Anders Lee - Anthony Beauvillier - Josh Ho-Sang
Andrew Ladd - Alan Quine - Jason Chimera
Thomas Hickey - Brock Nelson - Josh Bailey
Connor Jones - Stephen Gionta - Cal Clutterbuck

Nick Leddy - Johnny Boychuk
Calvin de Haan - Dennis Seidenberg
Adam Pelech - Scott Mayfield

Jaroslav Halak

A few notes:

1) Kinkaid has stopped 101 of 105 (.961 save percentage) over his last three starts and is playing his best hockey of the season. The Devils have struggled to score all year, and Halak has a history of coming up big when it matters most, so Kinkaid probably won't get much support tonight. He'll need to be good.

2) Lee is a shooting machine, has a team-leading 31 goals on the year, and is a pain in the ass to deal with in front of the net. The Devils are going to have their hands full with him.

3) The Islanders are 28th in suppressing scoring chances over the last 10 games, which isn't all that surprising given the watered down lineup they're dressing. Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri, and co. should get their share of chances tonight.

Tonight's game is scheduled for 6:00 and can be seen on MSG and MSG+.