Game Preview: Tampa Bay Lightning at New Jersey Devils

The New Jersey Devils are set to host the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Prudential Center tonight in the first meeting of the season between the two teams.
Lineups
Devils’ projected lineup per NHL.com
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Jesper Bratt — Nico Hischier — Stefan Noesen
Ondrej Palat — Dawson Mercer — Paul Cotter
Arseny Gritsyuk — Cody Glass — Connor Brown
Xavier Parent — Luke Glendening — Angus Crookshank
Jonas Siegenthaler — Dougie Hamilton
Brenden Dillon — Luke Hughes
Colton White — Simon Nemec
Jacob Markstrom
Jake Allen
Scratched: Juho Lammikko, Dennis Cholowski, Timo Meier
Lightning projected lineup per NHL.com
Brandon Hagel — Anthony Cirelli — Nikita Kucherov
Jake Guentzel — Brayden Point — Oliver Bjorkstrand
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Zemgus Girgensons — Yanni Gourde — Pontus Holmberg
Curtis Douglas — Nick Paul — Scott Sabourin
J.J. Moser — Darren Raddysh
Charle-Édouard D’Astous — Emil Lilleberg
Declan Carlile — Max Crozier
Jonas Johansson
Brandon Halverson
Scratched: Dominic James, Gage Goncalves, Jack Finley
Injuries
Both teams come into tonight’s matchup with several key players sidelined.
Devils Injured Players:
Jack Hughes (finger), Zack MacEwen (lower body), Brett Pesce (hand), Jonathan Kovacevic (knee), Evgenii Dadonov (wrist)
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Lightning Injured Players:
Ryan McDonagh (undisclosed), Erik Cernak (undisclosed), Andrei Vasilevskiy (undisclosed), Victor Hedman (undisclosed)
Storyline to Watch
All eyes will be on Xavier Parent tonight as he steps onto the NHL ice for the first time. After playing the past two seasons for the American Hockey League (AHL) Utica Comets, Parent is now preparing for his big moment.
Ahead of his first NHL game, he spoke with NJD.tv.
“It’s amazing. It’s been four years since I’ve been a pro. I always dreamed of that moment,” Parent said. “It’s my first year with an NHL contract. It was a big summer for me. You never know when that’s going to come. Today is the day, so it’s unreal.”
Player to Watch
The player to watch tonight isn’t a player, but rather a line. The Devils’ third line of Arseny Gritsyuk, Cody Glass, and Connor Brown earned eight points in their last contest. Brown dished out a career-best three assists, sparking the Devils to their first win in five games.
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The puck will drop at 7 PM.
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