New Jersey Devils: Injuries Continue Vs New York Rangers
The New Jersey Devils are back in action vs the New York Rangers and some key injuries still nag them as they head to MSG.
The New Jersey Devils are in a decent stretch of games right now. They are 2-1-1 in a stretch of games against the Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche, and New York Islanders twice. Any fan of this team would have signed up for that instantly headed into that stretch. Those are three of the best teams in the entire National Hockey League. It is even better when you consider that they are 4-1-2 in their last seven games total.
Most of this has been without the services of Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. They are both currently out with injury and will not be playing at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers tonight. That is obviously a tough loss as they are both really good at creating offense. Especially Jack, who has quickly developed into one of the best offensive players on this team. We obviously want to see them out there but getting them to full is very important right now.
Jack Hughes will have to wait for the next installment of him going up against the number two overall pick in his draft Kaapo Kakko. This is an exciting matchup for years to come as they are both starting to show signs of impact players but it won’t be this time. Kakko is joined by some great players like Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, and Pavel Buchnevich at forward for the Rangers. Their blue line of Jacob Trouba, Adam Fox, and Brady Skjei isn’t half bad either.
Like the Devils, the Rangers are near the bottom of the Metropolitan Division but have a really bright future. There is plenty of reasons to believe that these two teams are going to rise back to the top at around the same time. The last time they both made the playoffs in the same year was 2012 when the Devils defeated them in the Eastern Conference Finals. There is a good chance that over the next few years, the Hudson River Rivalry could renew itself on the playoff stage.
For right now, they will have to settle for a regular-season tilt as they both look to keep up the development of their highest priority players. One of those players for New Jersey is Nico Hischier. He has 19 points in his last 23 games while being an absolute savage in all three zones. That has come mostly without Taylor Hall as he was shipped to the Arizona Coyotes so Nico is showing he can put a team on his back by himself. This also comes at age 20/21 so there is still a lot more room to grow as well.
Related Story. Nico Hischier leads the Devils in two games against the Islanders. light
No matter what the circumstances are, the Devils and Rangers playing against each other are always fun for both the fans and the players. This one won’t have much impact on a playoff race or anything like that but beating up on each other is always something we look forward to watching. If the Devils can stay out of the box so the Rangers power play can’t go to work, they will have a good chance to win this game in New York.