New Jersey Devils Will Require An Elite Effort To Beat Dallas Stars

The New Jersey Devils are hosting the Dallas Stars tonight. They are an elite team that will require an elite effort in order to defeat them.

The New Jersey Devils are 1-0-1 since coming back from the All-Star break. They played well enough to come out with three out of four points in the last two games. It has been good to see a few different players step up and get the job done. They have had a tougher time keeping the puck out of their own net but they have shown an ability to score. They obviously need to be better in their own zone but in the attacking zone, things have been okay.

They will definitely need an elite effort to beat an elite team in the Dallas Stars. They are still led by the usual suspects in Tyler Seguin, Alexander Radulov, and Jamie Benn. They also have some absolute studs on the back end in Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell, and John Klingberg. The Devils are going to have their hands full against a team with such depth.

A few of the Devils top players need to show up here. Nico Hischier and Nikita Gusev picked up where they left off when play resumed so hopefully they can keep it up. It looks like these two can be offensive leaders on this team for a long time. Guys like Kyle Palmieri and Blake Coleman have also been really good at taking care of some offense as well this season. It will take a group effort to get through the challenges that Dallas presents to their opposition.

It would be nice for Jack Hughes to get going. He was seeing much better production earlier in the season when he was on a line with offensive players. Hughes has consistently been on a line with guys like Miles Wood, Pavel Zacha, and Wayne Simmonds over the last few weeks. That is not the best way to get a teenager whose primary trait is offense playing better offensively. Those guys are good depth players, but Hughes has the potential to be a star.

Of course, the team needs to be a little bit less sloppy in order to beat Dallas. They play a well-structured game that makes things difficult. They are probably considered a Stanley Cup contender at this point as they are in decent shape with their current seed. The only issue for them is their division. The Central Division is probably the best in the league so Dallas will likely either have to play the Colorado Avalanche or St. Louis Blues in the first round which is less than ideal. The Devils definitely have their hands full with this game.