Hey, everyone!
Man, those first two periods, starting with the Brendan Smith hit on Connor Bedard, were absolutely wild! The Devils’ 26 PIMs, including 2 fighting majors (all through the first 2 periods) was their highest total of the season. The chaos certainly got us all fired up at the Rock!
As Dano, myself, and even coach Ruff / some of the players mentioned postgame, the team finding a way to ultimately come away with the 2 PTS at the end of the night is the key here. It allows the Devils to come together as a group and feed off the energy from this game, entering tonight's matchup with a rested Vancouver team. They're going to need to run off adrenaline as this game develops, especially in that middle frame with the long change.
Considering the Devils' struggles in 2nd half of back-to-backs, their forward injuries right now (including J. Hughes who won't play tonight), and a high-powered VAN team as their opposition, the circumstances of tonight's game feel like a "scheduled loss" for NJD. Hopefully, though, the Devils find a way to pull this one off and head into their upcoming 4-day break with a 4-game W streak at home.
Aside from all the physicality, the young guns got it done for the Devils where it counts, that being on the scoreboard!
Starting with this beautiful passing play between Nemec & Holtz, the Devils maintained life in this game because of the execution from #17 & #10, on both the Devils' first goal (shown below) and Nemec's snipe to tie the game in the 3rd.
For Holtzy, it was great to see him snap that personal 11-game goalless drought he was looking to get out of. It was his 9th goal of the season, and, interestingly, his 7th of the 9 that have come as the Devils’ first goal of a game.
Of course, Motor Mike finished the job for the Devils, getting rewarded for yet another tremendous effort and net front drive with his 2nd consecutive GWG.
On our MSGSN pregame show tonight, Erika and I will give some more love to Nemec, Holtz, and Motor Mike as we get you set for the 2nd half of this back-to-back at the Rock. It all starts at 6:30 PM!
- -Sal
