New Jersey Devils: Break Downs and Silver Linings
The Devils are 0-2-2 now. If you look closely back at that game versus Edmonton, there are some slight tweaks to the lineup that turned out well. One of the first things you noticed in the first period, Kyle Palmieri scored on a 2-on-1 play where he shot instead of passed. It didn’t last long, as Leon Draisatl cashes in on a goal off the feed from Darnell Nurse. The Devils let up a goal, but they kept their calm, coolness, and their defensive structure intact.
Nikita Gusev stepped right into a pass from Swedish winger Jesper Bratt, and defenseman Connor Carrick created a big assist that gave the Devils a lead until a very good James Neal scored his 5th goal in two games. Still the game was a goalies matchup. The defense on both the Devils and Oilers was very robust, and a lot crisper. Guys like Kevin Rooney is a good physical player and decent at carrying the puck through neutral zone. He had similar ice time to John Hayden.
Having guys like Nico Hischier logging in over 19 minutes and Jack Hughes at 17 minutes. Nikita Gusev who should have played far more than 11 minutes. Miles Woods physical play was decent, his puck handling needs a lot more improvement, and he still took a dumb penalty. Wayne Simmonds should’ve had more minutes than Miles Woods’ line and kept pounding the Edmonton defensive zone.
Seeing the Devils going into overtime was pretty darn interesting. Every time it seemed Jack Hughes got the puck on his stick, we felt he’d end the game on an odd man rush. Then not long after that former Oilers player Taylor Hall took the ice and tried to snipe the top right corner of the Oilers net. Yet the crossbar decided to reject Hall’s snap shot on net. Later on in the shootout Leon Draisaitl ended the game with a goal.
We can say “should’ve would’ve could’ve”. This really new team of veterans, rookies, and coaching staff are trying to gel. If the Devils can get an even better performance from playing the 4th line too often, maybe lines 1, 2, and 3 can begin to click at once.
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With Andy Greene out and Tennyson called up, this is a blessing in disguise. How is this a blessing in disguise? You can’t sit your own captain in Greene, but since he’s injured this allows enough time for a player like Tennyson to prove himself better than Mirco Mueller, and show Connor Carrick that he can play big minutes on the starting defense. A lot of Devils fans both young and old want to see the new generation of Devils defenseman younger, and more skilled.
This is what the defensive lineup could look like:
Sami Vatanen-PK Subban
Matt Tennyson-Connor Carrick
Mirco Mueller as an extra