THE SCOOP
The New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings are neck-and-neck in the Eastern Conference standings. Both teams have 27 points, with Detroit having played one more game than New Jersey. The two clubs both have 13 wins this season.
The Devils are coming off their most difficult stretch of the season, going 2-3-0 on their season-long five-game road trip. New Jersey posted wins on the first half, with victories in Chicago and Washington, before dropping three straight against the Lightning, Panthers and Flyers. Without their star forward, Jack Hughes (finger surgery), the club has had a hard time generating offense. In the latter half of their road trip, the Devils scored just four goals in three games, three of them on Saturday night in a 6-3 loss to Philadelphia. Their shutout loss to the Panthers was the first time this season the Devils had been shut out.
The game against Detroit opens a stretch where the Devils will play their next six of seven at home, the lone away game on Friday afternoon in Buffalo. New Jersey will host the Red Wings, Blues, Flyers, Blue Jackets, Stars and Golden Knights over the next two weeks.
Detroit is sitting in first place in the Atlantic Division with a 13-8-1 record, and their captain Dylan Larkin does the heavy lifting, leading the club in goals (12) and points (24). The Red Wings are off to a promising start and certainly showing signs of having turned the corner from some leaner years to being a team on the rise.
The Red Wings are coming off a 4-3 overtime victory against Columbus, where they rallied to erase a two-goal deficit in the third period. Alex DeBrincat scored at 1:50 of overtime to close out Detroit’s 3-game homestand.
On special teams, the Red Wings are ranked in the middle of the pack on both the power play and the penalty kill. Their man-advantage is ranked 15th (20.8 percent) while their penalty kill is ranked 14th (81 percent).