- The Matchup: New Jersey Devils (28-28-2) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (29-15-12)
- The Time: 7:00 pm EST
- The Broadcast: MSG, Devils Hockey Radio
Last Devils Game
On Wednesday night, the Devils lost at home, 2-1 to the Buffalo Sabres. The 2 teams went scoreless in the first period before Tage Thompson scored his 31st goal of the season to give Buffalo the lead about halfway through the 2nd period. Peyton Krebs scored halfway through the 3rd period to put the Sabres up 2-0. To be fair, the game was most likely over at that point, since 2 goals against the Devils these days, all but guarantees you a victory. Timo Meier did score a meaningless goal with 2:30
left in the game, but as one would expect at that point, it didn’t change the outcome.
Jake Allen got the start in net and did his job well, letting up only 2 goals. On most nights, on most teams, that would be enough, at a minimum, to give your team a chance to win. But the Devils are not like most teams. On a team with at least 4 players on their roster that are capable of scoring 30 goals a season, the Devils have now scored only 3 goals in their last 4 games. They’ve also now lost 6 out of their last 7 games. It’s good to see that the long Olympic break didn’t change anything in their game, until you realize that their game stunk before the break.
Last Penguins Game
The Penguins played their last game back on February 5th, defeating the Buffalo Sabres 5-2. Jason Zucker got the scoring started for the Sabres, with his 15th goal of the season less than 2 minutes into the 1st period. However Avery Hayes scored his first 2 goals of the season for the Penguins in the 1st period to put his team up 2-1 heading into the 2nd period. The Penguins added another goal in the 2nd period to start the final 20 minutes up 3-1. Tage Thompson added a PPG, his 30th of the year, to get the Sabres to within 1 less than 2 minutes into the 3rd period. The Penguins would add 2 late goals in the 3rd period (including an ENG) to seal the victory 5-2.
Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs have been pretty much alternating starts lately, or at least, heading into the Olympic break. However, considering the long break for the Olympics, and the fact that Skinner has started 36 games this season, to 26 starts for Silovs, I would expect Skinner to get the start in net tonight. Heading into tonight, the Penguins have won 7 of their last 9 games, so the Devils will need to come out ready to play, which of course, is never a problem for them.
Injuries, Roster for Tonight, Yada, Yada, Yada.
The Devils just played last night, so they will not have practice today. I would expect the lineup to look the same tonight as it did against Buffalo. The one change will most likely be in net. Jake Allen got the nod last night so Jacob Markstrom will most likely start today. But again, stranger things have happened, especially with this team.
Grimace’s Prediction and 2025-2026 Record Tracker
Grimace, like the Devils, was a loser last night. His prediction record on the season is a pathetic .500. I’ve been threatening to send him back to McDonalds, but he swore he would stop giving me bogus information, if I just gave him one more chance. We’ve agreed to take another break on the predictions for the time being.
Grimace’s 2025-2026 Season Prediction record currently stands at 12-12-0.
Your Take
I am honestly again at a point where I don’t know what to say about this team anymore. At least, I don’t know what to say that hasn’t been said already, either by me or anyone else on here. The Devils have won 28 out of 58 games. They are in 15th place in the Eastern Conference. They’re dead last in the East in goals scored. They may have some quality pieces, but the pieces are not adding up to form a collective whole that performs. If the old saying of “you are what your record says you are” is true, then the Devils are just simply not a good team. I like to look at it like this; when a team shows you who they are, believe them. The Devils have been showing us who they are since last season. The people in the Devils organization however, don’t seem to believe them. Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below and thanks for reading!
In a shameless bit of non hockey related self promotion (approved by Chris – thanks Chris), I wanted to plug my brand new podcast on here, if any of you are interested in listening. We have a light hearted, fun discussion about any movies, music or video games mostly from the 1980s and 1990s. Please feel free to listen to us on any of the formats below and any feedback is welcome (positive and negative). Also, please follow us and subscribe, even if you think we stink. 🙂
