Nemec Out, As Wounded Devils Host Ducks | PREVIEW

NEW JERSEY DEVILS (17-13-1) vs. ANAHEIM DUCKS (19-11-1)

New Jersey looks to put an end to a five-game home losing skid with a pair of games this weekend, starting with the Anaheim Ducks at 12:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Read below for your game preview presented by Donnelly Energy and check back for the pre-game story.

PRE-GAME MEDIA AVAIL RECAP

NEWARK, NJ. - Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe met with the media ahead of facing the Anaheim Ducks at Prudential Center. Earlier in the day, the club announced that forward Timo Meier was placed on the non-roster list due to personal leave/family health matter.

The club announced it had recalled defenseman Calen Addison from Utica. But Keefe informed the media that defenseman Simon Nemec will “miss some time” with a lower-body injury.

“Nemec got injured in practice and missed the last half of practice,” Keefe said. “(Nemec’s timeline) is still being determined. It’s not day-to-day. The exact timeline, we’ll have to get that sorted.”

Defenseman Dennis Cholowski will re-enter the lineup. The Devils announced Friday that forward Arseny Gritsyuk will out for both games this weekend. Keefe confirmed that forward Juho Lammikko will be back in.

Goaltender Jake Allen will make the start while Lukas Dostal will go for the Ducks, activated off injured reserve.

Injury List

The injuries keep mounting and the adversity intensifies.

“It’s not the first time. We played a game at Washington this year with eight guys out of our lineup and found a way in that game to scratch out two points,” Keefe said. “We’ve been in this situation all season and have had to deal with these ups and downs. Right now, we happen to be in it. The results aren’t going our way. We have a lot of people out now, a lot of important people. But we have a tremendous opportunity now more than ever to lean in on all the things that we talk about on a daily basis.”

Facing Anaheim’s Speed

The Ducks are built on a lot of speed, skill and offense. Their quick transition attack gave the Devils a lot of problems when the two teams met in California – a 4-1 Anaheim win on Nov. 2.

“They’re very dangerous on the rush. It’s all four lines, all D pairs,” Keefe said. “They have a lot of offense and skill. They lead the league in odd-man rushes and rush opportunities. They’re going to be coming with a lot of speed as we saw out in Anaheim.

“Shift to shift, we’re going to have to manage the puck well, be very structured and patient, and be good on special teams. All those things have to come together.”

One area to prevent the Ducks, who have the NHL’s 2^nd-best offense with 2.52 goals per game, from gaining speed and getting to their rush game is smart play in the neutral zone.

“Getting the puck through the neutral cleanly and be above, speed,” Keefe said. “If we can do a good job of getting through the neutral zone then it’s going to be about our play in the offensive zone.”

And when the Devils are in the offensive zone, they don’t want their D to be passive. They still want them pinching and trying to add offense. The importance of the club’s F3 and reloading will be key to prevent against any Anaheim’s transition.

“I’d say the reloads are the bigger part of it,” Keefe said. “We need our D to be aggressive, otherwise we’ll be backing up and skating backwards and retreating into our zone and that’s not good either. We need our D to be on their toes and aggressive. Forwards have a great responsibility to give us the necessary support to allow the D to play freely.”

THE SCOOP

The Devils are trying to get out of their current slide which has seen them drop six of their last seven games. In that time, they've fallen from top of the conference to now tied with Pittsburgh for the second wild card spot.

On the season, Jesper Bratt leads the team in points with 27 while Timo Meier is first on the club in goals with 11. Meier will not play this weekend as he is away from the team tending to a family health matter.

Bratt has continued to put up points and assists for the team, leading the club with 21 helpers, but has struggled to score as of late. He potted one against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, his first goal in 17 games with the last one being on November 6. He started the season with four goals in seven games but since then, has only netted two in 21.

Devils are also dealing with nine absences, including eight injuries and one player out on personal leave in Timo Meier. News came down after Friday's practice that Arseny Gritsyuk won't be available for this weekend's games.

Anaheim has had a strong season sitting tied for top spot in the Pacific Division heading into Friday's games. However, injuries to their top two goaltenders in Lukas Dostal and Petr Mrazek have caused them to slip a little. In their last game, they fell 5-2 to the New York Rangers with Ville Husso in between the pipes.

Leo Carlsson is off to an amazing start for the team. The 20 year old has 17 goals and 39 points in 31 games. He will soon surpass his season-best numbers which were achieved last year when he had 20 goals and 45 points in 76 contests.

Cutter Gauthier is also on pace for a career year. He has 16 goals and 34 points in 31 games while last year's career bests were 20 goals and 44 points in 82 games.

WHO’S HOT

Devils: Arseny Gritsyuk netted three points on Tuesday in Ottawa for his first career three-point game though he will miss both games this weekend. Connor Brown picked up three assists in that same game. Paul Cotter had a goal and an assist against Tampa Bay on Thursday.

Ducks: Becket Sennecke has six points in the Ducks' last five games to lead the squad. Leo Carlsson has three goals in that time.

INJURIES

Devils:
Gritsyuk (upper body)
J. Hughes (finger)
Pesce (upper-body)
Dadonov (wrist)
Kovacevic (knee)
McLaughlin (undisclosed)
MacEwen (upper body)
Meier (personal leave)

Ducks:
Dostal (upper-body) - activated off IR and expected to start
Mrazek (undisclosed)

REGULAR-SEASON RESULTS

• Nov. 2 at Ducks, 4-1 L
• Dec 12 vs. Ducks

GAME NOTES

• Saturday's game is Devils Youth Foundation Day and as part of it, kids will be running the show. There will be kids who do PA announcements, player headshots and more. Read more here!
• As part of Devils Youth Foundation Day, there's a silent auction which is currently active. You can bid on fun things like a Jack Hughes curated basket which includes some of his favorite books or Nico Hischier's pizza making basket among others.
• The Ducks are missing Lukas Dostal in goal, who is injured. He has an 11-5-1 record this season with a 2.81 goals-against average and .904 save percentage. The other two Ducks goalies who have played a full game or more are Petr Mrazek and Ville Husso. Mrazek has a 3.69 GAA and .876 save percentage to go along with a 3-3-0 record. Husso has been currently filling in admirably but is still 5-3-0 in his eight starts with a 3.16 GAA and .888 SPct.