The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (6-1-0) vs. San Jose Sharks (1-4-2)<\/p>\n
The Broadcast: MSGSN, Devils Hockey Radio<\/a><\/p>\n On Wednesday, the Devils played the second half of a back-to-back against the Minnesota Wild at The Rock. Arseny Gritsyuk scored his first career goal, Nico Daws made his season debut, and New Jersey pushed their winning streak to six with a 4-1 victory<\/a>.<\/p>\n San Jose visited Madison Square Garden last night to battle the Rangers. In an absolute barnburner, Macklin Celebrini scored a hat trick and produced five total points as the Sharks defeated the Rangers in overtime, 6-5. It was the Sharks\u2019 first win of their season.<\/p>\n Everything is coming up Devils lately, so I feel as though this has flown under the radar. I have to raise my hand on this as well, as I haven\u2019t mentioned it until now either, but I can no longer ignore the great Jesper Bratt. Through New Jersey\u2019s first seven games, Bratt has registered a point in every single one of them. He\u2019s been a model of consistency for New Jersey over the past few seasons, and he continues to be one early on in 2025-26.<\/p>\n In case you\u2019re wondering<\/a>, the Devils record for point streak to start a season is 11\u2026in 2022-23\u2026by Jesper Bratt.<\/p>\n Can Bratt catch his own record? We have four games to go until he gets there. In the meantime, Bratt is up to 11 points (four goals, seven assists) through seven games. He is on pace for about 129 points. As much as I love Bratt, I seriously doubt he will reach that lofty number. But for now, Bratt has been as important as anybody in carrying the offense through New Jersey\u2019s winning streak.<\/p>\n Cody Glass did not play in Wednesday\u2019s game. According to head coach Sheldon Keefe in his postgame presser, Glass suffered an upper-body injury in Tuesday\u2019s game in Toronto, and while he grinded through it to finish that contest, he couldn\u2019t go on Wednesday. New Jersey did not practice yesterday, nor did Keefe address the media, so we didn\u2019t get any indication on Glass\u2019 status for tonight.<\/p>\n I hope it was just a matter of being cautious during the second half of a back-to-back. It\u2019s not like Glass has been amazing to start the season, but he\u2019s been good, and has certainly done his part in shutting down depth competition on a nightly basis. If Glass can\u2019t play this evening, expect Dawson Mercer to once again center the third line. Mercer did very well as the 3C against Minnesota, finishing with two assists while centering Paul Cotter and Connor Brown. Even if Mercer can hold down the third line in Glass\u2019 absence, I would still love to see Glass return sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n Hischier\u2019s Case For The Selke (Or Hart)<\/p>\n On Monday, I took a look<\/a> at the line of Nico Hischier, Timo Meier, and Dawson Mercer and their deployment and results against elite competition. It was a fun exercise to do, and maybe I\u2019ll keep track of this through the season as a little pet project. With the Florida Panthers\u2019 Aleksander Barkov out for the season, the race for the Selke Trophy is wide open, and Hischier has emerged as an early favorite to claim the award in Barkov\u2019s absence. If Hischier and his line continue to get fed brutal competition on a nightly basis, and more importantly, if they continue to win those brutal matchups, Hischier should be in great shape to win the Selke. There won\u2019t be many in the national media pounding the table for Hischier and the Devils, so we might have to start pushing the Hischier agenda here!<\/p>\n Anyway, since I wrote that piece on Monday, New Jersey has played two more games. On Tuesday in Toronto<\/a>, Hischier drew the dreaded Auston Matthews assignment. Matthews centered the Maple Leafs\u2019 top line of Matthew Knies and Max Domi, and the numbers, quite frankly, are silly. At 5-on-5, Meier-Hischier-Mercer played 10:16 together. They won the shot attempts battle 10-4, and the Expected Goals battle by posting a ludicrous 94.74% xGF%. Hischier played 6:31 against Matthews specifically, and in that time, Hischier\u2019s xGF% was 95.00%. In fact, Hischier posted an xGF% of at least 88% against Matthews, Knies, Domi, John Tavares, and William Nylander. That is a mind-bending level of domination against some of the toughest deployment a player can be saddled with.<\/p>\n Wednesday, on the other hand, did not go as well. Back home against Kirill Kaprizov (and Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek), the Hischier line (this time with Gritsyuk in for Mercer) posted an xGF% of 28.49% in 11:34 of 5-on-5 ice time. In 10:18 against Kaprizov specifically, Hischier did a little better, registering an xGF% of 40.33%. So this was certainly a loss for Hischier and pals. Perhaps playing against a rested Wild team while skating in the second half of a back-to-back in which you had to travel between games played a part. Either way, Hischier has had one amazing game and one bad game so far this week.<\/p>\n Expect Hischier and his line to get hard-matched against the Sharks\u2019 wunderkind Macklin Celebrini tonight. That should be a fun matchup.<\/p>\n Celebrini And The Young Guns<\/p>\n When discussing the San Jose Sharks, the conversation must begin with Macklin Celebrini. The first overall pick in last year\u2019s draft had an incredibly promising rookie season in 2024-25, and while his team has disappointed so far this year, he has not. Celebrini entered last night\u2019s Sharks game with six points\u2026he exited with 11 points. A hat trick and two assists is superstar stuff, and while Celebrini might not be a superstar yet, he\u2019s getting there.<\/p>\n