Pucks and Pitchforks
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Keith Kinkaid Takes Back New Jersey Devils Net In Huge Win

By Nick Villano

PHILADELPHIA, PA - NOVEMBER 15: Keith Kinkaid #1 of the New Jersey Devils inspects his helmet during warmups prior to his game against the Philadelphia Flyers on November 15, 2018 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - NOVEMBER 15: Keith Kinkaid #1 of the New Jersey Devils inspects his helmet during warmups prior to his game against the Philadelphia Flyers on November 15, 2018 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The New Jersey Devils went into Philadelphia as snow came down on their home state. Keith Kinkaid shut the door all night to record his third shutout of the season.

It was the best performance of the season by the New Jersey Devils‘ Keith Kinkaid. He had two shutouts prior to Thursday night, but they were nothing like what the Devils asked of Kinkaid. In one, the Devils blew the doors off the Washington Capitals. The Caps only got 21 shots on goal the whole time, and were down by multiple goals in the first period and ended up losing by six. Against the Dallas Stars, he only faced 24 shots and the team in front of him dominated play.

That was not the case Thursday night. Not only did he face a flurry of really good shots, but he also lost the best defender in front of him in the second period. Sami Vatanen went down and all we know is it’s something to his left leg/foot.

Kinkaid made some amazing saves all night long. For most of the night, the Devils were up on the Flyers 1-0. It made most fans extremely nervous the entire night. He stopped Claude Girioux in front of his face with 12 minutes left in the game. He had two great glove saves on Jakub Vorachek. Kinkaid was moving side to side like he was to start the year, and it was exactly what the Devils needed.

Kinkaid had been struggling coming into this week. Coming in to Tuesday’s tilt with the Penguins, he lost seven of his past nine starts, and allowed six goals in his last start. It was a bad look for a Devils team that needed a super star in net. They got one on Thursday night.

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With Cory Schneider still struggling to find his rhythm, this game secured Kinkaid’s spot in net. Well, for now at least. The Devils will ride Kinkaid until the wheels fall off, as John Hynes is known to do. The Devils have a back to back this weekend, and number one could be in net for both games.

We must talk about two things about tonight, the Devils were incredibly lucky and one major Kinkaid mistake almost ruined the shutout. As far as lucky, the Flyers hit the post five times. That’s right, they hit the post more times than Cody Parkey did for the Chicago Bears this weekend. It seems near impossible to hit the post that many times and never scoring.

Then there was this play:

Here, take a closer look to see how that didn’t go in.

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1063262864230748160

So, Kinkaid made a huge mistake by passing the puck to the other team, but made a miraculous play to make up for it. That’s just how things were going for the Devils on Thursday night. They had a ridiculous run of bad luck, so it’s nice for them to get some luck on their side. It’s also nice to have the old Kinkaid back.

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