Devils Stadium Series Preview: Secure 2 Points

If the New Jersey Devils want any chance at catching the Philadelphia Flyers in the Metro, they need to secure two points tonight.

---

Follow us on Twitter: @AlexC_NJD, @NJD_OnTheRush

---

It's the game many New Jersey Devils fans have been waiting for all season. The Stadium Series takes place tonight at MetLife Stadium against the Philadelphia Flyers, and it will have much more meaning than one would've thought during the preseason. Here's what to watch for the Devils to secure two points tonight.  

Working Around Flyers’ Stifling Defense

The Flyers are a much better team than anyone expected. They currently sit in third place in the Metropolitan Division and have a seven-point gap on the Devils with two more games played. That's why even though the Flyers have a sizable lead, a spot for third place is still up for grabs if the Devils come away with two points in regulation. 

It won't be an easy game for Lindy Ruff's team. The Flyers are solid at five-on-five, having an expected goals share (xG%) of 51.93 percent coming into tonight, ranked ninth in the NHL. 

A significant reason for the Flyers' success has been their stifling defensive style of hockey. They're allowing 2.38 expected goals per 60 minutes, the seventh-best rate in the NHL. That's similar to the Los Angeles Kings, who the Devils lost to just a couple of nights ago. 

The Kings stifled the Devils' offense, playing a 1-3-1 neutral zone trap and not allowing them to generate anything off the rush. The Flyers will likely want to play the same way and limit the Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier lines from doing what they want to do at five-on-five. 

One of the keys to trying to avoid the same fate as the Kings game will be keeping the Hughes line away from Sean Couturier's. He's back to being one of the top two-way forwards in the NHL, and he can shut down Hughes' line if that's the matchup. 

I'd expect Ruff to get Hughes' line out against Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost and Cam Atkinson since Frost's wingers have so-so to below-average defensive impacts on the season. That should help the Devils create more offense than they did against the Kings, especially if the Hischier line can take on Couturier's group. 

Limiting the Flyers' Rush Offense