The Matchup: New Jersey Devils (37-32-2) @ Carolina Hurricanes (45-20-6)
The Broadcast: MSGSN, Devils Hockey Radio Network
New Jersey visited Nashville to battle the Predators on Thursday night. Nico Hischier scored twice and Jesper Bratt registered three points in a 4-2 win.
Carolina hasn’t played until Tuesday, when they lost 5-2 in Montreal to the Canadiens. Nik Ehlers and Jordan Staal were the goalscorers, while Freddy Andersen got shelled, allowing four goals on 18 shots.
Last Devils-Hurricanes Game
It happened on January 17, and it was a 4-1 loss to the Canes at The Rock. You’re not going to believe this, but the Devils just did not play well in any way against the Hurricanes in another dispiriting loss to their division rivals.
Tonight marks the end of New Jersey’s five-game road trip. They have thus far gone 3-1-0, with their only loss coming in Washington, a tough 2-1 defeat. Aside from that, the Devils have performed well with a stunningly great offense, having scored 16 total goals across their three wins on this trip.
It’s been a bit of a weird stretch for New Jersey, with a very long seven-game homestand coming right before this lengthy journey away from the Rock. Nevertheless, with the Devils seemingly finding their game after dropping their first two right out of the Olympic break, tonight would be a nice feather in their cap if they can find a way to win. A 4-1-0 road trip looks a heck of a lot better than 3-2-0, or even 3-1-1. Especially considering two of those four wins will have come against elite teams (Dallas, Carolina), and another will have come against a solid team (Nashville).
Will New Jersey actually pull it off tonight? We all know their struggles against the Hurricanes, so I wouldn’t blame you if you were skeptical. But for now, it’s nice to dream about a road trip in which the Devils collect eight of a possible 10 points.
Keep An Eye On The Third Line
In the game recap on Thursday, I wrote a little bit about the new-look third line that only became new-look due to Arseny Gritsyuk’s injury. Replacing him on the wing with Cody Glass and Lenni Hameenaho was Evgenii Dadonov. The conclusion was that Natural Stat Trick LOVED their performance (8:13 together at 5-on-5 with an Expected Goals For% of 96.91), Hockey Stat Cards was unimpressed, and my own personal eye test deemed them to be just okay.
Based on practice yesterday, it appears we’ll be seeing this trio reunited. I would be much more okay with this if not for the fact that if Dadonov plays one more game this season, the Devils get charged with a $250,000 hit on their cap next season due to performance bonuses. Since Dadonov clearly has no future with this team, and the season is over anyway, this seems like a colossal mistake to me. But I suppose that’s another conversation. As far as their performance goes, it was meh to good depending on who you’re asking. And logic would dictate that with more time to get used to one another, they’ll get even better.
So keep an eye out for this new-look third line tonight to see if they develop anymore chemistry.
No, not Jack Hughes, although yes he has been scorching hot since returning from the Olympics as a conquering hero. I’m talking about his younger brother, Luke.
I would argue that the emergence (or acquisition) of a true number one stud defenseman is the single most important thing this team needs in order to turn things around next season. Dougie Hamilton used to be that, but no longer (even if he’s still effective). Simon Nemec and Hughes are the only other blueliners on the roster who have that potential. I’m very skeptical about Nemec, and while I’m not sold on Hughes either, I still have belief. Well that belief is starting to pay off.
Since returning from his injury on February 28, Hughes has looked much better than he did earlier in the season. In 12 games, he has seven points (one goal, six assists), which is not amazing production, but it’s solid for a young, developing defenseman. Per Game Score, Hughes has been trending up since then, to the point where he’s actually considered an above-average defenseman again after spending much of the season deep in the red. Your mileage may vary on how much you trust any given analytics model, but I would also say that based on my own eye test (which admittedly isn’t worth much) he looks much better as well. He’s becoming more active on offense, which also seems to be a team-wide mandate. His transition game is back in top form. He’s actually hitting the net with his shots (34 SOG over his last 12 contests!) instead of firing everything directly into opposing shinpads. And perhaps most importantly, he’s doing a lot of this without Brett Pesce. The thought for a while was that Hughes needed Pesce as a security blanket or else he couldn’t function. Now, he’s actually managing to carry Johnny Kovacevic to decent results, a complete reversal of how things were.
Hughes still has a long way to go to prove he can be a true number one in this league. But if he can carry this form through the rest of the season, and if he can actually participate in training camp next fall for the first time since 2023, that would go a long way toward reassuring me that Hughes might develop into a top flight defenseman after all.
What else can be said about this matchup that hasn’t been said a million times already? It needs to be said once again, but I’ll keep it brief for the sake of our collective sanity.
The Devils just do not know how to win hockey games against the Carolina Hurricanes. They are 0-3-0 against them this season, having been outscored 13-5. They did go 2-2-0 against them last regular season, but of course they also lost in five in the first round of the playoffs. Going back to the second round loss to the Canes in 2023, the Devils are 7-15-1 against the Hurricanes over their last 23 matchups. True horror.
If this team ever wants to fulfill the promise of this current era of Devils hockey, they will need to solve their Carolina problem. They will do nothing of note until that happens.
Carolina Machine Never Breaks
As for the Hurricanes themselves, they are an elite team once again. They have been an elite team for over half a decade now. And odds are they will continue to be an elite team for at least a few more years to come.
They enter this contest sixth-best in the league in both goals scored (247) and goals allowed (208). According to Natural Stat Trick, the Corsi Canes are at it again, leading the NHL in 5-on-5 CF% (59.67), while sitting second in the league behind only Colorado in Expected Goals For% (55.75). Whether it’s the traditional scoreboard or the advanced scoreboard, Carolina is once again near the very top.
They are led by a balanced attack that features a whopping 12 players with at least 10 goals scored. It starts with their best player, Sebastian Aho, who leads the team in points with 72 (25 goals, 47 assists). Their goals leader is blossoming star Seth Jarvis, who comes in with 29 tallies. New addition Nik Ehlers, who the Hurricanes signed this offseason in the hopes that he could be the star power they needed to finally get over the playoff hump, has been chugging along with 22 goals and 59 points. That’s not exactly the true star power the Hurricanes had in mind, but that’s still high-quality production.
On the backend, there has been a little bit of a changing of the guard this season. Jaccob Slavin has been Carolina’s do-everything stud blueliner for a long time now, but he’s battled numerous injuries this season and has only suited up for 31 games. He’s back now, but while he’s his usual defensively stout self, he only has four points (all assists) in his 31 games. Clearly something remains up with him.
Meanwhile Shayne Gostisbehere, another staple in Carolina for a few seasons now, has been out since early March. His timetable remains unclear. So it’s been left to K’Andre Miller and Sean Walker to step up on the blueline. Those two lead Carolina in ice time per game (Miller at 22:35, Walker at 21:55). Be prepared to see both of them a lot this evening.
In net, Freddy Andersen might finally be nearing the end. He enters with a record of 13-12-5 and a save percentage of .871, pretty awful numbers for a team that has been so successful. Taking his mantle has been Brandon Bussi, who is rocking a 26-6-1 record, but only an .894 save percentage. As has been the case for a while now, Carolina just hasn’t been getting good netminding consistently. They keep winning anyway because their roster and system are strong enough to do so, but if teams actually do manage to get shots on their net, look out.
Here’s how the Hurricanes lined up in their last contest:
Aside from maybe the goaltending, expect much the same tonight.
What do you think of tonight’s matchup? Will the Devils finally win a game against Carolina? Should Dadonov play given the cap implications? Will Luke Hughes continue to ascend? As always, thanks for reading!