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New Jersey Devils: On Schneider & The A-Devs |
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Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
The Albany Devils opened up the playoffs on Friday night with a 3-2 win over Utica.
While the score suggests it was an even game the A-Devs dominated territorially for much of the night.
The shots were seven apiece in the 1st period but the Devils out shot the Comets 22-7 in the final 40 minutes; including 9-0 in the 2nd period.
It was just one game, obviously, but it's realistic to expect that kind of effort on a pretty routine basis. Despite missing Joseph Blandisi, Reid Boucher and co. for much of the 2nd half the A-Devs still finished 2nd in the AHL with 46 wins and 102 points. They also finished with the 2nd best shot differential in the league.
With Blandisi and Boucher, both of whom scored last night, back in the fold as well as the additions of Pavel Zacha and Damon Severson the Devils certainly seem poised for a long playoff run.
Should that be the case a few very important pieces of New Jersey's future will pick up some valuable experience.
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Cory Schneider may not even be a finalist for the Vezina, which is absurd, but I came across another impressive statistic from the work he did this past season.
Among goaltenders with at least 15 starts he finished tied for 1st with Corey Crawford in quality start percentage at 69%.
Braden Holtby, for comparison sake, posted a quality start 63% of the time playing for a much better team.
I'm not trying to knock Holtby but it's interesting that he is the runaway favorite for the Vezina even though Schneider had a better save percentage, goals against average and quality start percentage.
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