Teams talk all the time about playing with a "sense of urgency." As hockey cliches go, it ranks right up there with "getting pucks deep" and "traffic in front."
But in the New Jersey Devils' case, it's actually true. You won't find a team that needs to play with more "urgency" than the Penguins' opponents tonight.
"But we’re also still fighting for a spot," said Conor Sheary. "We have to focus on our own game. We don’t want to worry about where they’re at. We just want to come out and play hard and get two points."
The Devils have been one of the league's bigger surprises and have been in a playoff position for nearly all of this season, but now their postseason hopes are hanging by a thread. Two straight losses have the Devils holding the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference by just one point over the hard-charging Panthers, who have two games in hand over New Jersey.
This will be the finale of a six-game road trip for the Devils, who were blown out 6-2 by the Sharks in San Jose on Tuesday.
1. Playoff preview?
There is good reason why many believe that the Devils would be the worst-possible first-round matchup for the Penguins.
Perhaps no team has confounded the Penguins more this season than the Devils, who have won the first two games in the season series by scores of 3-0 on Feb. 3 and 3-2 on Feb. 27.
“They've played extremely well against us," Mike Sulllivan said. "They have a lot of team speed, they have an aggressive forecheck. They're young and they play with a lot of energy."
In the most recent loss, Stefan Noesen scored the game-winner at 5:01 of the third period, sneaking a short-side deflection past Casey DeSmith:
The Devils are a fast team up and down their lineup and they use that speed to their advantage at both ends of the rink.
"I think we have to play a little bit faster, we got stalled a little bit coming through the neutral zone against them in the past," Sidney Crosby said. "Try to get it out of our D-zone a little bit better. Just using our speed and try and play in their end."
However, the Devils are flawed defensively. They are the only team currently in playoff contention with a negative goal-differential at minus-2. They average 2.93 goals per game, but give up 2.97. Their Corsi For at 5v5 ranks 21st at 48.67.
The Penguins might not be playing for their playoff lives but a crucial two points are at stake. It would behoove them to get off to a good start and match the Devils' desperation.
2. Hart-beat of North Jersey.
Using the "player judged most valuable to his team" standard, perhaps no player is more deserving of the Hart Trophy than Devils star Taylor Hall.
Where would New Jersey be without its dynamic left wing? Not in playoff contention.
Hall is currently the 15th-leading scorer in the NHL and leads his team in goals (32), assists (46) and points (78) and holds a 32-point lead over rookie Nico Hischier, the Devils' second-leading scorer.
After never coming close to reaching the playoffs in his first six seasons playing on some very bad Oilers teams, the No. 1 overall pick in 2010 has done his part to return the Devils to the playoffs after a five-year absence.
"He's a highly-skilled player," said Jamie Oleksiak, who used to face Hall in the Western Conference when he was with Dallas and Hall with Edmonton. "He's showing the league kind of how dynamic he is and how much an impact he can have on the game. He's one of those guys who’s really fast and can handle the puck really well. He’s a dangerous guy. Just felt like he had something to prove in Jersey and he’s done that. Guy we have to be aware of."
Hall has two goals and two assists in his last four games and is just two points shy of establishing a career high.
The Penguins are well aware of what Hall can do. In two games against them this season, Hall has three points on seven shots, including this no-angle goal against DeSmith on Feb. 27:
The Devils' top line of Hall, Hischier and Kyle Palmieri have carried them this far. But take away Hall's time and space and the Penguins should be in good shape.
Oh, one more thing: Mario Lemieux was the last player from a non-playoff team to win the Hart, in 1987-88. That year, the Penguins missed the playoffs by one point but Le Magnifique led the league in scoring by 19 points over Wayne Gretzky, 168-149.
3. The life of Brian.
The trade deadline acquisition of Michael Grabner has brought even more speed to New Jersey's lineup, but it hasn't produced the points or the wins that Ray Shero probably envisioned.
Since coming over from the Rangers, Grabner has just two goals and an assist in 12 games while the Devils have gone a pedestrian 6-6-0.
Remember, Jim Rutherford was believed to have shown great interest in acquiring Grabner before he made the move to land Derick Brassard, who, by the way, takes a four-game points streak into tonight.
Grabner has been skating on the second line with center Travis Zajac and right wing Brian Gibbons. Yes, that Brian Gibbons.
The diminutive Gibbons scored 17 points (five goals) in 41 games for the Penguins in 2013-14, the last season of the Dan Bylsma era. He then played 25 games for the Blue Jackets in 2014-15 but had been in the AHL since.
Reunited with Shero and coach John Hynes, Gibbons had been a tremendous, Masterton-worthy story earlier this season when he scored 12 goals in his first 30 games. But Gibbons broke his thumb on Jan. 20 and missed 22 games.
Since returning six games ago, Gibbons has three assists and still hasn't scored a goal since Dec. 12.