The New Jersey Devils incredible winning streak continued against the Ottawa Senators, and their dominance over Canadian teams has been very apparent with 12 straight wins. Up next, they have another pair of Canadian teams, both very strong cup contenders in the Oilers and Leafs, though, so it will be a hard set of games that they need to be ready to go from the opening faceoff.
The Good
BMW, the best fourth line in hockey, continued its dominance, much like the Devils team. Nathan Bastian and Michael McLeod both scored, and the big winger was a force all night. He had great chances all day and drew a late penalty driving hard to the net. Talbot robbed Bastian on another play with what should be a highlight of the week on sports shows.
It is also worth looking at Bastian’s time on ice, which was a whopping 18:42, including 4:50 on the powerplay and 1:42 shorthanded. He is handling the extra responsibility well for a young depth guy and on top of all that had six hits on the night. The guy is an absolute beauty of a hockey player.
Sharangovich had a good outing with two points and shut down the Senators’ momentum with his shorthanded goal. After it bounced over the Sens player’s stick, he was all over the puck and got it over to the captain Nico Hischier who has been on a hot streak lately. The way Sharangovich kept up the forecheck was a high-IQ play. Instead of going for a line change, he was able to bury it, thanks to yet another great play by the captain.
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Akira Schmid looked solid all day and was playing with the confident poise of a veteran. It has been easy to be hard on Devils goalies for years, deservedly so with their numbers, but Schmid does have the potential to transition slowly into an NHL goalie going by his numbers this season. He was a brick wall last season for the Utica Comets. While it didn’t translate to the NHL last year, he is only 22, and he still could very easily be this team’s backup next season. The Devils have a back-to-back on Friday/Saturday as well, and if Blackwood isn’t 100%, expect to see him again against either the Sabers or Capitals.