Devils at Hurricanes preview

DEVILS (33-23-8) at HURRICANES (28-25-11)
7:30 p.m. ET; MSG+, FS-CR, NHL.TV

Hall scored in a 3-2 loss against the Florida Panthers on Thursday to set a Devils record with points in 16 straight games, the longest streak in the NHL this season. The veteran forward has 21 points (11 goals, 10 assists) during his streak, and 33 (16 goals, 17 assists) during a personal 23-game point streak; he missed three games from Jan. 22-25 with a thumb injury.
The Devils hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference and are fourth in the Metropolitan Division, two points behind the third-place Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Hurricanes, who won 4-1 at the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday to end a six-game losing streak (0-4-2), are two points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card in the East.

Players to watch

Devils forward Kyle Palmieri has 14 points (nine goals, five assists) in the past 16 games.
Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teravainen has five points (four goals, one assist) in the past five games.

They said it

"These are very meaningful games, and this time of the year is the hardest time to play. March and April, everything starts tightening up. We have another chance to come back (Friday) and get another big win." -- Devils forward Pat Maroon
"There's so much hockey left it's not even funny. Play again [Friday], we've got to get home, get charged up, get rested and play a real good New Jersey team. We had a real good game in our building against them last time [a 3-2 Devils overtime win], so I expect a real hard-fought game [Friday]. We just have to manage the situation properly." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters

Devils projected lineup

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

Hurricanes projected lineup

Brock McGinn -- Jordan Staal -- Justin Williams
Sebastian Aho -- Elias Lindholm -- Teuvo Teravainen
Jeff Skinner -- Lucas Wallmark -- Phillip Di Giuseppe
Victor Rask -- Derek Ryan -- Lee Stempniak
Jaccob Slavin -- Justin Faulk
Haydn Fleury -- Brett Pesce
Noah Hanifin -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Cam Ward
Scott Darling
Scratched: Klas Dahlbeck
Injured:Joakim Nordstrom (eye)

Status report

Neither team had a morning skate. ... Staal returned to the Hurricanes on Thursday after missing three games following the death of his infant daughter.

Stat pack

Maroon had two assists against the Panthers in his debut with the Devils. … Aho had a goal and an assist against the Flyers, and has 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in his past 15 games.