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The New Jersey Devils showed their losses are outliers

The New Jersey Devils got destroyed by the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday. While it seemed like a clear schedule loss, those losses can snowball. For this team, that's not the case.
ByNick Villano
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New Jersey Devils v Vegas Golden Knights
New Jersey Devils v Vegas Golden Knights | Jeff Bottari/GettyImages

What a difference a day (and a half) makes. The New Jersey Devils were in bad shape on Wednesday evening. They were taking on the Colorado Avalanche, one of the best teams in the league, on the second half of a back-to-back. There was really no chance for the Devils. It was a scheduling loss. 

There’s a possibility that could have happened again on Friday against the Vegas Golden Knights. The Devils were playing their third game in four nights. It was Nevada Day, so the game was at 3 p.m. local time. The Devils were finishing up a Western Conference road trip that had them facing three of the best teams in the NHL. 

If the Devils lost to the Knights on any given night, it wouldn’t be a major concern. Heck, maybe it’s another schedule loss. 

That’s not at all what happened. It started with a crazy first period where Connor Hellebuyck allowed two goals, but the Devils scored two of their own. The first line was dominating all game, and Arseny Gristyuk scored the game-tying goal. It was one of the two goals he scored.

Jack Hughes also scored two goals, including one of the best goals of the season for the Devils so far. 

The New Jersey Devils bounced back in a huge way

Hughes would score a second goal, as well, quickly putting him back near the top of the Devils stat sheet. He extended his points lead on the team, now on pace for 96 points on the season. With a little more output, especially in the goals column, he will be back on a 100-point pace. 

This was the exact performance the Devils needed. They had another strong shot advantage, beating the Golden Knights 32-21. After the first period, they helped keep Hellebuyck clean. They continued to pour it on, taking 16 shots in the second period alone. They took a 4-2 lead going into the second intermission.

There were some scary parts. Both Luke Hughes and Anthony Mantha took hard tumbles into the goalpost. Hughes was fine, but Mantha at one point left the game. We’ll see if he’s good to go next week when the Devils return to Newark.

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