Tuesdays are for NHL hockey — this week, we get an eight-game slate headlined by an Eastern Conference endeavor between a Tampa Bay Lightning team on the upswing and a New Jersey Devils lineup dealing with a major injury to its top pointscorer. In a potential playoff preview, these two sides will take the ice at 7 p.m. EST to drop the puck on tonight’s slate.
Here’s a Devils vs. Lightning prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook for Tuesday’s contest.
Devils vs. Lightning prediction, preview
New Jersey Devils
A month into the season, it’s clear the Devils have the necessary pieces to compete for another postseason berth in the Metropolitan Division. Somehow, this team sits tied for second in the entire NHL with 27 points, but they’ll truly be tested in the coming weeks. Jack Hughes, the team leader with 20 points, underwent hand surgery after suffering an off-ice injury (allegedly at a team dinner) earlier this week and will miss extended time. Given that he paces the Devils with 10 goals and plays on the top power-play unit, his absence feels like a bit of a crushing blow to a team punching above its expected weight.
New Jersey sits inside the top-11 teams in both GF/GM (3.28) and GA/GM (2.89), so they’ve played very well on both ends while taking the 10th-most shots and pressuring the net. The Devils are also fifth in both PP% and PK% at 25.5% and 84.9%, respectively, so special teams remains a strength. Now, Nico Hischier (12 PTS) shifts to the top line at center alongside Jesper Bratt (17) and Timo Meier (14). Dawson Mercer has also looked good with 16 points, and defensemen Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec have 11 and 12 as well.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning didn’t start the season nearly as well as the Devils did, and injuries quickly mounted for a perennial playoff contender. It’s taken some time for Tampa Bay to get back into the swing of things, but the franchise is 7-3-0 across its last 10 contests and now seems to be turning the outlook around.
The goals haven’t come at an elite rate as in years past with the Lightning scoring just 3.00 GF/GP, good for 17th in the league. The good news is there’s still plenty of talent here with Jake Guentzel (17 PTS), Nikita Kucherov (16 PTS), Brandon Hagel (15 PTS) and Brayden Point (10 PTS) all around. Plus, reinforcements could be on the way with Victor Hedman (12 PTS) and Anthony Cirelli (11 PTS) listed day-to-day on the injury report. However, the Lightning are still down a handful of other skaters, and the defense is just average with 3.06 GA/GM. Looking toward the special teams aspect, the situation is dire for the power play at just 15.3%, 29th in the league. However, the penalty kill rate of 84.8% is still among the NHL’s better marks, so it’s not all bad news on that end of things.
Devils vs. Lightning pick, best bet
DraftKings Sportsbook lists the Lightning as -170 favorites on the Moneyline tonight, while the Devils come in at +142. The total sits at 5.5 combined goals.
On one hand, it’s almost a little bit surprising to see New Jersey as the underdog given how great the team’s played this season so far. However, the loss of Jack Hughes will prove difficult to overcome. While the Devils still have talent in the top six, we’ve seen this story before — he suffered a season-ending injury last year and his team limped into the postseason only to get demolished in the first round. Adapting to life without the star may take some time, and the matchup against Tampa Bay is a tough one to begin with. The star power in the Lightning’s lines outclasses that of the Devils, and while Jake Allen’s outplayed Andrei Vasilevskiy this season, it’s still difficult to envision New Jersey keeping up in the absence of its top scorer against a team that’s largely been doing all the right things lately as it weathers its own injury woes.
