G12 New Jersey Devils @ Colorado Avalanche: Familiar faces

The Devils will face Miles Wood and Tomas Tatar for the first time since their off-season departures.

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A few notes to get you set for New Jersey vs. Colorado:

Old friends

The Devils will square off against a couple familiar faces tonight in Tomas Tatar and Miles Wood. Both forwards are off to rocky starts to their Colorado careers.

Tatar ranks dead last among Avalanche forwards in shot share and expected goal share at 5v5. He has generated only four shots on goal and already sat out a game as a healthy scratch.

Meanwhile, Wood has two points through 10 games and the Avalanche have only scored one 5v5 goal with him on the ice.

His underlying metrics are pretty good but it’s fair to say the Avalanche want – and expect – more from him in the first year of a long-term contract.

Given the struggles we’ve seen from them in the early going, we should absolutely expect them to flip the switch and contribute meaningfully against the Devils.

A plus for Tatar and Wood is, with all the injuries up front, the Devils’ forward depth is really thinned out. That’ll give them easier matchups and a better chance of making some noise in this game.

Power play success is crucial