Game 19 Preview: Avs at Devils

To say this season has been a little rough in Avs land is a bit of an understatement.  The team managed only its 5th win of the season on Thursday against the Rangers, and it took until the skills competition to do so.  And if you think that's sad, that win tied their longest winning streak this season at... 1.  That's right.  The Avs and the Sabres are the only teams to have not won back to back games so far this year.

I could go on about that for a while, but instead, I'm going to look at the positives here.  The new lines Roy began running last game seemed to click more effectively than most of what we've seen in the past couple months, and the 2014-15 Avs have the chance to break their own record tonight.  It would also allow them to finish up this road trip 2-2 before heading back to the Pepsi Center for a few days off.  This club has already dug itself a big enough hole that as we near the quarter mark of the season our post-season prospects look pretty grim, but a win this evening would go a ways to helping repair the extremely fragile mental state of this team.

New Jersey is in a bit different situation.  They're currently sitting at 9th in the East (but 3rd in their division) with a whole buncha guys gunning for their playoff seed.  They're being lead in scoring by Jaromir Jagr (who, yes, is still playing) and lead in goal by Cory Schneider.  In fact, Schneider has started every. single. game for the team so far this season.  The only other two goalies played by NJ this year are Keith Kinkaid and Scott Clemmensen, who have combined for just barely over 60 minutes worth of relief play.  So, I think there is a very good chance that Schneider will be in the net tonight.

The team is coming off of a 1-0 shutout of the Caps last night, so there is a possibility they could be tired.  It will be up to the Avs to take advantage of the silly easy East Coast travel and their fresher legs to gain the upper hand.

Lines

I'm guessing they will remain similar to what we saw last game.

O'Reilly - Duchene - Tanguay

Landeskog - Mitchell - Iginla

McGinn - MacKinnon - NOT EVERBERG Briere

NOT EVERBERG McLeod - NOT EVERBERG Cliche - NOT EVERBERG Talbot

Johnson - Hejda

Barrie - Guenin

Redmond - Holden

Varly

Records

Neo-Nords:  5-8-5, 15 pts, last in Conference III

Neo-Rockies: 8-7-2, 18 pts, 3rd in the Metro

Game Info

Avs at NJ Devils

Prudential Center

5:00 PM MT

Broadcast on Altitude