New Jersey Devils Put On A Show Against The Vegas Golden Knights
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils put up eight goals on the Vegas Golden Knights. It was a powerhouse performance we’ve been craving for months.
There are some nights literally everything goes your way. For months, those nights seemed to avoid the New Jersey Devils. Instead of scoring some fluke goals, they were hitting posts on perfect opportunities. They kept playing goalies who made miraculous saves, and watched as goals went in off goalies backs and defenseman’s sticks. Late Wednesday night, the Devils finally got the bounces, and boy did they take advantage.
The Devils scored eight goals. I will say that again, the Devils scored eight goals against the Pacific-leading Vegas Golden Knights.
There were so many positives on this game, it’s impossible to go over every single one. The one thing that comes out more than anything is every bounce seemed to go the Devils way.
The first goal of the game came on the penalty kill. Blake Coleman took a pass from Brian Gibbons, and threw a backhander on net that ended up going in.
The second goal of the game was a pure fluke. Nico Hischier tried to send a pass to John Moore, and it went off Tomas Tatar’s stick and into the net. Clearly, this showed things were going the Devils way.
There are so many more examples of the Devils getting the bounces. Taylor Hall’s goal came off a deflected pass in front that went right back on his stick. Coleman’s second goal was of similar fashion. Stefan Noesen was sent on a breakaway after the puck bounced off the boards onto his stick.
Everything that could go right for the Devils, did. That’s what needs to happen for a team to score eight goals on any team.
This is the second time the team exploded offensively in the past eight days. The Devils put a six spot on the Montreal Canadiens last Tuesday. This shows that after two months of offensive inconsistency, the secondary scoring may be back to its early season firepower.
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This may sound like I’m calling the Devils lucky, and that’s not the case. The team took advantage of goalies who were clearly off their game. However, they still need to score when they have the chance. They did that, and then some Wednesday night.
This win is huge in terms of the standings. With Columbus, Philadelphia and Florida all idle, they gained points on everyone. The Devils jumped over the Blue Jackets to sit back in the first Wild Card spot, and sit just one point behind the Flyers. More importantly, they now sit five points ahead of the Panthers for a playoff spot.
This may just be one game and two points, but so much more can come out of this game. Scoring eight goals gives a team a ton of confidence. The Devils need it to survive the rest of this Western Conference road trip. Eight goals can really help the team feel good about the future.