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The Chicago Blackhawks continue their road trip on Friday night against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The Blackhawks dropped their season opener to the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 on Wednesday night. The Devils open the season at home against Chicago.
The game will be broadcast nationally on NHL Network and you can stream the game on NHL.TV and the NHL app. If you aren’t around a TV, you can also stream the game via WatchESPN or the ESPN app. But keep in mind — you’ll need a subscription to ESPN+. You can subscribe to ESPN+ on the ESPN website, where you can get a monthly subscription for $5.99, or get the ESPN/Disney/Hulu bundle for $13.99 per month. If you’re in Canada, you can stream the game via NHL Live.
The Blackhawks got very little production from their three best players on Wednesday. Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Alex DeBrincat all went scoreless. Turnovers were also an issue; Colorado had 17 takeaways while Chicago only gave away the puck 3 times. It’s also likely a weak Blackhawks team just got overwhelmed by a very good Avalanche squad. We’ll see if the Hawks can make adjustments heading into Game 2.
The Devils are dealing with plenty of injuries early in the season, mostly on the blue line. Ty Smith and Damon Severson aren’t expected to play in the opener for New Jersey, both dealing with lingering injuries from the offseason.
That means the Devils will have a few newbies on defense. Colton White has been in the system for a while and he’ll be on the bottom pair, while Jonas Siegenthaler and Christian Jaros will step in as well. Siegenthaler will likely be on the bottom pair once Severson and Smith are back.
The Devils enter with a young lineup looking for breakout seasons from a few players. Jack Hughes will have to take the next step toward becoming a All-Star caliber 1C. Pavel Zacha will start on the wing with Hughes in Game 1 and is coming off his best NHL season. He was close to a 60-point pace last season and could be in store for a big season. Yegor Sharangovich is a must-watch and veteran Tomas Tatar brings some goal-scoring experience to a young squad.