Last night the New Jersey Devils did something they have not been able to do in a very, very long time: beat the Detroit Red Wings in Detroit. Here are some notes on last night's game.
- First off, congratulations to Pete DeBoer on coaching a team in New Jersey that not only reached the playoffs in his first year behind the bench, but hit the 100-point plateau. It's very tough to get 100 points, especially when you look at the teams in the Devils division that they have to play regularly.
- Speaking of which, how good is the Atlantic Division? If the Devils beat the Ottawa Senators in their final game of the season, they would finish with 102 points. Where would that get them? The same place they're in now. Fourth in the division and sixth in the conference. This is the first time a division has ever had four 100-point teams in it during one season, by the way.
- With the Devils win and the results from other teams in the Eastern Conference last night, we now know the Devils will play either the Florida Panthers or Washington Capitals. In order for it to be Washington, they'd have to beat the New York Rangers and have the Panthers lose to the Carolina Hurricanes in regulation. If I'm the Devils, I'm routing for Florida because I'd much rather play them. Washington is finally starting to put it together, and it's only a matter of time before the sleeping giant(s) awake in Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green, etc. It's also worth noting the Capitals are 26-11-4 this year at home so it would by no means be an easy series for the Devils to win.
- One quick note on the Devils goaltending/defense this year: as much heat as they take, they actually have very respectable numbers. They've allowed 207 goals on the year and have the league's best penalty kill. Pittsburgh, who has a better defense core and goaltender, have allowed 219. I don't think the Devils goaltending and defense core get as much credit as they deserve. They may not be full of big names, but they get the job done.
- Onto last night's game. Though the Devils won, I don't feel they were anywhere close to their best. They were good in the first and third, but were absolutely terrible in the second period. The playoffs are less than a week away and if they want to make any noise at all, they're going to have to play 60 minutes. Sure the Devils got lucky last night, but that was playing a drained Detroit team that played St. Louis the night before.
- Peter Harrold was very good last night. He had an assist and a plus-2 rating in just over 16 minutes of ice. If he continues to play like this, Adam Larsson will be sitting in the seats for a while.
- I felt Andy Greene was also very good last night. He had two shots, and five blocked shots in just under 20 minutes of ice. Another good stat line from him. He's been very good for the Devils this season.
- Nice to see Petr Sykora chip in with the game-winner last night. He's been playing much better of late and now has 20 goals on the season. He's the fifth Devil to reach that mark this season.
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