Devils at Golden Knights preview

DEVILS (35-26-8) at GOLDEN KNIGHTS (45-19-5)
10 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, MSG+, NHL.TV

Vegas, which has won three straight after going 1-3-1 in its previous five, lead the Pacific Division by 12 points over the San Jose Sharks and trail the Nashville Predators by five points for first place in the Western Conference.
The Devils, 2-4-0 in their past six games after going 6-2-0 in their previous eight, lead the Florida Panthers by three points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. New Jersey trails the Columbus Blue Jackets by one point for the first wild card and is three points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division.

Players to watch

Devils forward Taylor Hall has 38 points (18 goals, 20 assists) in his past 28 games, but has not scored a point in the past two games after his 26-game personal point streak ended Thursday.
Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, after winning his 400th NHL game Monday at the Philadelphia Flyers, is one win from tying Chris Osgood for 12th place on the NHL's all-time list.

They said it

"We've got to make sure we're ready to play. We're on a road trip. This is not a vacation." -- Devils coach John Hynes on facing the Golden Knights
"You only play them twice a year. I'm happy we played them a week ago. It's not an advantage for one team, it's more of the same." -- Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant on facing the Devils

Devils projected lineup

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

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Alex Tuch
David Perron -- Erik Haula -- Tomas Tatar
Tomas Hyka -- Cody Eakin -- Ryan Carpenter
Tomas Nosek -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Ryan Reaves
Brayden McNabb -- Nate Schmidt
Shea Theodore -- Deryk Engelland
Jon Merrill -- Colin Miller
Marc-Andre Fleury
Maxime Lagace
Scratched: Brad Hunt, Oscar Lindberg
Injured:Reilly Smith (upper body), James Neal (hand), Malcolm Subban (upper body), William Carrier (upper body), Luca Sbisa (upper body)

Status report

Zajac returns to the lineup after missing one game with an upper-body injury. Bratt is a healthy scratch … Neal and Smith will not play.

Stat pack

Kinkaid is 7-2-0 with a 2.29 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage in his past nine starts. ... The Devils have scored two goals or fewer in seven of their past 10 games. … The Golden Knights have allowed two goals or fewer in four of its past five games. … Karlsson has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past 10 games.