Vancouver @ New Jersey preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 15, 2019 ) New Jersey 3, Vancouver 2

Sibling rivalry will be on display Saturday afternoon as top overall pick Jack Hughes and the New Jersey Devils host older brother Quinn and the Vancouver Canucks. The younger Hughes, 18, notched his first career NHL point on Thursday as the Devils dented the win column with a 5-2 victory over second overall pick Kaapo Kakko and the New York Rangers.

"We needed that to get our confidence back, some swagger back, and be ready to go for this Vancouver game," Jack Hughes said. "That win, especially coming against the Rangers, it's really good timing." The rookie will face his brother for just the second time in a competitive game, with the first coming over one year ago when his three-point performance sparked the U.S. national under-18 team to a 6-3 victory over Quinn's University of Michigan squad. Quinn Hughes, a 20-year-old defenseman, had three assists in five games in 2018-19 before scoring a goal and setting up two others in six contests this season. Vancouver looks to extend its winning streak to five games when it faces New Jersey, against which it has lost nine in a row (0-6-3) dating to a 2-0 victory on Nov. 25, 2014.

TV: 1 p.m. ET, Sportsnet (Vancouver), MSG-Plus (New Jersey)

ABOUT THE CANUCKS (4-2-0): Vancouver followed up a sweep of its season-opening three-game homestand with a 4-3 shootout victory over St. Louis on Thursday in the opener of a four-game trek. J.T. Miller scored his 99th career goal to boost his point total to seven (four goals, three assists) in his past four contests while Elias Pettersson set up Bo Horvat's first tally of the season to extend his point streak to four games (two goals, four assists). The reigning Calder Trophy recipient joined Tanner Pearson in scoring a goal in Vancouver's 3-2 shootout loss to New Jersey on March 15.

ABOUT THE DEVILS (1-4-2): New Jersey snapped its season-opening six-game skid due in large part to winning the special teams battle for the first time. Kyle Palmieri scored early in the second period for the Devils' first power-play goal of 2019-20, and the team thwarted all six short-handed opportunities after entering the game by going 12-for-21 for an NHL-worst 57.1 percent efficiency. "That's our M.O. We've gotten away from it for whatever reason these first few games here, but (on Thursday), that's New Jersey Devils penalty killing," forward Blake Coleman said, via NJ.com. "That’s what we expect every game, and we've set the bar now. We know what to expect from ourselves, and we put our foot in the sand, so to speak."

OVERTIME

1. Devils C Nico Hischier, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 draft, agreed to a seven-year contract extension worth $50.75 million on Friday.

2. Vancouver has won four in a row for the first time since March 25-31, 2018.

3. Devils G Mackenzie Blackwood turned aside all 25 shots he faced in a 4-0 win against the Canucks on New Year's Eve and made 25 saves in the shootout win in March.

PREDICTION: Devils 3, Canucks 2