Here are my quick hits following the Devils’ 5-0 W vs. PHI, heading into tonight’s game in BUF:
2nd Period
It’s great to be back today after TNT had the coverage of Wednesday night’s game, which was a tremendous effort from the Devils to take down the Flyers 5-0! After Jake Allen’s heroics kept the Devils in it through the first 20 minutes, how could you not love the response the team came out with in front of him in the middle frame?!
Things got started just 54 seconds into this period, with Pally scoring the Devils’ first goal of the game for the 8th time in his last 22 GP. Then, about a minute later, it was Brenden Dillon who initiated the physicality in this game by laying a massive, momentum-changing hit on Owen Tippett.
This moment was especially encouraging to see after Seeler’s hit on Bastian in the game on Monday night, and it was great to see MacDermid do his job by keeping Hathaway in check the rest of the way! Things got pretty… rough… in this period, heading into the room with 26 combined 2nd period penalty minutes between the two teams, including 16 PIMs from roughing minors alone! Wow, to say this was a physical period would be an understatement. 
On top of the physical response we saw from the Devils in this game, it was equally important that the Devils’ special teams came through (2/3 PP & 4/4 PK) after letting them down (0/3 PP & 1/2 PK) on Monday night in Philadelphia. That’s also not to mention the outstanding play of Jake, as he stopped 3.38 Goals Above Expected on the night and earned his third shutout of the season. Boy, has he ever risen to the occasion since Marky went down!
Going back to this 2nd period, specifically, this was yet another example of the Devils feeding off the fact the long-change 2nd-period is a dominant strength of theirs this season, as they are now 22-2-2 in the games in which they’ve posted a positive 2nd-period goal differential.
START ON TIME
For me, the most important storyline heading into this afternoon’s game in BUF (other than Pally and MercDAWG’s 800th and 300th game, respectively!) is the Sabres’ very strong play recently at home, winning 5 of their last 7 games at KeyBank Center. Seeing the Sabres have scored first in 6 of those games and have not trailed after the first period in this entire stretch, it’s going to be critical that the Devils start on time today and match BUF’s energy right from opening puck drop. Most notably, you’re going to have to keep Tage Thompson off the score sheet, who is on a 4-game home point streak (3-4—7 PTS) and scored 4 goals last time the Devils were in town. If you can simply survive the first 20 minutes and continue that 2nd-period dominance we've seen all season, I like the chances of this team heading to Pittsburgh 2 PTS richer, in addition to a season-series sweep over former HC Ruff & his Sabres!
Four Games to Go
With the two-game home-and-home set with PHI behind us, it’s a big week ahead for the Devils with just four games remaining until the 4 Nations break... And honestly, I’m looking at this upcoming week and envisioning a W in all four games. What do you say, Devils fans? How would a 5-game W streak sound to you heading into the break?! 🤔
During today’s pregame show, Rachel and I will break down the W over PHI on Wednesday night, the special teams difference from Monday to Wednesday, the depth scoring in the past three games, and what it will take to carry over this momentum into BUF this afternoon. Tune in at 12:30 p.m. on MSGSN!
Let's Go Devils!
-Sal
