Keefe Tweaks Devils Lines; Depth Forward Remains Absent

NEWARK—Ahead of their tilt with the Pittsburgh Penguins, New Jersey Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe went back to what works regarding the Devils lines.

Keefe moved Stefan Noesen back to the second line next to Nico Hischier and Timo Meier, where Noesen has done some of his best work this season, other than on the power play. Noesen’s matched his career-high in goals this season already (14), however, has certainly cooled off in the goals department with one goal in the Devils’ last eight contests.

Switching with Noesen is Dawson Mercer, who hasn’t necessarily found his groove offensively this season. Mercer is an excellent defensive compliment on the Hischier/Meier line, however, the Devils are almost certainly looking for more offense as they continue to struggle to score goals early in games.

In the same eight games as Noesen, Mercer’s potted two goals and three points.

Devils Lines at Morning Skate*

Forwards

Ondrej Palat–Jack Hughes–Jesper Bratt

Timo Meier–Nico Hischier–Stefan Noesen

Paul Cotter–Erik Haula–Dawson Mercer

Tomas Tatar–Justin Dowling–Nathan Bastian

Defensemen

Brenden Dillon–Dougie Hamilton

Jonas Siegenthaler–Johnathan Kovacevic

Luke Hughes–Brett Pesce

Goaltenders

Jacob Markstrom

Jake Allen

*Lineup subject to change

Still missing from the Devils’ lines this morning is depth forward Curtis Lazar. The Devils’ fourth-line center was taken out of the lineup on Thursday after skating in one game against the St. Louis Blues earlier in the week.

Lazar skated 11:41 against the Blues and didn’t miss any time. However, Keefe explained while in Columbus that he may have aggravated his knee injury, although there is no new structural damage.

The Devils face the Penguins at 8 P.M. at the Prudential Center on Saturday night.