New Jersey Devils Finally Put On A Performance In Ottawa

The New Jersey Devils came to play in the first half of the back-to-back against the struggling Ottawa Senators. They put up six goals on Friday night. More importantly, they held the opposition to two goals on the night and the Sens are not a slouch on the offensive side of the puck. Up next the Devils have the always good regardless of the roster Boston Bruins. This team has struggled mightily against them and on back-to-backs, so they will need to play the same style of game and limit the bad turnovers that they have been known for this season.

The Good

The big names performed on the night, with Jack Hughes getting three points and Jesper Bratt getting four. That whole line with Tyler Toffoli, who also scored on the night, was solid. It should be pretty hard to lose games when they put that much rubber in the net.

The Timo Meier-Michael McLeod-Dawson Mercer line was really good again. While the only point on the night was Mercer's goal, they continued to show chemistry, were all skating at a good pace, and played the physical game well. McLeod is getting the most out of these two highly skilled players. If this line can stick it out and keep this style of play going regardless of whether they get points, it makes this team as dangerous as they look on paper.

Luke Hughes continued to do Luke Hughes things, and he was on a roll all night. His passing was tape to tape; he was one of the best skaters on the ice and played well on the backend. He was using his movement and IQ to just be in the right spot almost all the time and broke up a good amount of plays on the night. On top of that, he managed to score a goal and put up three points on the night.

Nico Daws showed he was ready to go, and it was the right choice to call him up this week, stopping 25 of 27 shots against the Senators. On top of this, the team surrendered a few breakaways, and Daws kept them out when the team would usually let those mistakes kill them on the night. Some of these were very timely as well, including stopping one when the game was only 2-1 for the Devils, and every time he bailed the team out, it felt like they were going right back to score and regain control of the game. It was everything you can ask for from a goalie.