Devils vs Canucks: Prediction, Team News and New Jersey’s Scoring Problem

New Jersey has three defencemen unavailable and has conceded thirteen goals in three games. It has scored six.

Devils vs Canucks brings together the lowest-scoring team in the East and a Vancouver side whose four games have produced 37 goals. Something has to give.

How to watch

Sportsnet has it in Canada. Regional coverage can differ from the national listing, and our how to watch the NHL in Canada page has the full picture.

Devils vs Canucks odds

Nothing posted in Canada on 8 October. Boards appear on our NHL odds page as they land, and the projected goaltenders are on our NHL starting goalies page.

New Jersey can’t score and can’t keep its defence on the ice

Six goals in three games. Jack Hughes has one of them. Jesper Bratt has two assists and no goals. For a club built to score, that’s the whole problem.

The blue line explains some of it. Seamus Casey is six to eight weeks away after a knee procedure, Johnathan Kovacevic started the season unavailable and Jonas Siegenthaler is day to day.

Luke Evangelista leads the scoring with three points. Dougie Hamilton has two from defence and is playing more minutes than anyone would like at this stage of a season.

Jake Allen has taken two of the three starts at .875. Nico Daws took the other and stopped 13 of 16.

How they compare

Vancouver finished 32nd last season and New Jersey 21st, and the goal totals this season have flipped that around.

Vancouver is scoring, conceding, and winning about half

Paul Cotter has six points and leads the club. Elias Pettersson has six as well, which is the version of him Vancouver needed, and Filip Hronek has five assists from the back.

The games have been wild. Vancouver lost 9-7 to Edmonton, beat Calgary 4-1 and lost 3-2 to Vegas. Nineteen goals for and eighteen against in four is not a sustainable way to live.

Kevin Lankinen is at .824 across three starts, which is the number that should worry them most. Leevi Meriläinen, claimed off waivers from Ottawa in September, won the one game he started.

Quinn Hughes isn’t walking through the door. Vancouver traded him to Minnesota 26 games into last season and hasn’t replaced him.

One win each last season

Vancouver won 2-1 in New Jersey in December and lost 5-4 at home in January. The second one went to nine goals, which this season’s Vancouver would recognise.

Team news

Five New Jersey names, three of them defencemen. League-wide availability is on our NHL injury report.

Players to watch

Jack Hughes. One goal in three games. New Jersey’s season turns on him finding the other gear.

Paul Cotter. Four goals already, which nobody had on their card.

Elias Pettersson. Six points in four after a season at minus 30. This is the start Vancouver needed from him.

Dougie Hamilton. Carrying a blue line that’s lost three men, and still producing.

Score prediction

Vancouver Canucks 4-2 New Jersey Devils. New Jersey has six goals in three games and three defencemen out. Vancouver is scoring nearly five a game and will get chances against a patched-up back end.

Devils vs Canucks prediction

This is a bad matchup for New Jersey. It can’t score, it’s missing three defencemen, and Vancouver’s problem all season has been keeping goals out rather than putting them in.

The case for the home side is Jake Allen and the fact that Vancouver’s goaltending is worse than New Jersey’s. Lankinen at .824 loses games on his own.

Vancouver is also deep into a long road trip, which is the sort of thing that shows up in a third period.

Our lean: Vancouver, and the over if the total sits at 6 or lower. Vancouver’s four games have averaged more than nine goals between the sides and neither goaltender is stopping much. Where both sit is on our NHL power rankings.

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