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A few notes from New Jersey vs Los Angeles:
1) John Hynes worked the Devils into the ground in practice and made it no secret he wanted to see a much tighter, more competitive effort from them against the Kings. He certainly got what he wanted.
The Devils skated their asses off and absolutely smothered the Kings from the word go. They gave them no room to breathe and always had a player, or two, right on top of the puck carrier to make sure nothing came easy.
Los Angeles isn't a high-powered offensive team, and they were playing without a key piece in Jeff Carter, but they still have some really gifted players led by Anze Kopitar, Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson. Those three combined for one(!) scoring chance at 5v5. One.
The only Kings to record more than one 5v5 chance were Torrey Mitchell, Alex Iafallo, Christian Folin and Marian Gaborik, which I'm sure the Devils were absolutely thrilled with. They didn't give any of Los Angeles' best players a chance to beat them.
2) I thought Taylor Hall was absolutely fantastic and played one of his best games of the season. He shelved one on the power play, pickpocketed Jake Muzzin and blew through contact to score his second goal, made great plays to set up teammates for Grade A chances (I'm looking at you, Jesper Bratt), and had no problem generating offense on a shift-to-shift basis against a team that entered play on an eight-game winning streak and having allowed fewer goals than every team in the NHL. He also wasn't on the ice for a single chance against in more than 14 minutes of ice at 5v5. The Devils really, really, really, can't afford to lose him for an extended period of time. Hopefully, his injury turns out to be very minor.
3) It took a while, but Travis Zajac is finally starting to come around. He finished in a tie for 1st on the team in chances last night, banged in the opening goal, was a positive in possession, and the Kopitar line couldn't generate a lick of offense against him and his linemates. I'm not ready to say he's back to his old self, but he has played two really good games in the last four. Baby steps, baby steps.
4) Besides a very questionable turnover in the 1st period, I thought Damon Severson played a strong game. He didn't spend much time in his own zone and finished with a game-high +9 shot attempt differential at 5v5.
5) Schneider wasn't tested often but he was good when called upon and did a nice job of controlling his rebounds and ensuring there were no second-chance opportunities for the Kings. People jump down his throat every time he has an off night but, luckily, that hasn't been very often of late – at all. He has posted a .917 save percentage or better in nine of his last 11 and owns a .921SV% during that stretch. He has been fantastic.
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