THE SCOOP
The Devils begin a four-game road trip with stops in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Seattle, a trip that will keep them on the road for nine days. After posting two big wins, against Minnesota and Seattle, New Jersey dropped their most recent contest to Carolina on Saturday night. New Jersey has some group to make up to put themselves back in the playoff picture, currently five points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for third in the Metropolitan Division, and/or seven points out of the final Wild Card spot, currently occupied by the Buffalo Sabres. Both the Sabres and Penguins have a game in hand on New Jersey (at the time of publication).
Ondrej Palat sat out Saturday's game (illness), while Juho Lammikko, who had cleared waivers earlier in the day, was reinserted into the lineup. Simon Nemec was scratched, as the Devils deal with an overabundance of healthy defensemen on their current roster.
On Saturday afternoon, the Devils called up their top forward prospect, Lenni Hämeenaho, who took warmups against Carolina, but did not play. Hämeenaho's recall was to join the Devils on their four-game road trip. Head coach Sheldon Keefe mentioned that Hämeenaho may get the opportunity to make his NHL debut at some point on the trip.
The Flames sit 13th in the Western Conference standings with just 46 points this season and just 21 victories. Their most recent win comes after a victory against the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon. The Flames are 5-5-0 in their last 10 games and have a 13-7-2 record on home ice.
Veteran Nazem Kadri leads the Flames in points with 33, while former Devil Blake Coleman and Matt Coronato are tied for the lead in goals with 13. The Flames will play their first game without defenseman Rasmus Andersson, who led all Flames defensemen in points (30) before he was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday afternoon.
In exchange for Andersson, the Flames acquired defenceman Zach Whitecloud, prospect defenceman Abram Wiebe, a 2027 first-round pick and a conditional 2028 second-round pick, and Calgary will retain 50% of Andersson’s cap hit in the trade.
