Devante Smith-Pelly A Necessary Secondary Scoring Option For New Jersey Devils

Devante Smith-Pelly scored in his return to the lineup Saturday night. Hopefully it was a sign of things to come.

It was a beautiful goal. It was all skill and no luck. Devante Smith-Pelly skated up the right side and called for the puck. Travis Zajac put the puck in the perfect place. Smith-Pelly soard past Calvin de Haan and then snuck the puck five-hole past Thomas Greiss for a breakaway goal.

Smith-Pelly played in his first game since January 31st. This season, he has been awful to say the least.

After scoring eight goals in 18 games after a trade with the Montreal Canadiens, the Devils signed him to a two-year, $2.6 million deal. It seemed like after years of untapped potential, he finally found his stride with the Devils.

This season he just couldn’t find his touch. Coming into tonight’s contest, Smith-Pelly scored two goals in 43 games. He was supposed to be a scoring threat in the bottom six, instead he was just a liability.

It seems like he was more motivated Saturday night against the New York Islanders than he has been all season.

He found himself in the lineup after Mike Cammalleri was a surprise healthy scratch. While one would think Cammy would return to the lineup Sunday, it would be really hard not to find a place for Smith-Pelly after his performance.

With the recent return of Beau Bennett, there could soon be at least a threat of scoring from the Devils bottom six. It seems the likes of Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmeiri and Adam Henrique are doing a majority of the heavy lifting on the offensive side. If Smith-Pelly can find even part of his scoring touch from last year that will be crucial in making a run towards the playoffs.

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With the team’s win on Saturday night, the Devils have a shot at closing their playoff gap to two points on Sunday. The final playoff spot is held by the Boston Bruins, who just fired their head coach. Every team between the Devils and a playoff spot are in action on Sunday. If everything happens to fall right, the Devils could be as close to a playoff spot than they’ve been in months.

Point is, there is still a lot of hockey to be played, but the team needs to find players who can finish on their opportunities. The Devils may have had a three-goal lead, but by the end of the game they were lucky to come out with two points. The team needed every single chance they got, and if Smith-Pelly can continue to make his own chances like he did Saturday night he can finally pull through like the Devils thought he would all season.