Devils at Golden Knights preview

DEVILS (26-27-12) at GOLDEN KNIGHTS (36-23-8)
10 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, MSG+, NHL.TV

The Golden Knights are two points ahead of the second-place Edmonton Oilers. Their eight-game winning streak ended with a 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.
Goalie Robin Lehner will make his second start for the Golden Knights and play his 300th NHL game.
Goalie Mackenzie Blackwood will start for the Devils. The rookie is 6-0-1 with a 1.27 goals-against average and .967 save percentage in his past seven games.
New Jersey is 4-0-2 in its past six games.

Players to watch

Devils forward Nikita Gusev will play at T-Mobile Arena for the first time. He was traded to New Jersey by Vegas on July 29, 2019 and has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in a six-game point streak.
Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in his past 12 games.

They said it

"The way he sees the ice and the way he finds his options, we call him the magician and there's a reason for that. We like his progression. We like the way he's played lately." -- Devils coach Alain Nasreddine on Nikita Gusev
"There's always things you can take from games, wins and losses. During that [eight-game winning streak], we played at least two or three games poorly than the one that we ended up winning. You can't overanalyze everything. You move forward and try to get another streak started." -- Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer

Devils projected lineup

Jack Hughes -- Nico Hischier -- Kyle Palmieri
Miles Wood -- Travis Zajac -- Joey Anderson
Jesper Bratt -- Pavel Zacha -- Nikita Gusev
Kevin Rooney -- Michael McLeod -- John Hayden
Mirco Mueller -- P.K. Subban
Dakota Mermis
-- Damon Severson
Connor Carrick --
Josh Jacobs
Mackenzie Blackwood
Cory Schneider
Scratched:Fredrik Claesson, Jesper Boqvist
Injured:Will Butcher (upper body)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- Paul Stastny -- Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty -- William Karlsson --
Nicolas Roy
Chandler Stephenson -- Nick Cousins --
Brandon Pirri
William Carrier -- Tomas Nosek -- Ryan Reaves
Brayden McNabb -- Nate Schmidt
Alec Martinez -- Shea Theodore
Nick Holden --
Zach Whitecloud
Robin Lehner
Marc-Andre Fleury
Scratched:Deryk Engelland, Jon Merrill
Injured:Mark Stone (lower body), Alex Tuch (lower body)

Status report

Claesson, a defenseman, is a healthy scratch for a second consecutive game.

Stat pack

Zajac is one goal from tying Zach Parise (194) for fourth in Devils history. ... Pacioretty has 15 points (nine goals, six assists) in his past 12 games. … Karlsson is one goal from 100 in the NHL.