The New Jersey Devils are looking to win more hockey games led by the right guys and that happened on Sunday night against the Ottawa Senators.
The new age of the New Jersey Devils starts and ends with Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes. Those are the two centers that this team is going to try to build around for the next decade or longer. They are both players with extremely high ceilings that help impact play in vastly different ways. They led the Devils to a big win in Canada’s capital as they defeated the Ottawa Senators in overtime. It was an impressive win because the guys you want leading them led them.
Nico Hischier got things going for New Jersey when he deflected him Sami Vatanen‘s point shot on the power-play goal. It was great playing by Vatanen on the man advantage as a whole because he had a couple of nice keeps as well as getting the puck on net and setting up teammates. Hischier did the rest when he tipped on in to get the Devils on the board.
Hischier wasn’t really done there. He didn’t get on the score sheet again, but he was amazing in just about every other area of the ice. He looked especially good with Pavel Zacha on the penalty kill. He is so good without the puck and it makes his two-way game look as good as it ever has. The points are starting to come like we always knew they would and his defensive game is somehow getting better too.
The other guy that the Devils need to grow into an elite player is Jack Hughes. He is more known for his offensive talents. He uses vision and awareness along with his puck skills to create for both himself and his teammates. He got in alone on a breakaway in overtime and he popped it over the shoulder of Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson. The Devils winning in overtime on a Jack Hughes goal is exactly what Devils fans want to see when it gets to that stage. It was a fun ending to an entertaining game.
The Devils have played a more up-tempo brand of hockey over the last few weeks and it appears to be working well for them. They have all the talent in the world that should be able to score some goals. They are seeing it now as they have scored four goals or more in three straight games. If they can keep this up and guys like Hughes and Hischier continue to get better than this season won’t be all bad.