Devils Battle Rangers in Rivalry Showdown | PREVIEW

New Jersey hosts their Hudson River rivals in the New York Rangers at Prudential Center. 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

The Devils did not hold a morning skate ahead of playing the New York Rangers. Instead head coach Lindy Ruff met with the media prior to the game. Here’s a rundown of that availability.

Update on John Marino.

He skated this morning and it looks like he’ll be able to play. We’ll still make it a game-time decision, but he felt a lot better.

On cleaning up mistakes from Washington?

We want to remain consistent. It wasn’t the start we wanted. I thought we generated enough opportunities and didn’t finish. Again, we had a few situations where we let the other team get inside. A couple easy goals that we haven’t to make sure we don’t hand the opposition tonight.

On the rivalry game against the Rangers.

Any time you get to play a rival that’s right across the river, it tends to have more into than any other team.

On the team D

If you look at a couple plays, there were three goals that I didn’t think we played very well. It’s the detail of remaining in front of the net. For five games in a row, we did a lot better job of that. If you look at that game, I think we dominated play for a good period. But we made the bigger mistakes. I think our mistakes were bigger than Washington’s.

PREVIEW

DEVILS (28-23-4) vs. RANGERS (37-16-3)

Head-to-Head

The Devils and Rangers meet for the second time this season, and the final time in Newark. The two clubs met previously on the Jersey side of the Hudson River on Nov. 18. In that contest, New York edged out a 5-3 victory.

Jimmy Vesey and Artemi Panarin each scored twice. Blake Wheeler also scored while Vincent Trocheck recorded three assists. The Devils had goals from Jack Hughes, Ondrej Palat and Erik Haula.

The two teams will meet twice at Madison Square Garden on March 11 and April 3.

Devils Team Scope:

The Devils are still trying to burst the playoff bubble. They sit on the outside with 60 points on the season. That’s four behind Detroit for the second Wild Card position and final playoff spot. Meanwhile, the New York Islanders have tied the Devils in points (New Jersey has the tie breaker) while the Capitals are now two points behind the Devils.

The Devils were hoping to build off the momentum of a 6-3 win in the Stadium Series against Philadelphia, but the club suffered a 6-2 setback at Washington Tuesday night.

Jesper Bratt leads the team in scoring with 58 points. He has a team-best 38 assists. Jack Hughes is next with 50 points, despite missing 16 games due to injury. Forward Tyler Toffoli paces the club with 24 goals on the year. Captain Nico Hischier has two two-goal games in his past four contests. Rookie blueliner Luke Hughes leads the way on the back end with eight goals and 27 points.

Defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler returned to the lineup against Washington, playing for the first time since missing six weeks with a broken foot. John Marino missed the game with an illness and missed Wednesday's practice.

Goaltender Nico Daws has played in five straight games for the team, including a stretch of four games in six nights. He’s 3-2 over that span. Isaac Poulter was signed last week to a two-way contract and was called up to the NHL Wednesday.

Rangers Team Scope:

The Rangers sit in the top spot in the Metro Division with 77 points on the season. That also puts them in the No. 1 position in the entire Eastern Conference. The Rangers own the tie-breaker with Boston.

New York has been arguably the best team in the NHL since the All-Star break. All they’ve done is win every game since their stoppage, going 7-0-0. That includes wins against Colorado, Tampa Bay and Dallas. New York overcame a 5-3 deficit in the third period of the Stadium Series to the Islanders before winning 6-5 in overtime.

The Rangers are led offensively by Artemi Panarin, whose 32 goals, 43 assists and 75 points are the most on the team in each category. Chris Kreider is second on the club with 28 goals and 53 points. Mika Zibanejad also has 53 points on 18 goals and 35 helpers. Adam Fox leads the charge from the blue line with eight goals and 45 points, though he’s missed 10 games with injury. Goalie Igor Shesterkin hasn’t had his typical Vezina-type season. But he has been solid in net, going 23-12-1.

Panarin and Vesey (both lower-body) missed Wednesday's practice and are listed as day-to-day.

By the Numbers:

Alex Holtz scored his 13^th goal of the season against the Capitals, snapping a 11-game goal-less drought. Eight of his goals have been scored in the first period.

The Devils power play has scored two goals in the past 13 games (2-for-41).

Panarin has reach 30 goals in a season four times, and is the only active undrafted player to accomplish that feat.

Kreider has surpassed Adam Graves for third in goals (281) in Rangers history, as well as 10^th in points (509).

Injuries:

Devils

Marino (illness)
Vanecek (lower-body, IR)
Hamilton (torn pectoral, LTIR)

NY Rangers

Chytil (upper-body)
Wheeler (lower-body)