Today at 1:00 p.m. ET, the Pittsburgh Penguins (29-11-1, 59 points) and New Jersey Devils (16-16-8, 40 points) faceoff live from the Prudential Center in New Jersey for the fourth and final time this season. The game can be live streamed here. Pittsburgh fans can hear all of the action on 105.9 WXDX while New Jersey fans can do the same on WFAN 101.9 The Fan.
Pittsburgh enters play on top of the Eastern Conference while the Devils are looking to close out the first half above .500 to stay in the mix in the middle of the Metropolitan Division. These teams have alternated wins with the Penguins notching home wins with a 3-0 victory Oct. 3 and a 3-2 win Dec. 13 while the Devils took the middle game 4-1 at home Nov.16.
The Penguins have been banged up all season long, but the injuries have not slowed down one of the best teams in the NHL. Rob Scuderi returned for the team's 5-3 road win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
"I felt better as the game went on, certainly rusty," Scuderi said via NHL.com. "Condition-wise and skating is not a problem. It's reading the play, when to go to the right spot, where you're supposed to be. It takes time to come back."
The Penguins offensive charge has been led by Sidney Crosby, who has 58 points off of 22 goals and 36 assists thus far this season while Chris Kunitz has 21 tallies and 21 helpers for 42 points. Evgeni Malkin (9-32-41) is third on the team in scoring, but is still sidelined with a lower-body injury.
The Devils got a great performance out of Cory Schneider in a 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Saturday that saw the netminder make 30 saves.
"I have a lot of pride. I want to win games. You play the game to win," Schneider told the Newark Star-Ledger. "You can say all the right things, but you have to produce and provide good enough goaltending to win games."
The Devils will turn to Martin Brodeur tonight since Schneider lost both of his starts against the Penguins while Brodeur won his only try against them.
Brodeur is 11-8-3 while splitting time with Schneider with a 2.31 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage. The Penguins will likely counter with Marc-Andre Fleury, who is 22-9-1 with a 2.16 GAA and a .920 save percentage this season.
Fleury will try to stop a New Jersey offense that is led by Jaromir Jagr, who has 34 points off of 13 goals and 21 assists while Patrik Elias has seven markers and 18 helpers for 25 points and defenseman Andy Greene has lit the lamp six times while adding 14 assists for 20 points.
Two division rivals match up for a New Year's Eve matinee when the Devils host the Penguins and the puck drops at the Prudential Center this afternoon in New Jersey.
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