Who: New Jersey Devils (36-25-6, 78 points, 3rd place Metropolitan Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (27-31-10, 64 points, 8th place Metropolitan Division)

When: 3:00 p.m. ET

How to Watch: National broadcast on ABC, streaming on ESPN+

Pens’ Path Ahead: The homestand continues on Tuesday against the New York Islanders, then wraps up with a Friday game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Up next the Pens are headed to Florida and upstate New York in one of the final road trips of the season.

Opponent Track: The Devils are riding a three-game winning streak into tonight’s game, most recently scoring two late goals to fend off Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday at home.

Season Series: The Devils took the first two games of this series, with a 3-0 shutout in Pittsburgh on Dec. 21 followed by a 3-2 shootout win in New Jersey on Feb. 4. These teams meet one more time on Feb. 11 in the Pens’ last road game of the season.

Hidden Stat: Only Darcy Kuemper, Jake Allen and Filip Gustavsson have recorded a higher save percentage than Tristan Jarry’s 1.99 GAA mark since March 9, per Pens PR.

Getting to know the Devils

Projected lines (from yesterday’s practice)

FORWARDS

Timo Meier – Nico Hischier – Stefan Noesen

Ondrej Palat – Dawson Mercer – Tomas Tatar

Daniel Sprong – Cody Glass – Jesper Bratt

Paul Cotter – Curtis Lazar – Nathan Bastian

DEFENSEMEN

Luke Hughes / Brett Pesce

Brian Dumoulin / Johnathan Kovacevic

Brenden Dillon / Simon Nemec

Goalies: Jacob Markstrom, Jake Allen

Scratches: Erik Haula, Justin Dowling, Kurtis MacDermid, Dennis Cholowski

IR: Jack Hughes, Jonas Siegenthaler, Dougie Hamilton

• Jack Hughes underwent shoulder surgery on March 5 and won’t be available until the start of next season. Dougie Hamilton will miss at least the rest of the regular season with a knee injury.
• Despite those key absences, the Devils are four points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the No. 2 spot in the Metro— and New Jersey has two games in hand.
• Jake Allen spoke on Thursday with team reporter Amanda Stein on how the Devils are covering for Hughes and Hamilton’s absences:

“Guys are stepping up. It’s not always going to be pretty, and I think we have to understand that. The offense that Jack and Dougie bring have to come in a variety of different ways, not just Jack can dance and do things on his own, Dougie’s got his experience in the way he can play and shoot the puck, but we’ve got to step up and find ways to win, to get offense and I think the guys are just finding that grinding, playing solid, nothing pretty.”

• The Devils have been shifting around lines during the ongoing three-game win streak in order to test out new combinations without Hughes and Hamilton in the lineup. One of those changes saw defenseman Simon Nemec, previously a healthy scratch, slot into Thursday’s lineup and score a key goal against the Oilers.
• It looks like Erik Haula is on track to be a healthy scratch tonight. He missed a month earlier this winter with an ankle injury and has been limited to three points (1-2—3) in 13 games since his return.

Player stats

(via hockeydb)

• Devils veteran winger Timo Meier is seeing more ice time, especially on the power play, since the Hughes injury.
• In addition to reuniting with familiar faces like Brian Dumoulin and Daniel Sprong, the Pens are seeing Cody Glass for the first time since his trade. So far Glass has been an effective addition in New Jersey, with three points (1-2—3) in three games as a Devil.

Since Cody Glass was acquired the Devils have scored 11 goals. Glass has been on the ice for 6 of them #NJDevils

— nick cahill (@devilstatguy) March 14, 2025

• Fun fact: Sprong and Glass sit next to one another in the Devils’ locker room, per The Hockey News’ Kristy Flannery.

And now for the Pens

Projected lines

FORWARDS

Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Danton Heinen – Evgeni Malkin – Philip Tomasino

Connor Dewar – Kevin Hayes – Emil Bemstrom

Boko Imama – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari

DEFENSEMEN

Vladislav Kolyachonok / Kris Letang

Matt Grzelcyk / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Graves / Connor Timmins

Goalies: Alex Nedeljkovic, Tristan Jarry

Potential Scratches: Ryan Shea (week-to-week injury), Tommy Novak (day-to-day injury)

Injured Reserve: P.O. Joseph (upper-body injury)

• Optional practice for the Pens on Friday. Emil Bemstrom, Kevin Hayes, Danton Heinen, Boko Imama, Matt Nieto, Sebastian Aho, Ryan Graves, Vladislav Kolyachonok and the goalies were the only participants. Tristan Jarry left the ice after 20 minutes, per the Tribune-Review’s Seth Rorabaugh.

With the recent heavy workload, Sullivan said they felt the guys who went on the ice needed the touches/repetitions. They felt the ones who didn’t skate could use the rest so that they have necessary energy when the Penguins host New Jersey on Saturday afternoon.

— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) March 14, 2025

• Status quo on the Pens’ injured players, per Mike Sullivan. P.O. Joseph and Ryan Shea are week-to-week. Novak remains day-to-day.