THE SCOOP
The Devils and Sharks will meet for the second time in less than a week. The two clubs played in New Jersey last Friday with the Devils picking up a 3-1 victory on two Dougie Hamilton power-play goals.
New Jersey, which will face the Sharks on the second installment of a four-game road trip, currently sits atop the NHL’s standings (tied) with their 8-2-0 record to begin the year. The Devils won eight straight games sandwiched between two losses. The team had it’s streak snapped Tuesday night in Colorado.
The Devils lost one of their top defencemen on Sunday with Brett Pesce going down with an upper-body injury. In his absence, New Jersey recalled Seamus Casey, who made his season debut in Denver.
The Sharks opened the season with a 0-4-2 record before winning 2 of their past 3 games. The Sharks host the Devils for the second game of a 4-game homestand. They began it with a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
The Sharks are in the middle of their rebuild. They already have some foundational pieces in place in forwards Macklin Celebrini (first overall, 2024), Michael Misa (second overall, 2025) and Will Smith (fourth overall, 2023), defenseman Sam Dickinson (11th overall, 2024) and goaltender Yaroslva Askarov (11th overall, 2020, Nashville).
