Devils at Hurricanes preview

DEVILS (30-20-8) at HURRICANES (27-23-9)
5 p.m. ET; FS-CR, MSG+, NHL.TV

The Devils, who hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, will try for their fourth straight win after a five-game losing streak. They won 4-3 at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday behind a 48-save performance from Eddie Lack.
Goaltender Cam Ward is expected to start for the Hurricanes, who trail the New York Islanders by one point for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Carolina has lost two games in a row, including 5-2 at New Jersey on Thursday.
Victor Rask will play center on the Hurricanes' top line after he was on the fourth line in a 3-0 loss to the Islanders on Friday.

Players to watch

Devils forward Taylor Hall has 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists) in his past 17 games.
Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho has 25 points (14 goals, nine assists) in his past 21 games.

They said it

"Winning is just the best. [Saturday] was a huge win for us. But we have had an issue of responding after big wins. We need to forget about it, we've got a huge game [Sunday] against a Carolina team we're battling with for a playoff spot." -- Devils defenseman Ben Lovejoy
"[The Devils] played fast. They did a good job moving the puck. They put it in behind us and established the forecheck. We didn't have a very good answer for the [Nico] Hischier line in their building. That's why we have the lines set up the way we do." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters on their 5-2 loss at New Jersey on Thursday
Devils projected lineup
Taylor Hall -- Nico Hischier -- Kyle Palmieri
Blake Coleman -- Travis Zajac -- Stefan Noesen
Jesper Bratt -- Pavel Zacha -- Drew Stafford
Blake Pietila -- Brian Boyle -- Nick Lappin
Andy Greene -- Sami Vatanen
John Moore -- Damon Severson
Mirco Mueller -- Ben Lovejoy
Keith Kinkaid
Eddie Lack
Scratched:Jimmy Hayes, Will Butcher
Injured:John Quenneville (knee), Brian Gibbons (broken right thumb), Marcus Johansson (concussion), Cory Schneider (lower body)
Suspended:Miles Wood

Hurricanes projected lineup

Sebastian Aho -- Victor Rask -- Teuvo Teravainen
Brock McGinn -- Jordan Staal -- Elias Lindholm
Jeff Skinner -- Derek Ryan -- Justin Williams
Joakim Nordstrom --
Lucas Wallmark
-- Lee Stempniak
Jaccob Slavin -- Brett Pesce
Haydn Fleury -- Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Cam Ward
Scott Darling
Scratched: Klas Dahlbeck, Phillip Di Giuseppe
Injured: None

Status report

Wood was suspended two games by the NHL Department of Player Safety for boarding Tampa Bay Lightning forward Vladislav Namestnikov on Saturday. ... The Hurricanes recalled Wallmark from Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Saturday.

Stat pack

Hischier has seven points (three goals, four assists) in a four-game point streak. He is plus-10 in those games. … Palmieri has nine points (six goals, three assists) in the past 10 games. … The Devils are 22-0-2 when leading entering the third period. … Ward is 5-2-1 with a 2.12 goals-against average and .925 save percentage his past eight starts.