Preview: Devils at Panthers

DEVILS (4-2-2) at PANTHERS (4-5-1)
7:30 p.m. ET; FS-F, MSG+ 2, NHL.TV

Devils team scope

New Jersey Devils goaltender Cory Schneider will make his eighth start. He's 4-2-1 with a 1.86 goals-against average and .941 save percentage. The Devils did not conduct a morning skate on Thursday, so coach John Hynes will reveal any lineup changes prior to the opening faceoff. Hynes told NorthJersey.com he has seen much growth from his team since a 2-1 overtime loss at the Florida Panthers on Oct. 13. "A lot of times when you get into your first few games, you're hoping to see an identity more often in the game than not and I think, if you look now, we're getting in around the 10-game mark when you should start to see a pretty consistent identity if you watch the team play. We feel like we've played our last three to four games with a pretty consistent identity." The Devils are 1-3-1 in the past five games at BB&T Center; their last win coming on Oct. 11, 2014, a 5-1 victory. Left wing Taylor Hall, who needs two assists to reach 200 in his career, has two goals and five assists in seven games against the Panthers. The Devils play 12 of their next 16 games on the road.

Panthers team scope

The Panthers rank 19th in the League with a 2.60 goals-per game average and have lost six of the past eight games. "We have to capitalize," defenseman Aaron Ekblad told the Miami Herald. "We need to get shots to the net, create rebounds, because that's where most of the goals are scored these days. The whole game of hockey sounds simple. You put the puck in the net, win a game. There's a lot of little intricacies we go through every night. Those details are going to help us win games moving forward." Left wing Jonathan Marchessault was named the NHL's third star of October after leading the Panthers with 11 points (six goals, five assists) in nine games. He leads Florida with seven points (three goals, four assists) in five games at BB&T Center this season. The Panthers rank 22nd in the NHL in penalty killing (77.8 percent) but have allowed one power-play goal at home this season (11-of-12). Defenseman Keith Yandle is expected to play in his 562nd consecutive NHL game, which ranks second among all active NHL players after Andrew Cogliano (715) of the Anaheim Ducks. Yandle has not missed a game since March 26, 2009 against the Edmonton Oilers. He has one goal and nine assists in 14 career games against the Devils.

Devils projected lineup

Taylor Hall -- Travis Zajac -- Michael Cammalleri
PA Parenteau -- Adam Henrique -- Kyle Palmieri
Beau Bennett -- Pavel Zacha -- Devante Smith-Pelly
Sergey Kalinin -- Vernon Fiddler -- Nick Lappin
Andy Greene -- Damon Severson
Yohann Auvitu -- Ben Lovejoy
John Moore -- Kyle Quincey
Cory Schneider
Keith Kinkaid
Scratched:Jacob Josefson, Reid Boucher, Vojtech Mozik
Injured:
Jon Merrill
(finger),
Luke Gazdic
(foot)

Panthers projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- Aleksander Barkov -- Jaromir Jagr
Reilly Smith -- Vincent Trocheck -- Colton Sceviour
Jared McCann -- Denis Malgin -- Kyle Rau
Greg McKegg -- Derek MacKenzie -- Shane Harper
Keith Yandle -- Aaron Ekblad
Mike Matheson -- Jason Demers
Mark Pysyk -- Alexander Petrovic
Roberto Luongo
James Reimer
Scratched:Shawn Thornton, Steven Kampfer
Injured:Jonathan Huberdeau (Achilles), Nick Bjugstad (hand), Jussi Jokinen (lower body)

Status report

Florida coach Gerard Gallant told the Sun Sentinel that Bjugstad and Jokinen will not play the next two games but could return against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday. … The Devils recalled Mozik, a right-handed shot, from Albany of the American Hockey League as a seventh defenseman on Tuesday. Mozik, 23, had no points in seven games with the Devils in 2015-16. He could make his season debut at some point on the current three-game road trip. Hynes did not commit to any line combinations but did make adjustments during practice on Wednesday. Cammalleri, who had been playing left wing all season, was on right wing with Hall and Zajac. Parenteau, who had been playing right wing, was on the left side with Henrique and Palmieri.

Who's hot

Severson has one goal and five assists in the past six games. … Yandle has three assists, a plus-2 rating and 17 shots in the past four games.