Adam Williams presents his prediction for the NHL match.
Both the New Jersey Devils and the Vancouver Canucks head into this clash on the back of two straight defeats. The Devils built up enough of a cushion over the winter that even losses at home aren’t too damaging, but the Canucks’ problems are starting to surface now.
New Jersey Devils
The Devils’ issues are relatively easy to diagnose. Earlier this month, they lost both Jonas Siegenthaler and Dougie Hamilton for the remainder of the regular season — two of their most relied-upon defencemen, each logging over 19 minutes a night. Unsurprisingly, the drop-off has been sharp. In March, the Devils rank sixth from bottom in the NHL for expected goals against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 (2.82), and two of their four worst defensive outings all season — by xGA — came during this stretch. Against the Pittsburgh Penguins, they conceded seven goals from 4.44 xGA, and versus the Columbus Blue Jackets, they somehow came away with a win despite a staggering 4.91 xGA.
Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks aren’t much better off defensively, sitting one place below the Devils in March’s 5-on-5 xGA rankings (2.86). But their situation is compounded by a clear crisis in net. With Thatcher Demko sidelined, Kevin Lankinen has been thrust into a starting role for the first time in his career — and it’s not going well. Over his last 10 games, the Finnish netminder is stopping just 87.3 percent of shots. The recent defeat to the New York Rangers was a perfect storm: the Canucks outshot their opponents 39 to 12, but still lost (3:5), undone by a performance between the pipes that fell well short of NHL standard.
New Jersey Devils vs Vancouver Canucks Prediction
With both teams showing such a lack of defensive discipline, a high-scoring game with over 5.5 goals seems almost guaranteed. The Devils and the Canucks are sure to capitalise on each other’s mistakes and easily exceed that modest target. In their last encounter, the Devils alone surpassed that number (6:0), even though the teams only managed 42 shots on net collectively.
