It was really important to get something out of this California road trip if you are the New Jersey Devils, mainly because of where they sit in the standings. Also because at least two of the teams are sort of in the same ballpark as you on paper, in terms of good teams who either overachieve or are struggling.
On Thursday night, the Devils were in the City of Angels to take on the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center. It can be said with confidence, the Devils are suppose to be much better than the Kings. Los Angeles has an aging core whose better days are mostly in the past, but they still have an elite top center in Anze Kopitar and a Norris Trophy defenseman in Drew Doughty. They are a team that nobody can take lightly, regardless of the standings.
The Devils won the game by a final score of 6-3. There were two times that LA tied a Devils lead, and then when the Devils finally had a two goal lead, the Kings got it back to within one. Right here, based on how the season has gone so far, is where myself and most Devils fans began to worry.
This game was different, The Devils made a statement when Nico Hischier put the Devils back ahead by two late in the third period. As much as the Devils rely on Taylor Hall for offense (he did have three assists), they also rely on Nico Hischier and Kyle Palmieri who both had monster games. All three need to keep it up for this team to make a comeback this season. They are the teams three leading scorers as expected.
Then the Devils stayed in Southern California for a few days before taking on the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center. This game would present a different type of opportunity. Cory Schneider’s struggles have been well documented lately, and this game was a whole different ballgame.
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The Devils allowed THREE own goals to get past Cory Schneider. You read that right, THREE OWN GOALS! A hockey puck was put past Cory Schneider by one of his New Jersey Devils teammates THREE TIMES! How does this happen? It happens because what can go wrong will go wrong for Cory Schneider right now.
With that said, the resiliency and effort lately by the New Jersey Devils cannot be questioned. Who bats a puck in their own net with 6 minutes left and manages an effort to tie it late? The 2018-19 New Jersey Devils do. The Devils managed to give Schneider some actual goal support, and it earned them a point, but they fell in their first shootout of the season 6-5.
Three out of four points is respectable, and there is still more business to take care of on Monday. The Devils head to Northern California to take on the San Jose Sharks. It is sad to say that going into the trip I would have signed up for three out of six points as long as the team played well, but now that they earned three out of the first four, it would be nice to end the California road trip with a win and five out of six points.