Devils at Canucks
The New Jersey Devils are beginning to find the form that led to a strong start this season and hope to keep it going when they visit the surging Vancouver Canucks on Sunday. The Devils gained at least a point in 12 of their first 15 games before suffering through a swoon that began in mid-November and lasted until after Christmas, but Friday’s 2-1 victory in Calgary gave New Jersey points in five of seven (3-2-2) this month.
“It’d be great to leave this road trip over .500 and really set ourselves for a successful January,” Devils forward Taylor Hall told The Record. “We want to be a team that just stays in the thick of it until we get some guys back and really get rolling as a team. (Friday was) a big step in that direction.” New Jersey, which opened its four-game road trip with a 3-2 overtime loss at Edmonton on Thursday, takes on a Vancouver team that has at least a point in eight of nine games. However, the Canucks lost three in a row after Thursday’s 5-4 shootout setback at Philadelphia. Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin is three points from reaching 1,000 for his career, but was held to one over the last five games.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG Plus (New Jersey), Sportsnet (Vancouver)
ABOUT THE DEVILS (17-18-9): Hall notched his 10th goal of the season Friday to tie Adam Henrique and Michael Cammalleri for second on the team behind waiver pickup P.A. Parenteau (12), who had a career-high eight shots against Calgary. Hall is tied with Travis Zajac for the team lead with 27 points while Kyle Palmieri has three in the last two games to push his total to 25. Backup goalie Keith Kinkaid turned aside 31 shots to get the victory Friday and Cory Schneider has been solid in three straight starts, stopping 98 of the 104 shots he faced.
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (20-19-5): Henrik Sedin’s twin brother Daniel is also struggling to produce of late, but snapped an 11-game goal drought against Philadelphia. Center Bo Horvat has done a lot of the offensive work during the team’s strong run (6-1-2) while posting nine points in nine games to take over the team lead with 30. Ryan Miller gave up four goals Thursday, ending a six-game stretch in which he allowed two or fewer tallies, but the veteran goalie has not lost in regulation since Dec. 22 and owns a .940 save percentage in that span.
OVERTIME
1. The Devils have won four straight in the series, including a 3-2 victory Dec. 6 in New Jersey.
2. Vancouver F Markus Granlund recorded a pair of goals twice in his last four contests.
3. New Jersey D Andy Greene (wrist) and C Vernon Fiddler (lower-body) both practiced Saturday, but are not expected to return to the lineup Sunday.