The New Jersey Devils will take on the Montreal Canadiens tonight in their first matchup since returning from their West Coast road trip.

New Jersey begins a three-game homestand after going 1-3-0 on the trip, but remains perfect at home this season with a 5-0-0 record. The Devils enter the game with a record of  9-4-0, while the Canadiens sit at 9-3-1.

Montreal last played on Tuesday, falling 5-4 in a shootout to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Injury Update

Ahead of tonight’s game, the Devils activated Cody Glass from injured reserve. Glass, who missed the last seven games with an upper-body injury, returns to center the third line.

Additionally, Seamus Casey was reassigned to Utica on Wednesday night.

New Jersey also placed Brett Pesce on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.

Injury List:

Devils:

• Brown (undisclosed), day-to-day
• Glass (upper body), week-to-week
• Pesce (upper body), unknown
• Dadonov (hand), month-to-month
• Kovacevic (knee), month-to-month
• McLaughlin (undisclosed)
• MacEwen (upper body), week-to-week

Canadiens:

• Laine (abdomen), three to four months
• Guhle (lower body), IR

Projected Lines (Thursday Practice)

Noesen – Hughes – Bratt

Meier – Hischier – Mercer

Palat – Glass – Gritsyuk

Cotter – Lammikko – Glendening

Siegenthaler – Hamilton

Dillon – Hughes

Cholowski – Nemec

Starting Goalie: Jacob Markstrom

When asked about Glass’s return, head coach Sheldon Keefe spoke with The Hockey News’ Kristy Flannery:

“It’s very important. It gives us that third center. We were using him in some tough matchup situations. That’s important for us. It allows us to put Mercer back on the wing, and we like how that slots everybody in.”

Players to Watch

• Canadiens: Nick Suzuki — 12 points in his last 12 games.
• Devils: Dawson Mercer — 6 points in his last 4 games.

Team Leaders:

• Jack Hughes (Devils) — 10 goals
• Cole Caufield (Canadiens) — 10 goals

This marks the first meeting between the two teams this season. They’ll face off again in a back-to-back series on April 4 and 5.

The puck will drop at 7 PM at the Prudential Center. 

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