Penguins at Devils preview

PENGUINS (7-5-3) AT DEVILS (6-8-1)
7 p.m. ET; MSG, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV

The Devils center, who is day to day, will miss the first game of his NHL career after being injured in the second period of a 5-2 loss at the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday. New Jersey, outscored 18-6 during a three-game losing streak, is coming off a seven-game road trip (1-6-0). Goalie Keith Kinkaid will make his 13th start of the season.
Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith will make his third straight start. He has two shutouts in his past three starts and has a 1.89 goals-against average and .942 save percentage in nine games this season.
Pittsburgh is 1-4-1 in its past six games.

Players to watch

Penguins center Sidney Crosby has three points (two goals, one assist) in his past two games after having no points in his previous three games.
Devils forward Taylor Hall has two points (one goal, one assist) in his past five games after having 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) in a nine-game point streak.

They said it

"As the backup, my job is to show up when I get the chance and I think so far I've given the team a chance to win when I've played. I take pride in that and I'm happy with my performance so far and no matter how many starts I get this year I hope that trend continues." -- Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith
"We need to build our game to the point where we're able to win games and sustain that so no matter who's in the lineup it's about building our game and playing the right way, and that's something we're looking forward to doing." -- Devils forward Kyle Palmieri

Penguins projected lineup

Dominik Simon -- Sidney Crosby -- Bryan Rust
Carl Hagelin -- Evgeni Malkin -- Patric Hornqvist
Jake Guentzel -- Riley Sheahan -- Phil Kessel
Garrett Wilson -- Matt Cullen -- Zach Aston-Reese
Jack Johnson -- Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin -- Chad Ruhwedel
Jamie Oleksiak -- Olli Maatta
Casey DeSmith
Matt Murray
Scratched: Daniel Sprong, Juuso Riikola
Injured: Justin Schultz (fractured left leg), Derick Brassard (lower body)

Devils projected lineup

Taylor Hall -- Travis Zajac -- Kyle Palmieri
Marcus Johansson -- Pavel Zacha -- Jesper Bratt
Blake Coleman -- Brett Seney -- Joey Anderson
Miles Wood -- Jean-Sebastien Dea -- Stefan Noesen
Mirco Mueller -- Sami Vatanen
Andy Greene -- Damon Severson
Will Butcher -- Ben Lovejoy
Keith Kinkaid
Cory Schneider
Scratched: Kurtis Gabriel , Egor Yakovlev
Injured: Steven Santini (jaw), Nico Hischier (upper body), Brian Boyle (upper body)

Status report

Brassard will miss his eighth straight game. ... Boyle was placed on injured reserve and Zacha was recalled from Binghamton of the American Hockey League.

Stat pack

The Penguins are 3-for-24 on the power play in their past seven games. ... Malkin will play his 800th NHL game; he made his NHL debut against New Jersey and scored against Hockey Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur on Oct. 18, 2006.