G5 New Jersey Devils @ Carolina Hurricanes: Do or die

The Devils need to best one of the league's dominant home teams to keep their season alive.

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The New Jersey Devils are playing for their season tonight in Carolina. Here are a few notes to get you set for the action:

Rookie numbers

Sheldon Keefe has not run his stars into the ground the way many coaches do in playoff series, especially given the lack of depth up front.

Excluding the overtime game, Timo Meier’s high in ice time is 18:38. Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt – who both play in every situation – have logged highs of 20:20 and 20:32 and played less than 20 minutes in two of three regulation finishes. That is nothing. And it’s time to change.

For one, the Devils are playing for their season. They haven’t scored a regulation goal this series where Meier, Hischier, and/or Bratt didn’t factor in. Considering nobody else can find the net, giving those guys more run seems like a good idea.

Perhaps just as noteworthy, the Devils are off until Friday if they win. They’d have two full rest days before playing again.

You want to go down with your best guys and, given the schedule, there is absolutely no reason to hold them back in this game.

Meier leads the entire series in attempts, shots on goal, scoring chances, high-danger looks, and rebound opportunities.

Jesper Bratt is tied for 2nd among all players in primary points, and Hischier is the only player on the Devils with multiple goals.

Each of these three should be playing 20+ minutes tonight. Assuming the game is remotely competitive, I’d like to see them land in the 22-23 minute range.

The ice time totals we’ve seen? Rookie numbers – and it’s time to pump them up.

Power play entries