Adam Henrique Finds Last Year’s Scoring Touch
By Nick Villano
After a season’s worth of disappointment, Adam Henrique finally found his scoring touch in the past five games.
Adam Henrique showed he can be a necessary secondary scorer last season when he finished the year with his first 30 goals season. Fast forward eight months, that same second-line center was halfway through the season with nine goals.
The past five games saw Henrique light the lamp four times. This is his best stretch since his eight goal March last year.
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Like most hot stretches, this one comes with a bit of luck. His breakaway short-handed goal against the Detroit Red Wings bounced just right to go over Jared Coreau’s pads. A wraparound goal against the Calgary Flames came thanks to the puck getting stuck behind the net. His most recent goal against the Buffalo Sabres was supposed to be a pass, but hit off defenseman Cody Franson into the net.
Luck usually gets a good player out of a bad stretch.
Even with his good play of late, Henrique is still only slated to score 23 goals this season, a seven goal drop from last year.
Taylor Hall’s arrival this offseason had Devils fans excited for an offense that would actually click. Part of that excitement was Henrique entering his prime.
Adding a proven scorer like Hall, including the chemistry the two had while playing together in juniors, had Devils fans thinking the days in the scoring cellar were in the rear view mirror. Unfortunately, the team ranks 27th in scoring this year.
Despite their scoring woes, the Devils are far from out of the playoffs. They are just three points out of the final Wild Card spot.
For the Devils to continue their push to the postseason, Henrique holds a very important role. He centers a line with Michael Cammalleri and Myles Wood. Cammalleri has been in one of the worst scoring stretches of his career, with just one goal since the New Year. Hopefully, Henrique’s scoring streak can help break his linemate out of his own.
Point is, Henrique is very important to this Devils team. If this is just a fluke stretch in a bad season, it will be hard for the Devils to find any secondary scoring. If this is a sign of things to come, then the team has two legitimate lines.