This nightmare of a season for the New Jersey Devils is almost over, but the team has gotten some really great goaltending lately.
The New Jersey Devils defeated the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night by a final score of 3-1. They played an okay game but the story was their goaltender Cory Schneider. He has really come on lately since coming back from injury and getting his first win. The team is coming together in front of him after a plethora of injuries and now he is starting to look like his old self.
The Devils went up 1-0 early but not long after that Buffalo’s Sam Reinhart scored a goal from center ice on a weird bouncing puck. It was one of the worst goals given up this season if not the worst, and it would have been easy for the team to mail it in from there. Nope, not this Cory Schneider. He buckled down and didn’t give up another goal for the rest of the night.
This is despite facing 46 shots. They didn’t play all that great defensively and only the weird bouncer got past Schneider. This was an incredible performance by the goalie and his confidence has skyrocketed since coming back and getting that first win. He finally has his save percentage over .900 for the first time this season and that is after the well documented bad stretch he went through. His save percentage since the return is over .920 and he has been one of the best goalies in the entire league.
Now the important part is for Schneider to finish strong and maybe next year with all of the skaters healthy they can combine a confident Schneider with a deeper team and make a run back at the playoffs. Next October and November are going to be very important for the future of Cory Schneider in New Jersey.
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Nico Hischier and Pavel Zacha also had some good games against Buffalo and helped lead the Devils in front of Schneider to a great victory. These two could be key in the team winning more hockey games next season.
If Taylor Hall comes back and plays like his normal self then this can be a scary offense in short order. They have never had Hall going and Schneider playing on top of his game all at the same time so if they can get that going next year this will be fun.
They also have MacKenzie Blackwood basically splitting starts with Schneider so they can see what they have in him. This could form a really nice tandem on a winning team. Both goalies have been playing well and beating some good teams. It is amazing what happens when a bunch of healthy NHL caliber bodies comes back, it makes a difference.
The Devils have a few days off now before the go visit the Detroit Red Wings at the Little Ceasars arena in a battle of lottery teams. As of now the Devils only have a one-point edge on the Red Wings and they have played one more game. That game Detroit has in hand will be played on Thursday when they visit the Sabres team that the Devils just beat.