New Jersey Devils Win First Ever Game Against Kraken
The New Jersey Devils came out ready to roll in game two of the season and looked good from the start like they needed to against a poor expansion team. The Seattle Kraken are now 1-3-1 on the season and the Devils will need to continue to beat teams like this as obvious as it is to say but it was very clear that they were the better team and not just another slightly better basement dweller team.
Unfortunately today Jack Hughes went down on a somewhat controversial play when pushed from behind and looked to be in a lot of pain. The team is currently not giving an update until Wednesday morning but the initial look is very bad and if his shoulder was dislocated the team could be without Jack for a while.
The Good
Michael McLeod was skating with 100% effort all game registered a pair of hits and got in the Devils’ first fight of the year. It is good to see the energy and intensity he played with last season and be a real contributor on the ice. With no word on Miles Wood‘s injury status, McLeod will need to keep it up and hold the fourth line together for at least a little longer.
Mason Geertsen got into his first NHL game with the Devils. He only played 3 minutes and deserves a round of applause for dropping the gloves. It is a great way to endear yourself to a team and its fanbase sticking up for Jack and landing some punches on Lauzon.
On defense, the number one pair was a pair of monsters again and Dougie Hamilton was quietly effective while Ryan Graves was a hitting machine landing a team and game-high six hits. These two really have the ability to be a special pairing and without them, this team would have been in a lot of trouble on the back end. This paired with Jonathan Bernier who had another solid game speaks volumes about the change the organization needed and wanted to make. All three are calm veterans who do what needs to be done and the Devils legitimately have a 1-2 goalie tandem that they can rely on.
Dawson Mercer followed up his first game with another fantastic game and his effort level never quits. He played just 12 minutes this game, but with the two-way play and tenacity, he is showing the coaches will be bumping this up in no time. He may even be looked at for some second-line powerplay time.
The Bad
Jack Hughes being injured is the obvious one here but other than that there is not a lot to look at negatively in the Devils play. They were hard on the puck, faster than the Kraken, and stood up for one another in a full team effort.
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Moving forward however things will be difficult if their best forward is gone and the next game is against the division rival and always strong Capitals. This is the toughest test they will have in October and anything short of a top-tier game from the team will end in a loss. If they do play like this however and can come out with points it is not unreasonable to think they could come out with five wins in the first month.