1) As mentioned in yesterday's blog, you can expect to see a new look on the man advantage as PA Parenteau joins the power play party. The Devils had one of the better power plays in the league last season, but went 0-2 in Thursday's game with zero shots on goal. Along with encouraging them to shoot more in general, but especially with the man advantage, head coach John Hynes will be mixing and matching the personnel on each unit until he finds a successful combination. He's hoping that happens tonight as goals against the Lightning come at a premium.
2) Not to harp on the importance of special teams, but they have the potential to play a huge roll in tonight's game. The Lightning, who have proven themselves to be offensively potent no matter the situation, had six power play opportunities against Detroit in their game on Thursday and scored three of their seven goals that night with the man advantage. No doubt the Devils coaching staff noticed and encouraged their team to maintain their improved level of discipline and attention to detail to limit the Lightning's power play time as much as possible tonight. It's also why the PK got a little extra something to think about in their video session and why there was so much emphasis on winning puck battles and being strong on the forecheck in practice yesterday.
3) We could be in for one heck of a goalie battle tonight between Cory Schneider and Ben Bishop, both of whom represented Team USA at the World Cup of Hockey last month. Historically, Schneider has struggled against the Lightning with a 3.15 goals against average, where as Bishop has a 1.31 GAA again the Devils in his career. But, in their last outings, Bishop gave up four goals against Detroit and Schneider was solid against Florida. We'll see which goalies show up tonight.
Please join Matt Loughlin and me for the Morning Report on Facebook Live at 11 a.m. and then again for the Pregame Show at 6 p.m. before tonight's game at 7 p.m. on MSG+2.
