Pucks and Pitchforks
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New Jersey Devils: Pavel Zacha Should Pair With Miles Wood

By Nick Villano

NEWARK, NJ - DECEMBER 29: Pavel Zacha #37 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates scoring a second period goal against Curtis McElhinney #35 of the Carolina Hurricanes with teammate Brian Boyle #11 of the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on December 29, 2018 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEWARK, NJ - DECEMBER 29: Pavel Zacha #37 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates scoring a second period goal against Curtis McElhinney #35 of the Carolina Hurricanes with teammate Brian Boyle #11 of the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on December 29, 2018 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Two players that have been very disappointing at times this season have been Miles Wood and Pavel Zacha. If the New Jersey Devils put them together, it could pay dividends to both.

Pavel Zacha is responsible for the only two non-empty net goals against the Carolina Hurricanes this season. His beautiful goal while on the penalty kill on Saturday was all the New Jersey Devils needed to beat the Carolina Hurricanes thanks to MacKenzie Blackwood.

Zacha also had his first assist of the entire season. It came on Andy Greene‘s empty net goal, but we are counting it all the same. It’s actually impressive he went more than 30 games without falling into an assist.

It was Zacha’s second two-point night of the season. He now has two games with multiple points out of his five games with any points. When he scores, it’s so amazing. He shows his true skills, and he uses it to put the puck in the net.

His goal scoring play made me think of another play that happened earlier in the game, but ended up crashing and burning. Miles Wood went into the zone by himself, chased after a loose puck against the boards, realized there was nobody with him, tried to skate around the net, then got knocked off his skates.

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The line of Wood, Travis Zajac and Blake Coleman actually works in a lot of ways. They can make stops on the defensive end against the best of the other team’s forward lines. When in the offensive zone, they can get set up and put shots on the net from hard areas. They can clean up in front of the goalie to score goals. There’s only one thing wrong with this pairing, they hold back Wood’s biggest skill; his speed.

Coleman and Zajac are not able to keep up with Wood’s immense speed when he makes a break for the net. That limits his options to making a bad shot or trying to hold the zone by himself, which usually ends with him on his back with the other team getting the puck.

Zacha isn’t as fast as Wood, but he could keep up as good as most other players on the team. When Zacha pushed that puck past the Hurricanes defenseman, Wood would have been right behind Zacha making it a two on one or two player breakaway.

If the Devils can find a way to make a line of Wood, Zacha and Jesper Bratt, then have a 2B line with Marcus Johansson coming along with Coleman and Zajac, it could make scoring better from top to bottom.

Is it a risk? Maybe. Putting two players who are prone to slumps could hurt confidence, or they can lift each other up. They could help each other work themselves out of their slump, thanks to their ability to make plays out of nowhere. The Devils need players together who can do something with their playmaking ability. Pairing them together could work.

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