Game Preview #6: New Jersey Devils at Carolina Hurricanes

The matchup: The New Jersey Devils (4-1-0) at the Carolina Hurricanes (0-1-0).

The broadcast: TV – MSGSN

The time: 7:00 p.m

New looks for every team

While we've gotten to know the new-look New Jersey Devils well, who have soundly beaten the Capitals and Utah Hockey Club in their last two games, we have yet to see what real division opponents look like this season. The first such rivalry comes tonight, as the Hurricanes eliminated the Devils the last time the young team made the playoffs – and many of our fans have long-held a grudge against the Canes for previous playoff encounters. The big question is: Are the Hurricanes still good enough to make the playoffs?

After losing Brett Pesce and Stefan Noesen to the Devils while Brady Skjei went to Nashville and Teuvo Teravainen to Chicago, the Hurricanes lost much of their identity in the offseason. It wasn't all bad, however, as Sean Walker, who played very well for Philadelphia and Colorado last season, was added alongside Shayne Gostisbehere, who remains an underrated second defenseman in the NHL. However, on the forward side, the team didn't come close to replacing Noesen and Teravainen. They brought in Jack Roslovic, who James Nichols says is on the second line, while William Carrier is now on their third line. Roslovic was a good center forward for Columbus between 2021 and 2023, but despite his speed, he is not a particularly impactful player. Many Devils fans may have also wanted William Carrier this offseason after he made a physical impact for Las Vegas for several years, but landing on Paul Cotter instead worked out pretty well. Still, Rod Brind'Amour is a fantastic coach and they could well become strong defensive forwards in his system.

However, the Hurricanes have yet to play a Devils team led by Sheldon Keefe. After a 20-shot shutout yesterday afternoon, the Devils are more confident defensively than they have been in years and appear to be able to keep up with tough, defensive teams like Carolina. The Devils haven't been a team that thrives in low-scoring games in years, but things are different now.

Any changes tonight?

Yesterday, before the game, I wrote a short article about Simon Nemec's historical problems playing with right-handed defensive partners. Of course, Seamus Casey and Nemec played one of their best games as a defensive pairing and put up the best numbers of any Devils pairing against Utah. If anything, the only change should be them playing more minutes. Luckily the team has a longer time to recover from a 1pm clash, going from a 1pm start to a 7pm start, but I don't really want to see Dillon and Hamilton playing 25 or more minutes in a row . backwards.

On offense, I really hope the Bratt-Hughes-Meier line performs better tonight. Yesterday they barely played together at five-on-five and they looked better on the power play, but things weren't particularly consistent at even strength. If they improve, this team will be incredibly difficult to beat. I do think it will be difficult to shake things up with the performance of the bottom six as the strength of this team has resulted in wins so far.

Your thoughts

What do you think about tonight's game? Do you think this team will perform better against Brind'Amour's Hurricanes? Leave your thoughts in the comments below and thanks for reading.