New Jersey Devils Use Strong Third To End Penguins Streak
The New Jersey Devils got some more bad news as game-time decision Timo Meier was made a late scratch. It made it even harder for a team facing a slump that was already without Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes. On top of that, their opponents the Pittsburgh Penguins were coming in hot with five-straight wins and it was looking bleak from the start for the Devils though they did surprise me in a few ways tonight with some good plays and actually scoring more than a few goals.
The Good
Jesper Bratt and Tyler Toffoli continued to produce. Both scored a goal and recorded an assist on the night. The first line started off strong with some great passing from Bratt to Mike McLeod, who almost deked it in. These two have great chemistry no matter who is the center but watch out when Jack Hughes returns.
Curtis Lazar, Erik Haula, and McLeod had a solid penalty kill and kept it perfect throughout the night with good positional play when down a man. Lazar’s shorthanded goal kept this team in it early as well and he was very solid on the night. Much Like Lazar, Haula had a lot of jump in his stride on the night and it was nice to see him rewarded with a pair of assists for his strong play.
A quick response was needed when the team went down early in the second and for a change, they had an answer and didn’t let it snowball out of control. It only took 38 seconds for Nathan Bastian to tie the game up with his first of the season.
The goaltending was incredibly solid and this game could have been 3-0 in the first five minutes if not for Vitek Vanecek. This defense is absolutely porous compared to last season and we need the goalies to bail them out but it has not happened yet this season so it’s nice to see.
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The Bad
The start of the game was almost a disaster with Jonas Siegenthaler making an unnecessary pass at the offensive blueline for a 3v1 against McLeod who kept them from making the play before he could backcheck to help break it up. This was followed up by Dougie Hamilton making another bad pass leading to a 2v1 and Vitek bailed this team out big time. The woes continued early with the Penguins sliding one through the blue paint and hitting the post with an open net and the team played exactly 0 defense for the first 7 minutes which did end up with them being scored on first yet again.