Avoiding a winless three-game road trip, Cory Schneider will try to lead his New Jersey Devils into familiar territory as the take on the Canucks in their final meeting of season.
By Patrick Comia
Needing something positive to come out of their Canadian road trip, the New Jersey Devils will look to put a better effort tonight, as they face a familiar opponent at Rogers Arena.
Vancouver will be the site of the team’s final game on this three-game visit north of the border that started on Tuesday.
New Jersey is coming off a humbling 5-1 loss to the young Edmonton Oilers, who had no answer aside from a Kyle Palmieri power play goal.
They will look to get back on track, as they face a Canucks team who drummed the defending Stanley Cup Champions Chicago Blackhawks for six goals on their to victory last night. Led by the Sedin Twins, Daniel and Henrik, who combined for nine points including Daniel’s hat trick, the Devils should take advantage of this team, who will be playing their second game in a row tonight.
Cory Schneider is expected to get the start in his old stomping grounds, as he was given the night off in favor of Keith Kinkaid in Edmonton.
The last time the two teams met at the Prudential Center back on November 8th, Kincaid was in goal and got the win in a 4-3 victory, stopping 28 of 31 shots.
Tonight, Schneider will get the nod and will look to finish the above .500 for his career against the Canucks. For his career, he is 1-1-2 in four games started with a 2.21 goals against average with a .920 save percentage.
Cory talks to some media on the off in Vancouver. You may recognize the four "reporters" on the right. pic.twitter.com/YLI0uVE0t9
— New Jersey Devils (@NHLDevils) November 21, 2015
New Jersey is two points behind the New York Islanders for fourth-place in the Metropolitan Division, and outside of a playoff spot with 21 points in the Eastern Conference.
Away from Home, New Jersey is 5-4 giving up one more goal than they would like after being outscored 8-3 between the Flames and Oilers.
A positive is that the Devils have scored a power play goal in four straight games, including Palmieri’s goal on Thursday.
They have the third best power play unit in the NHL, operating at 22.7% success rate.
On the other side of the ice, the Devils have the tenth best penalty kill unit, not allowing a power play goal by their opponents more than 83% of the time they have been shorthanded.
Get the coffee ready for this late-nighter, as the Devils will look to salvage at least a point to keep pace with the Eastern Conference powers, and gain confidence later this week when they host the Montreal Canadiens.
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