Devils Return Home, Host Canadiens | PREVIEW

The New Jersey Devils return home to host the Montreal Canadiens.

You can watch on MSGSN or listen on the Devils Hockey Network.

Read below for your game preview and pre-game story below.

PRE-GAME STORY

NEWARK, NJ - After a three-game road trip and a day off on Tuesday, the Devils are back in action tonight at Prudential Center, hosting the Montreal Canadiens. New Jersey received some good news this morning as Timo Meier, who joined his teammates on the ice for morning skate, will return to the lineup for the first time since Dec. 30 in Boston. 

“Really excited to join again, get to work," Meier said after the morning skate, "I thought they had a good road trip, some tights games, and played some good hockey. Now it’s time to get some points and it’s a real important game.”

Having Meier back is one piece of the puzzle that has been missing with so many injuries. 

“We’re missing a lot of pieces up front, we know he was going good before he got hurt, hope he can continue where he left off,” coach Lindy Ruff said.

Unfortunately, as one player comes back, another one goes out. 

Brendan Smith suffered a sprained knee against the Bruins, Ruff shared. The veteran defenseman was not on the ice for morning skate and Ruff expects him to miss a bit of time. 

“One piece went out, one piece comes back, I don’t like the swap but at least we get a piece back,” Ruff said.

Dad in Town

Simon Nemec will have a special guest in the crowd tonight, his father Jan is in New Jersey, visiting from Slovakia to watch his son play in the NHL for the first time. Not only is that a special moment for the father-son duo, but also to be playing against Montreal in the first game Jan will see makes it even sweeter. 

Slovak Juraj Slafkovsky, who was taken first overall in the 2022 NHL draft, one spot ahead of Nemec, plays for Montreal and this will be the first regular season game the two will play against one another. 

Nemec, his girlfriend, Jan and Slafkovsky all went out to dinner on Tuesday night together. 

D Swaps

With Smith out, it will likely be Cal Foote will likely draw into the lineup, his first game at the NHL level with New Jersey. Foote has been up with the Devils for the past few days practicing, but against Montreal, he will play his first NHL game since April 24, 2023 with the Nashville Predators. 

“Just play physical, take care of my own end and try to shut down their top guys,” Foote said of his task tonight. 

The defensive pairings won't be known until warmups as Luke Hughes did not skate with his teammates this morning. Hughes has been affected by a bug and was held off the ice, but he is expected to play.

PREVIEW

DEVILS (22-16-3) vs. CANADIENS (18-18-7)

Head-to-Head

This is the second of three meetings between the Devils and Canadiens this season with the final on Feb. 24 at Prudential Center. In the first game, the Devils picked up a 5-2 win on Oct. 24 in Montreal. In a game against his former team, Tyler Toffoli scored a hat-trick, two of his three goals coming in the final frame. Alexander Holtz and Nico Hischier also added goals.

Devils Team Scope:

New Jersey is coming off a three-game road trip where they picked up three of six possible points with an injured roster. The Devils lost 4-3 in overtime to the Tampa Bay Lightning before ending the Florida Panther’s nine game win streak with a 4-1 win. New Jersey fell 3-0 to the Boston Bruins on Monday, the final stop of the trip.

The Devils have been hit hard with injuries as six major players are out of the lineup. Jonas Siegenthaler (broken foot), Dougie Hamilton (torn pectoral muscle), Timo Meier (mid-body) and Tomas Nosek (foot) are on the IR for their respective injuries. Jack Hughes (upper-body) and Ondrej Palat (lower-body) are also out but not on the IR.

Tyler Toffoli and Jesper Bratt are tied for the team lead with 16 goals while Bratt’s 30 assists are tied with Hughes for the most on the Devils. Bratt’s 46 points lead New Jersey as well. The Devils have a goaltender tandem of Vitek Vanecek and Nico Daws currently; however, Daws has played the last two games. Daws has a 3-2-0 record this season with New Jersey where he’s averaging 2.63 goals against and has a .922 save percentage. Vanecek has a 14-7-2 record through 25 games played. He has a 3.31 goal against average and a .882 save percentage.

The Devils are currently sixth in the Metropolitan Division with 47 points and are two points out of a wild-card spot. However, there are only 9 points separating first in the division and sixth and New Jersey has played at least one less game than every team ahead of them in the standings. Wednesday’s game is the second of five games in eight days.

Canadiens Team Scope:

Montreal is coming off a big 4-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche Monday night with four different scorers and 11 players on the scoresheet. Jake Allen stopped 35 of the 38 shots he faced to help the Canadiens pick up a win. Like the Devils, the Canadiens are suffering some injuries to their roster with Alex Newhook, Chris Wideman, Kirby Dach, Christian Dvorak, and Tanner Pearson on the IR. Jesse Ylonen and Josh Anderson are day-to-day with injuries suffered in the last week.

Cole Caufield leads the team with 13 goals while Mike Matheson’s 25 assists are first on the Canadiens. Nick Suzuki is second in goals (12) and first in points (37 points) for Montreal this season. Sam Montembeault and Jake Allen have split the majority of the Canadiens games this season. Montembeault has a 2.89 goals against average with a .909 save percentage. He has a 9-6-4 record. Allen has a 5-8-2 record with a 3.49 goals against average and a .901 save percentage. On Tuesday, Canadiens Head Coach Martin St-Louis confirmed Montembeault will start against the Devils.

Throughout the first seven games of the month, the Canadiens have gone 3-2-2 and are 3-5-2 in their last 10. Montreal is sixth in the Atlantic division and their 43 points are six back from a playoff spot. This is the first half of a back-to-back with Montreal playing the Senators in Ottawa on Thursday night.

By the Numbers:

9: Points separating the top team in the Metropolitan Division and the Devils

65.7%: Michael McLeod's face-off win rate as he leads the NHL in this category

0.1: The difference between the Devils and Canadiens for face-off wins (average percentage). The slim difference gives New Jersey the fourth-best average while Montreal has the fifth-best.

Injuries:

Devils

Jonas Siegenthaler (IR, broken foot)
Dougie Hamilton (IR, torn pectoral muscle)
Timo Meier (IR, mid-body)
Tomas Nosek (IR, foot)
Jack Hughes (week-to-week, upper-body)
Ondrej Palat (lower-body)

Canadiens

Kirby Dach (IR, knee)
Alex Newhook (IR, ankle)
Christian Dvorak (IR, pectoral muscle)
Tanner Pearson (IR, upper-body)
Josh Anderson (day-to-day, lower-body)