New Jersey Devils: Nikita Gusev Is Finding His Game
The New Jersey Devils got smacked by the Boston Bruins but it was a second straight game where Nikita Gusev was one of the team’s best players.
The New Jersey Devils just simply struggle when the play the Boston Bruins. It doesn’t matter if it is at the TD Garden or the Prudential Center, the Devils just simply struggle. They were never really in it as the Bruins dominated play pretty much from the beginning. They went up 2-0 quickly thanks to some nice plays by Brad Marchand to set up guys. Once the Bruins score early, they are elite at shutting things down from there and cruise to a victory. It is very hard to stage a comeback against the Boston Bruins, and they proved it to the Devils in this game.
One player who wasn’t a complete mess was Nikita Gusev. His whole line with Travis Zajac and Blake Coleman was pretty good, but Gusev is really starting to stand out. It was obvious that he was still trying to translate his game that is so good in the KHL to the NHL ice. It isn’t an easy task, but he is starting to figure it out.
Gusev made a sweet play in the attacking zone to find Blake Coleman who had a sweet backhander beat Tuukka Rask to get the Devils on the board. The goal made it 2-1 at that time and the Devils were all of a sudden in it. Obviously the Bruins pulled away and turned it into a blowout, but it was good to see Gusev make a nice play like that.
So far in the NHL, he has been more of a sniper, but he was known for being an elite playmaker as he was coming over from Russia. They could use both of those skills from him going forward and it is looking like it is possible. Coleman and Zajac are both very capable in all three zones so it makes up for Gusev’s lack of skill in his own end. Both of his linemates are also both capable of producing offense so it is a perfect line for him.
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Hopefully, Gusev is able to keep it together and the rest of the forward lines can join him. The Devils are going to be back in action again on Friday night. They will head to eastern Pennsylvania to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second time in a week. They defeated them last week and will be looking to do so again.