The New Jersey Devils were not very good in their most recent game against the Philadelphia Flyers. They took a lot of bad penalties and made a lot of simple mistakes that led to the Flyers leaving town with a win. They showed heart and battled back from a 2-0 lead but then allowed the Flyers to pull away in the third period. They are going to need to clean up a lot of their game if they are going to get two points and back in the win column in this second game.
The New Jersey Devils have been good after facing a team for the first time this season.
There are going to be a lot of instances this season where the Devils play a team multiple times in a row. That has been the case twice this season and tonight’s game will be the third. They are 2-0-0 in those types of games. The first one came when Yegor Sharangovich scored with a second left in overtime against the Boston Bruins. The second win of that variety came against the New York Islanders on Sunday when the Devils earned a 2-0 shutout after a terrible performance against them a few days earlier.
In the National Hockey League, it is hard to beat the same team twice in a row and the Devils have to prove that again. It wasn’t a case of “you lost but you played well”. If they played well, they absolutely could have won.
There could be some changes in this game that impact the result. For one, Carter Hart is going to start for the Philadelphia Flyers. He has had a rough start to the season and was riding the bench in their last game against the Devils. Now, New Jersey will have a chance to keep him down. We don’t know who will be in net for New Jersey yet.
Mackenzie Blackwood was on the COVID-19 list again on Wednesday but we will have to wait until later to see if he remains there. Scott Wedgewood has been up and down in his three starts so it will be interesting to see what they do. Jesper Bratt is also off the COVID-19 list. He was only on it because of his arrival from Sweden but he will be practicing tomorrow. It is hard to see him cracking the lineup right away without playing in 11 months but you never know.
The Devils simply need to be better in all areas to win this game. They can’t take as many penalties and when they do they can’t let James van Riemsdyk park himself in front of the net with no punishment. If they do these things, they are going to lose again. They need to use their speed and skill to create offense, draw penalties, and keep the puck out of their own end.
The last game was also a strange game on the New Jersey scoresheet (based on how it has gone so far this season). Michael McLeod finally scored his first career goal and Andreas Johnsson had his best game with his new team which led to his shot being deflected into the net by Travis Zajac. Jack Hughes and Ty Smith didn’t collect a single point and they are their two leading scorers. If those forces can combine for some offense, along with some good defending by everyone, they have a great chance to win this game.