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Hall, Vatanen power Devils past Metro-leading Capitals |
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Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
A few notes from New Jersey vs Washington:
1) Despite their fantastic record, the Capitals aren't *that* good this season – especially at 5v5 – and last night was a perfect example of that. There were some lulls, but the Devils generated chances on a fairly consistent basis throughout while the Capitals couldn't muster up much of anything. They had some bounces go their way, and were opportunistic of those chances, but I think the Devils have to be content with how they defended in this game. There weren't many breakdowns and they didn't give the Capitals much in the way of volume or quality.
2) I thought Vatanen had another really strong game at both ends of the ice. He spent more time against the Alex Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom duo than any other Capitals and held them off the scoresheet, which is tough to do. Not only did he help keep those guys in check, but he was very involved offensively registering three assists – one of which came on a nice play where he sprung Miles Wood in on a breakaway. He now has nine points in his last nine games and, one bad night vs Dallas aside, has been pretty steady in his own zone as well.
3) You know how people say nobody is perfect? As it turns out, people are dead wrong. Taylor Hall is perfect. Every night he skates circles around the competition and generates a bunch of chances and it is just beautiful to watch. The play he made in overtime chipping the puck past the Capitals player, taking off, and going shelf on a Vezina winner in Braden Holtby was simply fantastic. This guy is a gamer, which is funny considering all the garbage spewed about him being a loser. Every night there is non-stop effort from him.
4) Drew Stafford was solid once again. There were a couple hiccups in the defensive zone but he made things happen with the puck on his stick. He showed good hands burying that breakaway goal and did a nice job of generating chances throughout. He now has two goals and nine scoring chances in three games since being reinserted into the lineup – perhaps some time to hit the reset button was good for him.
5) The line rotations were messed up due to Brian Boyle's extended stint in the box – the three centers rotated on four lines – but I was once again impressed with the play of the Miles Wood - Pavel Zacha - Kyle Palmieri line. Simply put, the Devils had the puck a lot when they were out there. Though it's only been a couple games, I think John Hynes has found something in this trio. They've been able to feast on opposing team's depth players and, on many nights, I think that will continue to be the case.
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