Devils Game Preview: It’s Hughes Night in Vancouver

Tonight’s New Jersey Devils game is a special one. New Jersey is in Vancouver to take on the Canucks for the first time this season. It will be the first time that all of Quinn, Jack, and Luke Hughes will play in the same NHL game.

The Hughes family will become the ninth in NHL history to have three children dress and play in the same game. The last time this occurred was last April when Eric and Marc Staal (Florida Panthers) faced off against Jordan Staal (Carolina Hurricanes) in the same contest.

Let’s dive into tonight’s Devils game in Vancouver.

How to Watch

Time: 10:00 PM      Watch/Stream: MSG/NHLN/MSG+      Listen: DEVILS HOCKEY NET

Projected Devils Lineup

Forwards

Erik Haula – Jack Hughes – Tyler Toffoli

Ondrej Palat – Nico Hischier – Jesper Bratt

Timo Meier – Dawson Mercer – Alexander Holtz

Curtis Lazar – Michael McLeod – Nathan Bastian

Defensemen

Jonas Siegenthaler – Simon Nemec

Kevin Bahl – John Marino

Luke Hughes – Colin Miller

Goaltenders

Vitek Vanecek

Akira Schmid

Projected Canucks Lineup

Forwards

Ilya Mikheyev – Elias Pettersson – Sam Lafferty

Andrei Kuzmenko – JT Miller – Brock Boeser

Dakota Joshua – Teddy Blueger – Conor Garland

Nilas Hoglander – Nils Aman – Linus Karlsson

Defensemen

Quinn Hughes – Filip Hronek

Ian Cole – Noah Juulsen

Nikita Zadorov – Tyler Myers

Goaltenders

Thatcher Demko

Casey DeSmith

Last Game

The Devils took part in a stinker on Friday, losing to the league-worst San Jose Sharks 6-3 in regulation. New Jersey and San Jose traded first-period goals on the sticks of Jacob MacDonald and Dawson Mercer. However, Macdonald’s second goal of the night, followed by a goal by Anthony Duclair set the Sharks apart from the Devils in the second period. Sloppy play through the final frame saw Jack Hughes pull the Devils within a goal, however, Duclair scored again, and then Mikael Grandlund and William Eklund added two more. Ondrej Palat found the back of the net in the process, however, it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit New Jersey put themselves in.

Akira Schmid only faced 17 shots, yet stopped just 12 pucks. Kaapo Kahkonen had a strong night in a 41-save performance.

Player(s) to Watch

It’s abundantly obvious who we are watching tonight. Jack and Luke Hughes skate into Vancouver to face brother, Quinn, playing in the same game all together for the first time in their career. Jack was named the third star of the week for the week of Nov. 27th to Dec. 3rd. He comes into Tuesday night riding a four-game point streak, collecting three goals and five assists in that span. Luke’s point streak was broken last game, however, he’s collected four points in the last four games, finding the scoresheet in the three games prior to Friday. That includes the game-winning overtime goal in Philadelphia.

Devils vs. Canucks

According to the Devils PR, “The Devils and Vancouver face-off for the first of two matchups this season:

January 6, vs Vancouver, 7:00 P.M.

The Devils were 2-0-0 against the Canucks last season and are 14-2-2 against Vancouver since 2013-14. The team is 6-2-1 at Vancouver since 2013-14.

ALL-TIME vs VAN

Record: 45-54-17-4
Home: 29-23-6-3
Road: 16-31-11-1

SINCE 1982-83…

The most goals that the Devils earned in a single game vs Vancouver is nine, which was logged 12/5/90 at the Meadowlands (9-4).

The most goals that the team allowed in a game in a game is seven, which was logged on Mar. 9, 1993, at Vancouver in 7-5 loss.

The most shots that Jersey earned in a single game vs Vancouver is 46, which was earned on Oct. 30, 1997, in an 8-1 win at the Meadowlands.

The most shots that the Devils allowed against the Canucks is also 46, which was logged on Feb. 19, 1985, in a 7-5 loss.

The last time that the Devils shut out Vancouver was on Oct. 19, 2019, in a 1-0 win at Prudential Center (M. Blackwood, 25 saves).

The last time Vancouver shut out the Devils was Nov. 25, 2014, in a 2-0 loss at Vancouver (R. Miller, 20 saves).”

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Thu. Dec. 7, at SEA, 10:30 P.M. E.T.
Sat. Dec. 9, at CGY, 4:00 P.M. E.T.
Sun. Dec. 10, at EDM, 4:00 P.M. E.T.
Wed., Dec, 13, vs BOS, 7:30 P.M. E.T.
Sat., Dec. 16, at CBJ, 7:00 P.M. E.T.

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