Hurricanes at Devils preview

HURRICANES (34-31-11) at DEVILS (39-28-8)
7 p.m. ET; MSG, FS-CR, NHL.TV

The Devils, 5-2-0 in their past seven games, hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the conference, one point ahead of the Florida Panthers, with Florida holding a game in hand.
New Jersey is three points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for third place in the Metropolitan and three points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for the first wild card. The Devils have one game in hand on each; Columbus holds the tiebreaker over Philadelphia.
The Hurricanes, looking for their fourth straight win after going 2-6-0 in their previous eight games, are seven points behind the Devils for the second wild card; New Jersey has a game in hand.

Players to watch

Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in a nine-game point streak.
Devils goaltender Keith Kinkaid, who will make his third straight start, is 11-3-0 with a 2.32 goals-against average and .932 save percentage in his past 15 games (14 starts).

They said it

"We're going to go play a back-to-back and a team that's real quick, so we'll see how the [young players] handle that and the puck management. It's a continual evaluation with this group." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters on facing the Devils
"It's been good that we've gotten leads heading into the third period, but now it's about knowing how to extend those leads and not just hold onto it. … We can't sit there and hope to win and play not to lose. We have to put our heads down and be strong." -- Devils defenseman Andy Greene

Hurricanes projected lineup

Valentin Zykov -- Sebastian Aho -- Teuvo Teravainen
Brock McGinn -- Jordan Staal -- Justin Williams
Jeff Skinner -- Elias Lindholm -- Phillip Di Giuseppe
Warren Foegele
-- Derek Ryan -- Joakim Nordstrom
Jaccob Slavin -- Klas Dahlbeck
Noah Hanifin -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Haydn Fleury -- Roland McKeown
Cam Ward
Scott Darling
Scratched:Lee Stempniak
Injured:Victor Rask (shoulder), Brett Pesce (shoulder), Justin Faulk (upper body)

Devils projected lineup

Taylor Hall -- Nico Hischier -- Jesper Bratt
Miles Wood -- Pavel Zacha -- Kyle Palmieri
Blake Coleman -- Travis Zajac -- Stefan Noesen
Michael Grabner -- Brian Boyle -- Brian Gibbons
Andy Greene -- Sami Vatanen
John Moore -- Damon Severson
Mirco Mueller -- Will Butcher
Keith Kinkaid
Cory Schneider
Scratched: Ben Lovejoy, Drew Stafford, Jimmy Hayes
Injured: Patrick Maroon (lower body), Marcus Johansson (concussion)

Status report

Faulk is day-to-day. ... Wood will return after missing three games with a right arm injury. ... Johansson practiced the past two days, but has yet to be cleared to play.

Stat pack

Slavin has eight points (two goals, six assists) in his past six games. ... Hischier, with 49 points (18 goals, 31 assists), needs one point to become the seventh rookie in franchise history to reach 50 points in a season, and first since Adam Henrique (16-35-51) in 2011-12.