New Jersey Devils: Is This Win Streak The Real Deal?
The New Jersey Devils won their second game in a row Thursday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. It was a decisive 5-2 victory in which the Devils played an all-round very good game. However, a couple weeks ago the Devils teased us with a three game winning streak, and followed that up with a four game losing streak. Is this streak the real deal?
There’s a couple reasons I believe that the New Jersey Devils will continue to play at their highest potential. First, Taylor Hall is almost unstoppable. Scoring at least a point in his past 16 appearances, Hall has been the Devils’ workhorse.
After netting what is most likely his most important goal in a Devils jersey on Tuesday night, you can see the emotion he has in his game right now. He understands the whole team is on his back, and he embraces it.
There’s not a single player in the league that wants to go to the playoffs more than Taylor Hall. Since he was drafted first overall, the playoffs have eluded him. It seems as though he’s going to do everything in his power to change that this season.
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The next reason is the new rally cry the Devils have implemented, “New Jersey Devils vs. Everybody”. It may sound a little childish, but nothing brings a team together quite like being viewed as an underdog. I mean, look at how much it brought together the whole city of Philadelphia with the Eagles, not even just the team!
The Devils’ have had their rough patches in 2018 thus far, and this might be that little extra push they needed.
The streak will be put to the test when they travel to Tampa Bay on Saturday to take on the Eastern Conference-leading Lightning. Although this will be a tough task, the even bigger games are the two following Saturday’s tilt in Tampa. Sunday evening against the Hurricanes again and Tuesday night against the Blue jackets (the two teams directly behind them in the standings) are where we will see what the Devils are really made of.