Lineup for tonight’s game against the Devils

The lineup for tonight’s game against the Devils has been announced:

Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-J.T. Miller
Jimmy Vesey-Phil McRae-Nicklas Jensen
Michael Grabner-Nathan Gerbe-Jesper Fast
Ryan Gropp-Maxim Lapierre-Chris Brown

Brady Skjei-Adam Clendening
Mat Bodie-Dan Girardi
John Gilmour-Michael Paliotta

Antti Raanta
Magnus Hellberg

Alain Vigneault seems to have a consistent theme with his lines. The top line, for the third straight game, is one that may be a regular season top-six line. The third line is one that could possibly be a regular season fourth line. The other lines are players fighting for spots. It’s an interesting theme.

Eyes will be on the Skjei-Clendening pairing. Both players are smooth skaters who make a great first pass. Skjei struggled last game, while Clendening excelled. Clendening will be looking for his second straight strong performance while leading the powerplay.

From the way the lines were drawn up, there’s a possibility that Girardi is second pair, not first, for the game today. I wouldn’t read too much into this, as it’s probably just a way for AV to see Skjei and Clendening with more ice time.

Game time is 7pm on MSG.