The New Jersey Devils face the Florida Panthers with both teams looking to build off strong starts to the season. The Devils have a 21-9-2 record but have fallen out of first place in the Metropolitan Division with six losses in a row. The Panthers have a 15 14 4 record and are in the middle of the Atlantic Division. Both teams are looking to improve in their divisions and the Eastern Conference and the upcoming game should be a great one as a result.
The Devils are watching their season and strong start spiral out of control and hope the offense can step up and snap them out of their skid as they are scoring 3.45 goals per game. Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt have scored 27 goals and 41 assists to lead the top line but the rest of the offense has also stepped up. Nico Hischier, Dawson Mercer, and Tomas Tatar have combined for 28 goals and 35 assists while defenseman Dougie Hamilton has added seven goals and 17 assists from the point to open up the offense.
The offense has stepped up but the defense has also played well this season, allowing only 2.48 goals per game. Jonas Siegenthaler and Ryan Graves have combined for 5.0 defensive point shares and 108 blocked shots while Dougie Hamilton and John Marino have combined for 4.4 defensive point shares to give the Devils two great defensive pairings. the hope is that with the Devils playing the se cond game of a back-to-back, that goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood can step up in the net as he has a .880 save percentage and a 2.79 goals-against average on 142 shots this year.