The New Jersey Devils face the Detroit Red Wings with both teams off to promising start to the season. The Devils have a 3-3 record while the Red Wings are 3-0-2 and are near the top of a competitive Atlantic Division. Both teams met earlier this season with the Red Wings winning 5-2 but the much-improved Devils are looking to even up the score in the upcoming game.
The Devils have been playing great in recent games but hope the offense can step up, scoring only 2.80 goals per game. Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, and Ondrej Palat have scored five goals and 12 assists to lead the top two lines but the rest of the forward unit has struggled. The hope is that Jack Hughes and Miles Wood can step up as they have only scored two goals and two assists to start the season and are two of the Devils' best skaters.
The offense has struggled but the defense has stepped up, allowing only 2.80 goals per game. Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Seigenthaler have led the top pairing but the rest of the defense has also stepped up with Ryan Graves, John Marino, and the rest of the unit creating turnovers in the defensive zone and limiting shots on the net. The hope is that with the Devils playing on a back-to-back, Vitek Vanecek can step up in the net as he allowed five goals on 22 shots in his first start of the season.