Devils Wrap Up Road Trip in Pittsburgh | PREVIEW

New Jersey wraps up a two-game road trip in Pittsburgh against the Penguins

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PRE-GAME STORY

The return of Jack Hughes will have to wait at least one more game. Although there was a chance that Hughes could have joined the team on the latter half of the current road trip, in the end, Hughes did not make the trip. 

"Jack is still progressing, but not quite ready," head coach Lindy Ruff said after this morning's skate.

In the meantime, the Devils carry on with the players that they do have available to play.  

Meier Misses Skate

Timo Meier missed the full morning skate session in Pittsburgh and was a late-comer, joining a handful of teammates on the ice toward the end of the session.

Ruff indicated that Meier will be a game-time decision after he got "a little banged up" against the Jets in Winnipeg on Tuesday.

During the morning skate, it was Max Willman who took Meier’s spot as a placeholder on the top line with Michael McLeod and Jesper Bratt.

Lindy Ruff shared that Meier will be a game-time decision after getting “a little banged up” against the Winnipeg Jets two nights ago.

Without Meier during line rushes morning, this is how the line rushes unfolded.

Noticeably from the lineup is the team going back to the defensive pairings they’ve used much of the season to date. Against the Winnipeg Jets, there was an effort to pair Luke Hughes and Dougie Hamilton together, but the two struggled as a new pairing.

While working on the power play, reporter Catherine Bogart noted that there were some adjustments in Meier's absence:

Will It Be Willman? 

Should Meier not be able to play, the odds are it will be Max Willman, the only extra forward on the trip, who will slot into the lineup. 

"I think personally for me, I'm just trying to stay ready in case he can't go tonight," Willman said after today's skate. "Amongst our group, pretty much everyone can play up and down the lineup. There's a lot of flexibility. Just for me, I stay ready and wherever they put me I'll be ready to go."

Stop It at Three

The Devils winless streak has stretched to three games, something the team hopes to correct as quickly as tonight in Pittsburgh. It's not about a complete overhaul that is necessary, it's doing more of the little things right and also finding a bit of that puck luck.

"After watching the video, there's a lot of good things we do," Erik Haula said, "but there are hiccups that happen and right now is a time where they end up in the back of our net. Yeah, three-game skid but we're going to do everything we can to get out of it tonight."

The Penguins are currently on a stretch of five consecutive wins and as per usual they're led by their star players. Sidney Crosby is coming off of hat trick performance in their last game and although Evgeni Malkin missed practice on Wednesday, he was back on the ice for morning skate with the Pens tonight. When you face the Penguins, you're facing a whole lot of exceptional talent.

"They're both great players, they have been," Ruff said, "When things start going well, they use that as fuel, it pushes them even harder. You've got to be aware of them, you've got to take their speed away, we know what they can bring. You take an (Erik) Karlsson on the back end that can help join and create, it makes them a dangerous crew."

-Amanda Stein, NJD.TV

PREVIEW

DEVILS (7-6-1) vs. PENGUINS (8-6-0)

Head-to-Head

Thursday is the first of three games between the Devils and Penguins, and the lone game in Pittsburgh. New Jersey will host Pittsburgh on Mar. 19 and Apr. 2.

Last season, the Devils won all four games against the Penguins starting with a 4-2 victory in Pittsburgh on Dec. 30. New Jersey would pick up a 2-1 overtime win at home on Jan. 22, a 5-2 win on Feb. 18 on the road, and a 5-1 victory on Apr. 4 at Prudential Center.

Devils Team Scope:

New Jersey has dropped its last three straight, most recently a 6-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on the road. The Devils wrap up this two-game road trip against the Penguins before returning home to host their rivals, the New York Rangers.

Without Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier in the lineup, several other players have stepped up. Dawson Mercer has three goals in four games while Timo Meier is on a three-game goal streak. Michael McLeod is turned to for face-offs and he currently is winning 61.1% of his draws, which is seventh-best in the NHL. McLeod set a new career-high in face-off wins on Tuesday night, winning 16 of the 23 draws he took. John Marino is on a five-game points streak and has eight points in his last 10 games played.

Tyler Toffoli leads the Devils with eight goals and his 14 overall points are third on the team. Jack Hughes leads the team in assists with 15, and is tied with Jesper Bratt for the most points on the Devils with 20. Vitek Vanecek has played 10 games and started nine. He has a 6-3-0 record, a 3.45 goals against average, and a .887 save percentage. Akira Schmid played New Jersey’s most recent game and he has played six games and started five. He’s 1-3-1, has a 3.46 goals against average, and a .885 save percentage.

The Devils power play continues to score, even without several big names, and is the top-ranked units in the NHL. New Jersey had two power play goals on five opportunities against the Jets. The Devils penalty kill is 20th in the NHL with a 76.5% kill rate, but allowed two goals on four penalties against Winnipeg. Averaging 3.64 goals a game, the Devils are sixth in the NHL in goals for, games played. New Jersey’s 52.9% face-off win rate is also sixth in the league.

Penguins Team Scope:

Pittsburgh is on a five-game winning streak, most recently picking up a 5-3 victory in Columbus against the Blue Jackets Tuesday night. Thursday kicks off four games in seven days for the Penguins, as Pittsburgh has eight more contests in the month of November.

Captain Sidney Crosby picked up a hat-trick against the Blue Jackets and now leads his team with ten goals. His 19 points also leads Pittsburgh, and Crosby’s nine assists are tied for third-most on the Penguins. Jake Guentzel’s 12 assists are a team-high, and Guentzel has the second most points at 18. Tristan Jarry has played the majority of the Penguins games this season. Through 11 games he has a 6-5 record, with a 2.31 goals against average and a .918 save percentage.

The Penguins are a team that is strong defensively, shutting down their opponents both 5-on-5 and on the power play. Pittsburgh is averaging 2.64 goals against per games played, which is seventh-best in the NHL, and killing off 84.8% of their penalties which is tenth-best in the league. On the flip side, the Penguins are scoring an average of 3.64 goals per game played which is sixth-best in the NHL. Pittsburgh’s power play is only scoring 17.9% of the time and has scored three goals through 12 opportunities in November.

By the Numbers:

John Marino is riding a five-game points streak heading into a contest against his former team. He has the opportunity to tie his career-high points streak (six games) if he picks up a point against Pittsburgh.

Ondrej Palat picked up his 300th career assist on Tuesday night, making him the 27th Czechia native to earn 300 or more helpers in the NHL.

Sidney Crosby scored a hat-trick on Tuesday, and his third goal of the night tied him for the 27th most career goals in the NHL with 560 tallies. The hat-trick was Crosby’s 13th in his career. Crosby is off to a hot start this season, picking up at least a point in all but one of the Penguins games this season.

Injuries:

Devils

Jack Hughes (upper-body)

Nico Hischier (upper-body)

Penguins

Alex Nedeljkovic (lower-body)

John Ludvig (concussion)

Will Butcher (undisclosed)

Jeff Carter (lower-body)

-Catherine Bogart, NJD.TV