New Jersey by the Numbers: Team Production Week 4

At the end of the fourth week, the New Jersey Devils find themselves second in the division with 14 points in 11 games.

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Starting this week, New Jersey by the Number will be broken into 3 separate posts on team production, an evaluation on forwards and an evaluation for the defense. Today’s topic will be studying how the team produced during the fourth week of the season

This Week’s Results
10/28 – New Jersey Devils 3 at 8 Pittsburgh Penguins
10/30 – Winnipeg Jets 1 at 2 New Jersey Devils (SO)
11/1 – Columbus Blue Jackets 2 at 3 New Jersey Devils

After a train-wreck of start to the week in Pittsburgh, New Jersey was still able to gain 4 points thanks to wins verse the Jets and the Blue Jackets. Thursday’s victory against Winnipeg was especially big, since for the first time in 19 attempts, the Devils won a shootout.

The Devils’ 2-1-0 record for the week should be appreciated since New Jersey’s offense under-produced in most major categories compared to their season averages. In all three games this week, the Devils were without both of their off-season acquisitions, Mike Cammalleri and Martin Havlat. Without 2 of their top-6 forwards, it is easy to expect the offense to become weaker, but how much?

Coming into this week, the Devils were averaging 3.125 goals and 28.375 shots per game. After a full week of a missing two of their top-6 forwards, New Jersey’s offense posted 2.33 goals and 25.33 shots per game.

For the third week during the four weeks of the season, the Devils have scored more than half of their week’s goals during 5v5 play. In the three games the Devils played this week, New Jersey averaged 1.77 5v5 goals per 60 minutes. It was a bounce back from the week before where they highly relied on the Power Play for offensive production, only scoring 1.06 goals per 60 minutes. On the season, New Jersey is averaging 2.485 goals per 60 minutes, a step up from last year which was a big goal coming into the season. Also if Cammalleri and Havlat get back sooner, this number will only get better.

Nov 1, 2014; Newark, NJ, USA; New Jersey Devils right wing Dainius Zubrus (8) celebrates a goal by New Jersey Devils defenseman Adam Larsson (5) (not shown) during the third period at Prudential Center. The Devils defeated the Blue Jackets 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

The Devils did see decent production from their Power play unit, successfully converting two out of ten attempts this week, but was worse than the pace New Jersey was at on the season. The season average coming into the week of 29.6%, 9.6% higher than the week’s average. However, even with a 20% success rate, New Jersey was able to maintain a spot in the NHL’s top three power plays with their success rate of 26.3%, trailing only the Washington Capital and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Unfortunately another category which continued to falter this week was the Devils Penalty Kill.Being one of the worse units in the league already, it managed to become that much weaker. In Pittsburgh, this was greatly exposed as the Penguins scored 3 goals during their man advantage, which was the most they surrendered in a game all season. In total, the Devils PK killed 8 of the 12 opportunities they faced this week, for a success rate of 66%. This week’s average was higher than last week’s average of 44.4% success rate, but still managed to drop the season’s average to 68.8%, second to last in the NHL.

Overall, with all categories getting worse this week, it is pretty impressive to see the Devils finish with a record of 2-1-0. The Devils will probably not have that luxury this week as the schedule presents 3 games verse former playoff.

Upcoming Schedule
11/4 – St. Louis Blues at New Jersey Devils
11/6 – New Jersey Devils at St. Louis Blues
11/7 – New Jersey Devils at Detroit Red Wings

2 games verse the Blues and one at the Red Wings call for New Jersey to take on 2 team that rank in the NHL’s top 10 for Goals Allowed per game. New Jersey has already struggled to score and playing these two teams will not make it any easier. Hopefully when Mike Cammalleri and Martin Havlat get back onto the ice, the Devils will see these numbers improve. In the next two days, I will hope to post 2 more posts giving a closer evaluation on the Forwards and on the Defense. Next week the posts will be done Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

Until then, Let’s Go Devils

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