GAME DAY | Devils – Canadiens: Preview, Lines, Goalies, TV, Fantasy
Jordan Lambe
Pre-game Notes and Quotes
New Jersey Forward Bobby Farnham on his views of their Head Coach John Hynes (who is coaching in his first season for the Devils and is currently the youngest NHL Head Coach): “The way he approaches every day is why he’s successful, because he’s very detailed in how we play with our structure, he’s very good expressing to us the identity we have to play with, and then tweaking certain things to each team that we play. He’s always prepared. And he knows how to get the most out of the guys on his team.”
The Canadiens are 4-3-1 in the tail-end of back-to-back games so far this season, coming out on top (in OT) the last time these two teams met in this situation earlier this season.
The Canadiens have officially reached the midway point of their season and they have been extremely hot and extremely cold at points of the season. They still have 6 more goals than they had at this point last season, but 7 less points in the standings.
While the Canadiens have a 18-7-3 record versus teams in the Eastern Conference this season, the Devils boast a 14-8-4 record against teams from the East.
The Canadiens have slowly risen in the goals against category, they are currently in a tie for 11th in the league in goals against, with 103 in 41 games. The Devils’ defensive game has been a little better, as they have allowed 95 goals against in their first 40 games and are in 5th in the league.
The Canadiens have surprisingly maintained their standing in the goals for category as they are currently in 3rd place in the NHL, with 119 over their first 41 games. The Devils haven’t been nearly as good in the same category, as they sit in a tie for 25th in the NHL with 93 goals in 40 games.
Matchup
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC. | January 6, 7:00 PM ET | TV: SN, MSG+, RDS
2015-16 statistics
DEVILS
CANADIENS
45 (7th)
Points (Eastern Con. rank)
47 (6th)
20-15-5
Record
22-16-3
9-9-3
Home
11-6-2
11-6-2
Road
11-10-1
5-4-1
Last 10
2-8-0
2.33
G/G
2.90
2.32
GA/G
2.51
19.7
PP%
18.8
83.3
PK%
84.9
46.7
CF%*
53.4
42.8
CF60*
56.3
48.9
CA60*
49.0
*Advanced statistics: Score adjusted, even strength. CF%: Corsi for percentage of total CF60: Corsi For/60 minutes CA60: Corsi Against/60 minutes (via War on Ice)
Projected forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders
2015-’16 regular season: Record: 17-11-5 GAA: 2.07 Sv%: .928 SO: 3 Alternate: Keith Kinkaid
2015-’16 regular season: Record: 11-9-3 GAA: 2.42 Sv%: .907 SO: 0 Alternate: Ben Scrivens
Fantasy Outlook
Although it is extremely hard to predict a goaltender’s performance on a night to night basis, one can almost certainly expect a solid performance from Cory Schneider. The Devils’ starting netminder has only allowed seven goals in his past five road games to go along with his 3-2-0 record over the same span. So far this season Schneider has a sparkling 2.07 GAA, 0.928 SV% and 3 SO, but the lack of offense on the Devils has been a detriment to his Wins category as he has only registered 17 so far (to go along with 11 loses and 5 OTL). Although he was regarded as a very good goalie heading into the season, his draft position was likely much lower than it should have been as very few people expected the Devils to compete for a playoff position this season. If you were lucky enough to grab him in your draft, Schneider should be started in all leagues as he is a consistent contributor to all goaltender fantasy categories.
Top scorers for the Devils on the road this season are:
Mike Cammalleri (with 20 points in 19 games).
Kyle Palmieri (with 16 points in 19 games)
Adam Henrique (with 15 points in 18 games)
Top scorers for the Canadiens at home this season are:
Max Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec (both with 14 points in 19 games)
David Desharnais, Alex Galchenyuk, P. K. Subban, Dale Weise* and Brendan Gallagher (all with 11 points in 19 games, except Gallagher who has done it in only 12 games )
Player stats from War-on-Ice, NHL.com and Yahoo Sports.
