THE SCOOP
The Devils open their road trip in Carolina one day after defeating these same Hurricanes 4-2 at Prudential Center. After tonight's game, the road trip will take the team to Anaheim, L.A., San Jose and Seattle with a total of five games in 12 days.
The Devils expect a better game against the Hurricanes after both teams were rusty coming off the three-day holiday break.
"They're a really good home team," said Luke Hughes. "They're probably going to be better tomorrow. We've got to shape up a little bit in our D zone. Marky's been big for us. We need to get more O zone time."
Carolina is 13-4-0 at home (as opposed to 8-9-1 on the road). However, overall they're 5-5-0 in their last 10 games and have lost two in a row. The Hurricanes entered the holiday break off a 5-2 loss to the Predators in Nashville and were backstopped by Dustin Tokarski, who was appearing in just his second game with Carolina. He made 20 saves on 24 shots. He is a possibility to start tonight after Pyotr Kochetkov played on Friday at Prudential Center.
Carolina sits third in the Metropolitan Division with 43 points, eight back of the Devils with three games in hand. They're six points up on the fourth-place Pittsburgh Penguins and have a game in hand on them as well.
The Devils are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and are coming off a home-heavy December schedule that saw them go 6-1-1 in eight games at Prudential Center.
WHO’S HOT
Devils: Luke Hughes has really picked up his offensive game. In his last 13 games, he has three goals and 13 points. He's picked up at least a point in five of his last six with two goals and six assists for eight points in that time.
Hurricanes: Forward Sebastian Aho was on a five-game point streak with four goals and two assists before being held off the scoresheet without a shot but will most likely return to his dangerous self tonight. He has 11 goals and 25 assists so far this season.
INJURIES
Devils: Lazar (knee), Hatakka (shoulder, IR)
Hurricanes: Drury (hand)
REGULAR-SEASON RESULTS
