- The Matchup: New Jersey Devils (13-5-1) @ Florida Panthers (10-8-1)
- The Time: 7:00pm EST
- The Broadcast: MSGSN, Devils Hockey Radio
Last Devils Game
On Tuesday night, the Devils lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Florida, by a score of 5-1. Dawson Mercer got the scoring started for Tampa Bay with an atrocious turnover right inside the blue line of the Tampa OZ. After passing the puck about 5 feet behind Timo Meier AND outside of the zone, Jake Guentzel said “thank you for the free break away” and skated in all alone on Jacob Markstrom. Markstrom being Markstrom, he barely moved at all on the shot from Guentzel, letting in a shot that didn’t even
leave the ice. Kucherov added another goal for Tampa about 8 minutes later, and the Lightning finished the 1st period up 2-0.
The Devils and Tampa Bay traded goals in the second period, including the 2nd of the night for Guentzel. Tampa went on to score 2 more goals in the 3rd period, 3 minutes apart and that was all she wrote for the Devills.
I’m going to preface this next section by saying 2 things. 1) As I always say, 2 things can be true at the same time. Life is seldom one thing OR the other. 2) I am as tired of talking about this as everyone is from reading about me talking about it. With that being said…
It is hard, if not borderline impossible to win a game in the NHL, when your team scores 1 goal. The Devils PP did not look good last night, which did them no favors. The skaters bear their share of the responsibility for only putting up 1 goal.
At. The. Same. Time. It’s borderline impossible to win, when you basically need to score 4 goals every night to win, because your “number 1” goalie can’t stop a beachball. Markstrom put up another awful night, with a 5.00 GAA and a .828 SV%. A lot of people, justifiably so, were saying last night in the game thread, that you can’t blame Markstrom for the Kucherov goal. That’s fine. However, Markstrom has played in 9 games this season, and in 8 of those games, his SV% was below .900. Goals or no goals, you aren’t going to win very often like that.
Last Panthers Game
On Monday night, the Panthers defeated the Vancouver Canucks by a score of 8-5. The game was their 3rd home game in the current 5 game home stand, and also a stretch where they play an absolutely insane 11 of 12 games at home. Seth Jones led the way for the Panthers with 2 goals, his second coming in the middle of the 3rd period to bring their lead to 7-5. Brad “the rat” Marchand scored an ENG to put the final nail in the coffin for Vancouver.
Sergei Bobrovsky did his best Jacob Markstrom imitation against the Canucks, with a 5.01 GA and a .667 SV%. No, you didn’t read that wrong. I checked it 3 times. It’s also the second time in his last 5 games that he has let up 7 or more goals. Overall, his stats are solid for the season, but he’s definitely had a few stinkers too. Assuming he starts tonight against the Devils (he’s started 14 of 19 games this season – so a safe bet), the Devils should look to shake his confidence early and often.
As a reminder, the Panthers are without some significant players, including Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov. Barkov is expected to be out for the season (with a possible return in the playoffs) and Tkachuk is expected to be out until at least next month (December). Their offense has obviously suffered as a result, as the team currently sits at 19th in the league in GF with 58. Their GA/GF differential is -1 which, on the surface, suggests that the team often plays games where the score is close (minus the game against Vancouver, of course).
Injuries, Roster for Tonight, Yada, Yada, Yada.
The Devils miraculously made it through another 24 hours without anyone getting hurt, so at least that’s a win. In more good news, Dougie Hamilton, Evgenii Dadonov and Connor Brown all returned to action against Tampa Bay. Jack Hughes and Johnathan Kovacevic are not expected to be back any time soon, so that really leaves Cody Glass as the next biggest absence, from the perspective of, he is the next starting roster name due for a return sooner than later.
Per Amanda Stein yesterday, Jake Allen will be starting tonight against the Panthers. Markstrom “tweaked something” in his game against Tampa Bay but is “healthy enough to backup.”
Grimace’s Prediction and 2025-2026 Record Tracker
Grimace is never happy when the Devils lose and he’s especially unhappy when his predictions are wrong. He takes the losses very personal. With that being said, he has decided to remain positive and predict a win tonight, with the hope being that the Devils will play Allen and have an actual chance to win.
Grimace’s 2025-2026 Season Prediction record currently stands at 7-4-0.
Your Take
Some of the wounds were self inflicted in the last Devils game, from the horrible turnover for the 1st goal, to going 0-4 on the PP while at the same time going 1-3 on the PK. The Devils need to be better in all areas of the game tonight, if they hope to get a win. On the bright side, the recently returned players now have that first game back out of the way, and can maybe feel more up to speed and ready to go. 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. 🙂
