Well folks, we’ve got a Saturday morning matinee on our hands today!

After a travel day from snowy Ottawa to snowy Newark, the Wings are wrapping up the first quarter of their season this afternoon against the New Jersey Devils. The first twenty games are a good sample size to determine what an NHL team actually is. It’s around this time that management will start to shift the roster and make changes to set-up their team for the rest of the season.

In the case of the Red Wings who have been playing near .500 hockey, don’t expect too many earth-shattering moves. The team has been littered with injuries this year with no sign of them slowing down. They are currently out three regulars in Thomas Vanek, Jonathan Ericsson, and Jacob De La Rose.

Michael Rasmussen scored the Wings lone goal in Ottawa bringing his rookie year total so far to four goals and six points. Unfortunately, the Red Wings had two missed penalty shot attempts in the third period that ultimately did them in.

As such, I’m not expecting any changes to the lines since they’ve actually been clicking lately. This may be the last chance they get, though. If they don’t turn it on against the Devils today, they may just be put back into the blender for Wednesday’s game against the Boston Bruins.

The New Jersey Devils aren’t Los Angeles Kings bad, but they are in a large group of teams tied for 2nd last in the league with 17 points. Put briefly, they are not having the miracle playoff run that they had last year.

For one, Taylor Hall has slowed considerably. Though he’s second on the team in points with 19, he’s only scored four goals. Instead, Kyle Palmieri is leading the Devils charge with 11 goals. He’s definitely benefiting from playing with Hall, but this team is going to need both of these players producing if they want to go anywhere.

A notable absence in the top-6 is Nico Hischier, who’s been out with an upper-body injury. It’s possible that he’s back for this afternoon’s game, but not likely.

Jimmy Howard vs Keith Kinkaid

Jimmy Howard turned away 34 shots in Thursday’s game against Ottawa to add to his impressive 2018-19 save percentage. The Red Wings starting goaltender has been on a tear in the last 11 games and they need him to keep it up if they want to climb the standings.

In the Devils end, Keith Kinkaid has all but stolen the starter’s job from Corey Schneider. He’s got a .917 save percentage and 2.60 goals against average in the 14 games that he’s started this year.

The matinee match-up kicks off at 1:00 P.M. ET and will be broadcast on Fox Sports Detroit, MSG+, and NHL.TV.

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