The Arizona Coyotes will finally start their 2023-24 NHL regular season on Friday when they travel to Newark, New Jersey to face the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center at 7:00 PM ET which will air on the MSG Network. 

Arizona finished last season with a record of 28-40-14 and 70 points which led to a 7^th-place finish in the Central Division and a 13^th-place finish in the Western Conference while missing the playoffs for the 3^rd consecutive season and not much is expected from the Coyotes this season as they enter the year with an over/under point total of 76.5 points and are projected to be the worst team once again in the division. The Coyotes will start Karel Vejmelka as goalie when they travel to take on the New Jersey Devils on Friday evening after Vejmelka finished last season with a record of 18-24-6 with a .899 save percentage while allowing an average of 3.43 goals per game.

The New Jersey Devils won in their season opener at home against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night by a score of 4-3. Jack Hughes had a multi-goal game as he scored two goals in the win while Erik Haula and Dougie Hamilton accounted for the other two goals in the win. Vitek Vanecek had an okay game for the Devils as goalie with 32 saves with a .914 save percentage while allowing three goals. Akira Schmid will start at goalie for the New Jersey Devils when they host the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night after Schmid had a record of 9-5-2 this season with a .922 save percentage while allowing an average of 2.13 goals per game.

BookMaker has the New Jersey Devils listed as -250 moneyline favorites at home against the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night. New Jersey has won seven of the last ten including the previous three matchups in a row while winning by an average margin of .1 goals per game over the last ten and 2.33 goals per game in the last three meetings in the series. 

Arizona will likely be one of the worst teams again this season in the NHL as they are projected to finish in last place in their division and only enter the season with an over/under point total of 76.5 points while that will be a slight improvement compared to last season it won’t be enough of an improvement to make a push for the playoffs. New Jersey has dominated the series over the last ten meetings winning seven of the last ten including the previous three matchups while also winning by an average of over 2 goals per game in the last three contests. Despite the Devils playing on back-to-back nights I still look for New Jersey to have a dominant performance against an inferior team at home which is why I will be taking the puck line for the New Jersey Devils at -1.5 when they host the Arizona Coyotes on Friday evening.