Devils Welcome Flames | PREVIEW

New Jersey welcomes the Calgary Flames to Prudential Center for a Thursday night matchup. Puck drop is 7:08 p.m. ET. 

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 - The Devils held a morning skate Thursday at Prudential Center ahead of hosting the Calgary Flames.

Center Jack Hughes will return to the lineup for the first time since Jan. 5. He missed 11 games with an upper-body injury.

“I’m excited. I’m ready to get back out there,” Hughes confirmed.

Hughes is typically the Devils’ leader in minutes among the forwards. And with him having missed a month of action, the coaching staff will keep an eye on his workload.

“I’ll be aware of his minutes,” head coach Lindy Ruff said. “It’ll depend on how he looks. That’ll dictate the number of minutes”

Forward Tyler Toffoli, who missed the team’s last game with an illness, will also be back in action for the Devils.

Despite the return of Toffoli and Hughes, Ruff tempered their expectations.

“We have a couple guys coming back in. One that was sick and hasn’t practice. Another that hasn’t had any game condition,” the coach said. “At some point rust will catch up to you. But getting them back in gives us all the tools up front that we need to keep pressing forward.”

Lineup

The Devils used the following workflow at today’s morning skate…

Palat – Hischier – Bratt
Meier – Haula – Mercer
Toffoli – Hughes – Holtz
Lazar – Nosek – Bastian

Bahl – Nemec
Hughes – Marino
Hatakka – Miller

Vitek Vanecek in starter’s net.

Although Hughes skated with Toffoli and Alexander Holtz, that doesn’t necessarily mean that will be the setup come game time.

“That may not be a line,” Ruff said. “It was something we put together (for skate). We have other thoughts on lines. For this morning, we let them skate together.”

Returns

Toffoli will be facing his former Flames teammates tonight. The player that was traded to Calgary in that summer transaction was New Jersey’s Yegor Sharangovich, who is Flames’ team lead with 20 goals. It’s his first game back in New Jersey since the trade.

“He’s shooting the puck really well. He’s on the power play, that’s been a big help,” Ruff said. “Here he was in and out on the power play. ‘Shara’ was a good player for us. He killed penalties well for us. Played in the middle. Played on the wing. Shara is a great guy. He was a great teammate. He was well liked. I enjoyed coaching him.”

PREVIEW

DEVILS (25-20-3) vs. FLAMES (23-22-5)

Head-to-Head

The Devils and Flames meet for the second and final time this season, and the only time in Newark. The clubs previously battled in Alberta with the Devils netting a 4-2 win on Dec. 9.

Captain Nico Hischier scored two goals while Jesper Bratt and Alexander Holtz also tallied in the winning effort. Goalie Vitek Vanecek stopped 23 of 25 shots in the game. Nazem Kadri and Yegor Sharangovich scored for Calgary.

Devils Team Scope:

The Devils exited the bye week and All-Star break with a clutch 5-3 victory at home against the Colorado Avalanche.

They have some ground to make up in the race for a playoff spot in the Wild Card chase. New Jersey’s 53 points in 48 games has them in the fifth position, five points out of the final playoff spot held by Detroit (58 points). The Red Wings have played two more games than the Devils.

The biggest reason for the Devils’ struggles has been the injuries the club has endured. Forward Tomas Nosek returned to the lineup against Colorado after missing almost three months with a broken foot. All-Star forward Jack Hughes (out since Jan. 5 with an upper-body injury) started practicing with the team and is a question mark for the contest.

Forward Jesper Bratt, who replaced Hughes in the NHL’s All-Star Game last weekend, leads the team with 32 assists and 52 points. Tyler Toffoli, who missed the last game with an illness, has a team-best 21 goals to go with 34 points. Despite having missed 15 games this season, Hughes is still second on the team in scoring with 45 points. Rookie blueliner Luke Hughes paces the backend with eight goals and 26 points.

Flames Team Scope:

The Flames made headlines with the high-profile trade of Elias Lindholm to Vancouver in exchange for Andrei Kuzmenko, Hunter Brzustewicz, Joni Jurmo and two 2024 draft picks (first and fourth round). In his first game with Calgary at Boston on Tuesday, Kuzmenko scored a goal in the club’s 4-1 win.

Calgary is still in contention for a playoff position. They sit in the fifth Wild Card spot with 51 points, three behind St. Louis for the second and final WC position.

The Flames exit the All-Star break with a four-game road trip at Boston, New Jersey, New York Islanders and New York Rangers. Calgary has been streaky of late. The Flames have won two in a row, but before that they lost four-straight. Before that they won four-straight.

Nazem Kadri leads the team in scoring with 42 on 16 goals and 26 assists. Former Devils Blake Coleman and Yegor Sharangovich lead the Flames with 20 goals each. MacKenzie Weegar paces the team’s blueliners with 12 goals and 29 points.

By the Numbers:

Bratt has a five-game point streak with six points (4g-2a). He has goals in each of his past three games.

Bratt has reached the 20-goal plateau for the third straight year.

Devils are 16-18-1 when surrendering the game's first goal.

Kuzmenko’s goal (4:20) against Boston was the fifth-fastest by a player making his Flames debut. Eddy Beers had the fastest (1:45) on March 17, 1982.

Connor Zary’s first-period goal was his 11th of the season, making him the first Calgary rookie since Mark Jankowski (17 in 2017-18) to score more than 10 in a season. 

Injuries:

Devils

Hamilton (pectoral muscle - LTIR)
Smith (sprained knee - IR)
J. Hughes (upper-body - day-to-day)
Siegenthaler (broken foot - IR)

Flames

Greer (foot - IR)