It is a beautiful time of year. New Jersey Devils hockey is BACK at the Prudential Center. Nobody really knew what to expect from the young fast Devils coming in, other than they are looking for a postseason berth in back to back seasons for the first time since 08-09 and 09-10.
Everybody knows the Washington Capitals are no easy task, as they won their first Stanley Cup in franchise history last year. They have fire power that can compete with anybody in the league with the likes of Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom. Even coming into the game as the second half of a back to back with their backup goaltender in net, they are still very hard to beat.
The best player in the game was the Devils Kyle Palmieri. He had two goals in the game, giving him four in the first two games. He became the first player in Devils history to score two goals in the first two games of the season.
With many of us predicting Kyle Palmieri getting back to 30 goals this season, he is off to a very good start. Taylor Hall earned his first point of the season on one of Palmieri’s goal, which is good news to see him get on the board.
Another player that was very noticable was Pavel Zacha. He had himself a very good game. He did not record a point, but he did have some great chances including a breakaway that was stuffed. He was also dominant in the faceoff circle, winning 13 of 15 including 12 against Evgeny Kuznetsov. That was one of Zacha’s best games in a New Jersey Devils sweater.
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It was very nice to see Jean-Sebastien Dea score his first goal as a Devil and second of his career. Maybe he can add a little bit of depth to the Devils forward group, being claimed off waivers.
It is near impossible to play a perfect hockey game, and there were definitely things that can be improved, but the Devils played as close to a perfect game versus Washington as you can. They kept their explosive power play off the board and yielded only 21 shots to earn Keith Kinkaid his first shutout of the season.
It is impressive that in two game so far the Devils have been very good structurally and have been able to attack efficiently in response. They have only given up two goals and they were both all world plays by Connor McDavid. These are all very good signs of what might be to come.
The Devils are back in action vs the San Jose Sharks on Sunday, October 14th at 11AM ET.