New Jersey Devils v Pittsburgh Penguins Live

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Quietly climbing back to the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference, the New Jersey Devils seem to be dedicated to keep up their excellent defensive performance in order to become a legitimate contender. Thus, Zach Parise and company will travel to Pennsylvania to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins at Mellon Arena on Friday at 0:30 a.m. GMT.

Although the Pittsburgh Penguins got off to a great start into this year’s NHL campaign, the team around Evgeni Malkin slowed down significantly over the last two weeks. More specifically, the Penguins experienced two humiliating losses versus the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings while being outscored 10-2. That said, Dan Bylma’s squad can play better than they did versus the Kings and Sharks, yet they showed some unusual defensive breakdowns last week and will have to bring a higher energy level at the defensive end of the ice night in and night out. Offensively, the defending Stanley Cup champions from Pittsburgh had no problems finding the net as they put up 54 goals in just 17 games so far.

The New Jersey Devils on the other hand came slow out of the gates but wasted no time to make it back to the playoff race. Holding on to a five-game winning streak, the Devils are one of the hottest teams in the league right now and fed off their extraordinary defense to close out games down the stretch. In fact, New Jersey is the best defensive team in the NHL, holding their opponents to just 33 goals in 15 games. One substantial part of said success has been the performance of former All-Star goaltender Martin Brodeur who posted a .913 save percentage while allowing just 2.35 goals per contest. Taking everything into account, the audience can expect a hard-nosed battle between two fairly even teams when the game between the Penguins and Devils gets underway on Friday night. While Pittsburgh wins most games due to the outstanding offensive performance of Evgeni Malkin and Sydney Crosby, the Devils rely on their shutdown defense to clinch victories. Thus, it remains to be seen whether the offensive minded Penguins or defensive specialists from New Jersey will prevail at Mellon Arena.

You can watch all games of the Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils right here on www.watchlivenhl.com, the home of NHL live streaming.