For New Jersey, the last game was a 4-2 loss in Washington that got away in the middle. It was 1-1 after the 1st, then Ilya Protas, Dylan Strome and Boone Jenner scored in the 2nd to make it 4-1. The Devils won the 3rd period, Timo Meier scored with 18.4 seconds left, and Thompson finished with 29 saves on 31 shots. They pushed late, but a 3-goal hole on the road was too much. Thompson sits this one, and Allen gets the rested Devils in front of him.
Both teams have been streaky. The Devils' last 5 includes a 7-1 rout of the Rangers and a 5-4 win in Detroit, plus a 4-1 home loss to Ottawa. That's a team that can pile up goals, and also one that occasionally disappears for a night. Colorado's 5-2 win over Pittsburgh is its only multi-goal margin over that stretch, and the other 4 games were all decided by 1 goal or by 3 in the Toronto loss. The Avs took 1 of 2 from Dallas, both 1-goal games. They've been in close games all month and have lost more of them than they've won.
The injury lists are about even, and the Devils' side got a little better overnight. Colorado is still without Roy and L'Heureux, Georgii Merkulov is on non-roster IR, and Logan O'Connor is pointed at a Friday return against Tampa Bay, so he won't play Tuesday. New Jersey is missing Seamus Casey on the blue line for 6-8 weeks after a knee procedure, Nick Bjugstad is on LTIR with a pectoral injury, and Connor Brown is on IR. Anthony Mantha's day-to-day tag turns out to be an illness. He played in Washington and is projected on the 3rd line with Evan Rodrigues and Stefan Noesen, so the morning skate settles it. Luke Evangelista has missed 3 straight with an illness of his own, and Sheldon Keefe expects him back in the lineup tonight.
On paper, Colorado has more high-end talent. The Devils have the schedule: rest, home ice, a forward coming back, and an opponent playing its 2nd game in 2 nights after getting held to 2 goals by a team near the bottom of the standings. With backups in both nets, the board has this close to a coin flip, which tells you the market sees those things as roughly cancelling out.