New Jersey Devils: 5 Things To Watch In Week 4 Of Season
The New Jersey Devils came into week three of the NHL season having only lost one game. They went winless in week four, causing some concern among Devils fans. However, there is a lot to look forward this next week.
Week four is one to forget for the New Jersey Devils season. They played the Nashville Predators and the Philadelphia Flyers. In both games, they blew the game in the second half of the third period, ending with one point when they really should have had three at least.
The games provided some interesting quotes, and some really hard practices from John Hynes. He was clearly not happy with how things went, and why should he? The Devils might have looked much better against the Predators, but they still seemed to play on their heels, trying to play for a tie instead of pushing for the win.
The injury bug has also hit the Devils this past week. Steve Santini, Ben Lovejoy, Travis Zajac, Drew Stafford and Jesper Bratt are all missing games. Now, it looks like Marcus Johansson may have to sit out a game. It is not the most ideal situation for Jersey’s Team.
This week, the Devils look to make moves in the Eastern Conference. Despite their struggles, the team is one point out of a playoff spot with two games at hand on the Washington Capitals and the Columbus Blue Jackets. It’s way too early to look at the standings, but it shows it’s even more too early to panic about the Devils.
Coming into week five, here are five things to watch this week.
Joey Anderson Makes His Debut
The New Jersey Devils called up Joey Anderson after sending down John Quenneville to Binghamton. After a quiet (not bad, quiet) game against the Predators on Thursday, Hynes said he wants Quenneville to gain confidence in his offensive game. That’s a perfectly fine explanation. The difference between his send down this week and last is instead of replacing him with Kevin Rooney, he’s replacing him with one of the top prospects in the organization.
When predicting the lines coming into this season, many Devils analysts had Joey Anderson making the team. The Devils signed him to a three-year deal at the end of the last season, a major surprise. Many thought he’d try to continue his college career after winning the NCAA championship with Minnesota Duluth. Instead, he decided to start his professional career after his sophomore season.
What should we expect from Mr. Anderson? Well, he’s been alright in Binghamton. He has two fluke goals, but he got them thanks to his positioning in front of the net. The 20-year-old has five points through eight professional games. Binghamton went on a long scoreless streak, so most forwards don’t have the best numbers. However, he could get an extra motivation by making his NHL debut. It’ll be fun to finally see him with the NJ crest across his chest in a game that counts.
Cory Schneider Makes His Return
Cory Schneider finished his conditioning stint with Binghamton with so-so numbers. However, per NHL rules, he is required to make his return to the NHL roster after playing three games in the minors.
Schneider went 1-1-1 with an .897 save percentage. It’s not the most ideal stats you’d want from your starting goalie in the minors, but he did bounce back in a major way last night. Against the best team in the minors the Charlotte Checkers, Schneider gave up three goals on his first seven shots against. They all came on the power play, and the way both Devils teams have been taking penalties, things didn’t look good. He calmed down, and shut the door on the Checkers through regulation.
The big thing we were looking for was Schneider’s lateral movement. Seeing some of the saves the Devils are asking Keith Kinkaid to make, Cory will need to have elite movement in net to survive. Kinkaid looked elite early in the season, but after three straight losses, some fans are clamoring for Schneider to return. He likely will start as a backup depending on how the Devils do in Saturday’s matchup with the Panthers.
Schneider’s return is welcome, as the Devils now have two goalies they can trust. Especially if Schneider is truly fully healthy for the first time in a long time, it will be nice to have a 1A-1B situation in net. This starts likely on Sunday.
Easier Schedule This Week
To start the season, the Devils have played some of the best teams in the league. Out of the Devils seven games, three came against teams in the top two in their division, two came against teams tied for the final playoff spot in their conference, and the other game came against the best player in the NHL. It has not been the easiest slate to start the season, and the Devils survived by going 4-2-1.
This week, things change. They take on the best team in the Eastern Conference in the Tampa Bay Lightning, so that’s nothing new. They lead the league with 15 points, and extended their point streak to seven games Friday night. They are rolling. Outside of them, the Devils take on the Florida Panthers and Detroit Red Wings this week. Those two teams are on the list of three worst in the East.
The Devils need to get four points out of those games. Even though we expected more from the Florida Panthers, starting the season without Roberto Luongo has thrown them off completely. The MIke Hoffman trade is not working out like they hoped, and he’s been sent to the fourth line. The Red Wings, on the other hand, look like the worst team in the league. Despite having some great talent, something isn’t working. The Devils should take advantage of said issues, and pull at least four points out of this week.
Finding Some Secondary Scoring
Does this sound familiar? The Devils are near the top of the league in scoring with 3.6 goals per game (5th in the NHL), and ranks 6th in the league in goals against with 2.6 goals against per game. However, when you look at the stats as a whole it’s a lot coming from one line. The top line to be specific.
Kyle Palmieri leads the team in points with 11, and Taylor Hall is right behind him with 10. Nico Hischier is tied for third with Damon Severson, but they drop all the way down to six. After that, nobody has more than four points. The secondary scoring has gone from sparse to non-existence as the weeks go on.
In the past three games, only Damon Severson and Brian Boyle have scored goals outside the top line. Nico Hischier found his scoring touch, thank goodness, because if he hadn’t it could be really bad this past week. The Devils need something from the second and third lines. Hopefully the return of Zajac will help, because that line looked much better on Thursday. They need something out of the Pavel Zacha-Marcus Johansson line this week. They have two points between the two. Add in Stefan Noesen, and the line has four points. From a second line, that is pathetic. The Devils must get more, especially from Zacha, or major changes could be coming.
Start Of The First Road Trip
Up to this point, the Devils have played one game on the road, and it was against the Philadelphia Flyers. That isn’t much of a trip when it takes a two hour bus ride to get to the other team’s arena. Sure, one of those games was a “home game” in Sweden, but technically this will be the Devils first road trip of the season.
This week, the Devils start a seven-game road trip. It’s by far the Devils longest road trip of the season. The team will go from Tampa, to Detroit, back to the Northeast, then a three-game trip through Canada. It’s the type of trip that really tests a team, especially one as young as the Devils.
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If the Devils can come out of this road trip with the same 4-2-1 record they currently have, fans must consider that a win. Four of those games on the road come against really good teams, then the other three are against tire fires. If the Devils can win one against one of the really good teams, take another to overtime, then win the games they are supposed to, this will be considered a success. The Eastern Conference seems like it’s going to be as competitive as we thought it would coming into the season, so the Devils need to get as many points as they can to start the season.