The Matchup: New Jersey Devils (20-16-1) vs. Washington Capitals (19-13-5)

The Time: 7:00pm ET

The Broadcast: MSGSN2, Devils Radio Network

Last Devils Game

In their final game before the Christmas break on Tuesday, the Devils lost to the Islanders 2-1 on Long Island. Brett Pesce had New Jersey’s lone goal, Jacob Markstrom was excellent except for one major gaffe, and the Devils allowed a goal around the 59-minute mark to allow their division rival to sneak away with a regulation win.

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Last Capitals Game

Washington was also in action on Tuesday, and they got boat-raced by the New York Rangers, 7-3.

Last Devils-Capitals Game

Back on November 15, the New Jersey Devils played their first game after Jack Hughes’ freak injury in Chicago. It was a 3-2 shootout victory against the Capitals, in which Simon Nemec scored the winner in the skills competition to give New Jersey the extra point.

Reevaluating The Standings

Now that the Christmas break is over, it seems like a good time to take stock of where the Devils rank in both the division and conference standings.

Entering tonight’s game, New Jersey is sixth in the Metropolitan with 41 points, ahead of only the Pittsburgh Penguins (39) and Columbus Blue Jackets (36). Things are slightly better when going by points percentage, as that pushes the Devils ahead of the New York Rangers, who have one more point in two more games played. As far as the Eastern Conference standings go, the Devils are one point out of a playoff spot, though the team holding the second wild card slot right now, the Florida Panthers, has played one fewer game than New Jersey.

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What’s frustrating is that for all of the Devils’ struggles, they are tied for the third-most wins in the conference (20), behind only the Carolina Hurricanes and Detroit Red Wings, who have 22 victories each. Granted, they are tied with five other teams, but it does go to show that things could be worse. The problem lies in the loser point. New Jersey only has one loser point thus far, tied with the fewest in the East with Boston. Tonight’s opponent, Washington, has one fewer win than New Jersey (in the same amount of games played), but two more loser points, so they enter tonight’s contest with two more points than the Devils. The Rangers, Senators, and Islanders are all teams that are ahead of New Jersey in the standings despite having fewer wins, all thanks to having more loser points (4, 5, and 7 respectively).

“Losing better” feels like such an odd thing to want your team to do, but that’s how Gary Bettman has set up his league. So here I am begging for the Devils to lose more games past 60 minutes. Or they could just, you know, actually win games too. That would help.

Metro Malaise

Speaking of the standings, the Devils are out of a playoff spot at the moment thanks in large part to their struggles against their own division. Entering tonight’s game, New Jersey is a pathetic 3-5-1 against Metropolitan Division teams. They have lost their last four in-division contests, with their last win actually being the last times they met the Capitals on November 15. When you go almost a month-and-a-half between division wins, you have a serious problem on their hands.

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As if this weren’t enough, of the Devils’ three wins against the Metro, only one of them has come in regulation: October 13 against the Blue Jackets. The Devils have allowed opponents to collect 14 of a possible 18 points against them, which is a mind-bending .778 points percentage.

I don’t think I need to tell you that this is a serious, serious problem. New Jersey is going to have a massive problem making the playoffs if they continue allowing Metro teams to rack up points at will against them. I heavily advise the Devils to walk away with a regulation win tonight. Four-point swings are big any time of the year, but especially now with the playoff race so bunched up.

Big Guns Misfiring

Jesper Bratt has one goal and 15 points in his last 23 games.

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Nico Hischier has one goal and seven points over his last 13 games.

Dougie Hamilton has not scored in his last 23 games, and has only tallied three assists in that time.

Dawson Merver has not scored in his last 12 games, and has only tallied four assists in that time.

Timo Meier and Luke Hughes have been a little better, but not by much. Jack Hughes just returned from a long-term injury (and has a goal in his two games since rejoining the lineup), so I won’t get on him too much. But even with the marginal successes of those players, this team’s stars are not carrying their weight at all. There are advanced stats that we could look at that paint a rosier picture, and more importantly, that tell us these poor scoring numbers should regress to the mean (in a positive way!) soon. But the damage has already been done, New Jersey has lost a lot of ground in the standings because they are inexplicably incapable of scoring goals.

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And it’s not like this is just a random cold spell either. In the category of “Stats that are hard to believe and should terrify Devils fans”, New Jersey is dead last in the NHL in 5-on-5 goals since last Christmas.

Dead. Last. In the entire league. For a full calendar year.

That is completely unacceptable, and it now has folks starting to point fingers at the coaching staff. I won’t get into that here, but the fact that it’s even gotten to this point should be enormously concerning to everyone involved. The Devils’ shooting luck should (emphasis on should) get better soon. But we’ve been saying that for a full calendar year now. It’s put up or shut up time.

Goalies Heating Up

If there’s one positive that has come out of New Jersey’s recent struggles, it’s been the play of their goaltenders. Jacob Markstrom was terrific against the Islanders (save for his huge mistake handling a puck that gifted New York a goal). He was also stellar against Utah last week, and pretty good in his game before that against Vancouver. Meanwhile Jake Allen fine against the Sabres, otherworldly against the Golden Knights, and incredible against the Ducks. Since the disaster against Tampa Bay on December 11, these two have really put the team on their backs.

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This is fantastic to see, especially for Markstrom, who was struggling so mightily that it made me start to wonder if New Jersey could buy him out over the summer. As for Allen, he’s been pretty terrific all season long, and he’s kept that up through the Christmas break. There is still a lot of season left to go, but if the two veteran netminders can keep up this quality, or something close to it, that would go a long way toward getting New Jersey back to the playoffs, even if the offense continues to scuffle.

State Of The Union

If Devils fans need a pick-me-up, the Washington Capitals are proof that sometimes other teams have it as bad as New Jersey too. The Caps come into tonight’s contest having lost their last three games, and six of their last seven. They had a nice six-game winning streak from November 24-December 3, but since then it’s been bleak. This skid has dropped them down into the wild card, where they are only two points up on a playoff spot.

So what’s been the issue for Washington lately? Mainly keeping the puck out of their own net. Aside from their 4-0 win over Toronto on December 18, the Capitals have allowed a total of 27 goals over their last six games. Their main dog in net, Logan Thompson, has been elite since the start of last season, but has hit a rough patch since this downturn commenced. In his five games played since December 11 (when Washington’s streak of six losses in seven games began), Thompson has posted an .891 save percentage. The team in front of him hasn’t exactly helped him out, allowing just north of 31 shots against per game, but it’s not like that’s a completely unreasonable figure. The bottom line is, Thompson just hasn’t been very good lately.

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His tandem-mate, Charlie Lindgren, hasn’t been good all season long, and especially since December 11. He’s only played two games since then, but he’s put up a save percentage of .864, which is just dismal. His overall season save percentage is .888, so it’s been a real struggle for him thus far.

We keep saying it, but the Devils have a real opportunity to snap out of their scoring funk here. Thompson is usually quite strong, but he’s scuffling, and Lindgren has been terrible this season. Whoever starts tonight, New Jersey will be facing a goalie that is currently going through it. They really need to take advantage.

As far as their skaters go, it is of course the old guard leading the way. Tom Wilson paces the team in scoring with 34 points (17 goals) in 37 games. Alex Ovechkin is right behind him with 31 points (14 goals) in 37 contests). Rounding out the top-three is John Carlson, who is up to 29 points (eight goals) in 33 games.

When it comes to who to watch for tonight, get ready to see a lot of Washington’s fourth-leading scorer, Jakob Chychrun. He leads the team in average time on ice, playing 23:14 per game. Somehow, Chychrun is up to 14 goals this season, as he’s riding an unsustainable 11.1 shooting percentage. New Jersey better hope his stick cools off starting tonight, or else he could wreak havoc from the blue line.

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Projected Lineup

Here is how Washington lined up against the Rangers in their last game on Tuesday:

Expect much the same tonight.

Your Take

What do you make of tonight’s game? Will this evening finally be the night we see some actual finishing talent on display for the Devils? Do you expect the goaltending to stay hot? Who on the Capitals will you be keeping an eye on the most? As always, thanks for reading!