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New Jersey Devils: Early Schedule Is Very Helpful Right Now

By Vincent Parise

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - OCTOBER 15: Nico Hischier #13 of the New Jersey Devils skates against the Chicago Blackhawks at Prudential Center on October 15, 2021 in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Blackhawks 4-3 in overtime. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - OCTOBER 15: Nico Hischier #13 of the New Jersey Devils skates against the Chicago Blackhawks at Prudential Center on October 15, 2021 in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Blackhawks 4-3 in overtime. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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The NHL is already one full week into its season. The New Jersey Devils, however, have only played one game. It was a big overtime win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Jack Hughes scored twice and his second was a marvelous overtime winner to give New Jersey the win at home. Now, they have waited until today to call it their second game of the season.

New Jersey will face the Seattle Kraken Tuesday night who are coming off a big loss to the Philadelphia Flyers by a final score of 6-1. The Kraken’s game against New Jersey will be their fifth of the season which is crazy. The NHL has a team playing its fifth game against a team playing its second. That seems to benefit the Devils, but you never know how it actually will go.

Regardless of what happens in this game between Seattle and New Jersey, this has been a break in the schedule for the Devils. They were missing players in the first game that mean a lot to their roster. Miles Wood, Mackenzie Blackwood, Ty Smith, and Damon Severson all missed the first game of the season.

We don’t know that they will play in this second game, but there is a chance a few will slot back into the lineup. At a minimum, you can expect them to be back by game five which isn’t until a week from Tuesday against the Calgary Flames. It might not seem fair for some other teams, but it is a nice benefit for the Devils in the early going this season. They could use the days off for that reason.

The New Jersey Devils need to take advantage of this break in the schedule.

Later in the season, there will be plenty of stretches where the Devils play a lot of games in a short amount of time. Hopefully, at that point, they will be a completely healthy hockey team. It is good to get these guys all healthy and feeling good in the early going.

This is going to be the first time in the history of the National Hockey League that the Seattle Kraken play in Newark against the New Jersey Devils. The league’s 32nd team is off to an interesting start as they are 1-2-1 with three standings points. A lot of people expect them to be playoff contenders in a weak Pacific Division and the Devils will need to bring their best in order to beat them.

There are a lot of good players on that team and the Devils will be facing a good goalie. Both guys played in Monday night’s loss so it is unclear who will get the nod in this second half of a back-to-back. For the Devils, their young forwards are going to be the key to winning this game.

It would be nice to see Jack Hughes keep it going and you can expect guys like Nico Hischier, Yegor Sharangovich, and Janne Kuokkanen amongst others to make an impact here. If the Devils are going to win this game, they might need another big play from Dougie Hamilton as well. The schedule definitely favors the Devils against the Kraken so we can only hope they take advantage.

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