Well, Tuesday night’s loss in Carolina is a game you need to quickly put out of your memory by winning in OTT tonight. Even though that was a rough game, you still have to highlight the positives to ensure they don’t get lost in all the concerns we saw.
Vintage Jack
Jack’s line and his individual effort were the main standout and positive (other than Marky’s performance) in the loss to CAR. Despite the Devils as a whole being limited in the volume of scoring chances they were generating, Jack was able to capitalize, make an impact on this game, and inject life into his team at a time when they desperately needed it, and that’s exactly what you are hoping to see from your star player.
For me, as I emphasized in the clips below, it was that PP assist he had on Nico’s PPG towards the end of the UTA game that revived “Vintage Jack” psychologically and got him feeling good about his game again. It carried over into the CAR game, and now the Devils certainly hope to see it continue into the building where Jack scored his first career OT Goal back in 2019, that being the Canadian Tire Centre in OTT!
Vintage... Marky?
That’s right, I’m going to go ahead and give Jacob Markstrom the exact same title as I gave Jack! The reason I call this a “Vintage Marky” game is due to the fact these 60 minutes exemplified to a tee what GM Tom Fitzgerald saw in Jacob Markstrom when he relentlessly pursued him last year and eventually brought him in over the offseason. Finally, it appears that the Devils have a true elite, veteran, ultra-competitive goaltender in Markstrom, and those qualities were on full display in CAR.
This leads directly to my point that, for me, the most disappointing thing about this loss was that the Devils did not get at least a point out of this game for their goaltender’s effort. Like I said, Marky stood on his head the entire night, making timely high-danger saves from the blue paint and around the inner slot early on, which allowed the Devils to weather the first period, ultimately get a lead in this game, and eventually have the ability to make a realistic push to come back when they fell behind. Look, I give the team credit for staying in this game until the end, but the reality is that if the Devils had last season’s goaltending in this game, they would have gotten blown out of the building right from the opening puck drop.
It’s great to see that HC Keefe is going right back to Marky for tonight’s game. The Devils have to get him right back where he belongs - the W column!
Nico Goals in B2B Games
Even in a loss, it’s always great to see your captain working hard, ending plays, winning puck battles, sacrificing his body, making strong second and third efforts, and then getting rewarded with PPGs in back-to-back games for the third time in his career. Let’s see if he can set a personal best, completing a three-game PPG streak tonight!
Need All Four Lines
Yes, as great as it was to see the “top line” of Timo, Jack, and Bratter be a standout in CAR, it was equally disappointing to watch the other three NJD lines struggle and get outworked by the Canes' relentlessness throughout the entirety of the game. Most prominently, the “4th line” of Palat-Lazar-Bastian was completely dominated all night, generating a low 15.8% SAT% and 11.1% HDCF% while being on-ice for 2 GA… Yikes!!! As HC Keefe talked about in the postgame, you can’t expect to beat a team like the Hurricanes (or any team, for that matter!) when only one of your lines is hopping over the boards and giving you consistent quality shifts.
As a result, it appears, based on morning skate, that Keefe will be changing up his FW lines for tonight’s game.
Cotter - Hughes - Bratt
Meier - Hischier - Mercer
Tatar - Haula - Noesen
Palat - Lazar - Bastian
I’m especially excited to watch the Cotter - Hughes - Bratt line go to work tonight for (hopefully!) their first full game together. Granted a small sample set (2:36 TOI), this trio WOI together at 5v5 have had a 95.3% xGF%, and “the Mitts” Paul Cotter has proven on multiple occasions that he can keep up just fine with Jack Hughes... Remember this GWG back in Game #2?!
Young D-Pairing Stuggled
Following what was by far Casey/Nemec’s best game of the season, Monday vs. UTA, this young pairing was put to the test in the CAR game, as they could not withstand the consistent heavy, tenacious forecheck of the Hurricanes. At 5v5, they conceded a team-worst 20 SATs (31.0% SAT%) and 6 HD chances (14.3% HDCF%) when on ice together. As bad as those underlying numbers are, the Devils, on the bright side, still managed to score a goal and not concede any in Nemec and Casey's 11:17 5v5 TOI together. So, hopefully, a bounce-back game is in the cards for these two tonight, but the Devils certainly felt the absence of Brett Pesce on Tuesday night against his former team.
Tonight should be a good test and opportunity for the Devils to get back in the W column, as this is a game they should absolutely take 2 PTS out of on paper. Yes, this an OTT team that is not nearly as relentless as CAR, but to be fair, they have more offensive firepower and are coming off an 8-goal performance vs LAK on Monday, so you know they’re going to be feeling it offensively.
Yesterday, I sent out a Tweet showing some of Linus Ullmark’s body of work against the Devils in his career… which is… scary… to say the least!
Well, it appears the Devils have dodged a bullet here, as Ullmark (strain) is still being held out of the OTT lineup tonight. Anton Forsberg will be instead getting the start for OTT, who has a 2-2-1 record, .883 Sv% and 3.91 GAA in 6 career starts against the Devils.
Be sure to join Rachel and me for our pregame show tonight as we continue to chat about the Devils' stellar goaltending, the importance of all four lines making an impact, Jack and Nico's respective seasons so far, and preview tonight's game against OTT. It all starts at 6:30 p.m. on MSG & MSG2!
Let's Go Devils!
-Sal
Here are some graphics from the CAR broadcast!
