New Jersey Devils Win Barnburner In Colorado
The New Jersey Devils might not have had Meier in the lineup yet, but it sure didn’t stop them from scoring goals Wednesday night against the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. The Avs are no slouches even without Gabriel Landeskog and fought back all night answering with a tone of offense themselves. Nathan MacKinnon did his best to pull his team to victory by himself
The Good
The BMW line looked like the line from the first 20 games. This is how they need to play to stay on the ice down the stretch. While they aren’t going to dominate and put up points all the time, the forecheck was top tier and the effort was visible. These guys have shown they have the ability to be one of the best fourth lines in the league. Miles Wood and Michael McLeod especially need to play like their NHL lives depend on it. The line had a pair of goals, combined for five points and accounted for 10 of the team’s 29 shots. This is just beyond expectations for a fourth line and it is the right time to get hot again.
Akira Schmid came in relief of Vitek Vanecek, who had a rough night. Schmid settled the Devils down and helped them earn two points. He looked steady and confident even against a strong team that was having a heck of a night. This guy is the obvious backup for the team in the playoffs and for next season.
The Bad
The Hughes-Bratt-Sharangovich trio had an awful night and probably their worst together. Bratt was the only one with a point which is insane to see in a game with seven goals scored. They were all in the negatives on the night. Next game, we should expect to see them bounce back.
Another guy who had an off night was Vanecek. The guy has been a stud for almost the whole season and everyone has off nights but nothing can really be positive about a .737 save percentage.
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The ref’s missing the high stick on John Marino that led directly to a goal was pretty brutal and when it was challenged it quite honestly looked offside from the views shown on the broadcast. This was some kind of bad luck for the team and could have been the pivotal momentum swing in a loss.