New Jersey Devils: Lines Shuffled Ahead Of New York Islanders Game

The New Jersey Devils are getting ready to have a rematch with the New York Islanders. Things didn’t go well for them in their first matchup so they are going to be set on making it right. The Islanders play a hard defensive structure and it clearly presents problems to the way the Devils play so they are going to have to overcome that. As a result, they are going to have some different lines going into this game.

The New Jersey Devils forwards are going to line up differently for their next game.

Lindy Ruff left the forward lines alone during the first few games of the season. It looks like there are going to be some changes to the group ahead of this game. The defense pairs remain the same, but the forwards are shuffled. The only line that remains the same is the top line of Jack Hughes centering Yegor Sharangovich and Kyle Palmieri.

The second line is going to be Travis Zajac centering Miles Wood and Janne Kuokkanen. This seems like a reward for Miles Wood who has been one of the more noticeable players on the Devils throughout the early portion of the season. A lot of people are out on him but his name has been called a lot for better or worse. Zajac getting promoted to the second line is probably more of an inditement of their former second line.

Speaking of that former second line, Pavel Zacha is going to center the third line with Nikita Gusev and Nick Merkley. This is going to be Merkley’s first time being called up into the lineup from the Taxi Squad. Zacha and Gusev have mostly had terrible starts to the season so New Jersey is hoping that they are able to get a spark from this change.

Andreas Johnsson drops to the fourth line to play with Michael McLeod and Nathan Bastian. Johnsson struggled on a line with Gusev and Zacha so now he finds himself on the fourth line with McLeod and Bastian. Hopefully, this line is able to create some energy while chipping in on some offense.

Scott Wedgewood is could get another start while Eric Comrie backs him up. Mackenzie Blackwood is on the COVID-19 list right now and we don’t know when he is going to be back. It is no lock that he is out but the Devils are preparing as if he is out. Hopefully, he is okay and able to play soon enough.

Merkley is going to be in the lineup in place of Jesper Boqvist. Merkley coming into the lineup is fine but taking out Boqvist is outrageous. It is expected at this point that Zacha stays in, but it shouldn’t be that way. Boqvist at the center makes way more sense than Zacha at this point. When Nico Hischier comes back, that will change the entire outlook of the whole roster as he is an awesome top-end center. Jesper Bratt will insert himself as a top-six winger as well. Hopefully, this lineup is able to redeem the team as a whole against the Islanders.