New Jersey Devils: Kyle Palmieri Comes So Close To Tying It

The New Jersey Devils had the game-tying goal on Kyle Palmieri‘s stick with less than ten seconds left in the hockey game. That might be the perfect guy in the perfect spot, but he somehow shot it into John Carlson who wasn’t even looking in the right direction. It was a tough end to a tough game, but the Capitals completed the weekend sweep of the Devils to keep their freefall going.

This is now New Jersey’s sixth loss in a row at home. That is something that absolutely has to change in order for them to get their season back on track. Most teams are significantly better and more comfortable at home, but the Rock has been a house of horrors for New Jersey this season. Hopefully, the reentry of fans in their next home game injects some life into them.

The Devils seemed to play better than the Capitals for most of the weekend. You could say that they were the better team in four out of six periods. There was just some back luck and Mackenzie Blackwood wasn’t quite as good as he normally is. The Caps are a veteran team that knows how to win games that they might not deserve to win. For some reason, the Kyle Palmieri shooting the puck into John Carlson’s rear end level of luck seems to happen for the good teams more often.

Right before the game, the Devils gave us the unfortunate news that Nico Hischier was out and day-to-day. In the final seconds of the Saturday Washington game, Hischier took a puck to the visor and it caused him to bleed. We can only hope that it is nothing serious and will be back soon. Mikhail Maltsev came into the lineup for him and scored. He and Yegor Sharangovich are the two goal-scorers that the Devils had in this game.

Seeing some of the young depth players contribute offense was a sight for sore eyes. Speaking of a sight for sore eyes, Pavel Zacha has been amazing. He had an assist in the hockey game to extend his streak to 10 straight games with a point. It would be nice to see Zacha just be a late bloomer and become a big part of this team in the long term.

Unfortunately, the Devils were on the wrong side of luck in this one. They are playing okay but just have to keep grinding. This team has a lot of good players that are only getting better. It won’t be long before some of these guys help the team take the next step. They are going to try again against the New York Islanders on Tuesday night at home.